Im assembling the parts I need for a vortec 350 this summer and was wondering about exhaust volume if I ran without mufflers and with shorty headers (true dualled if space allows). Would this level of volume get too irritating? My buddy has a 91 f150 true dualled with stock manifolds and glasspacks. I like the sound he has. How would mine compare?

 

Even worse.

 

Would it just be loud as hell or sound like garbage too?

 

Ever hear the phrase "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder"? In this case....In the ear of the beholder. You may love it while another guy hates it. It is 100% pure opinion. So nobody can tell you if YOU will like it or not. Only if THEY like it or not.

 

I suppose you're right. Where I come from social status is based on the loudness of your exhaust and the length of your ******. If the thing turns out to be too much of an annoyance could someone recommend a good flowing bargain muffler. Would a glass pack tame it much?

 

M u l l e t

 

i have used glass packs on a few different cars and trucks and at first they sound decent but after a week or two of beating on them the packing gets burned up and/or spit out of the tail pipe and it sounds like crap. But just like it was already stated, one mans taste is not the same as everyone else.

 

Theres a guy around my way with a chevy 3500 with the 5.7L 350 vortec he has long tubes true dual no cats then dynomax bullets it sounds good the pipe crack but not that bad.It cracked and popped alot more with manifolds.But if your just running pipes no nothing that thing is going to be all bark and no bite.Before he put long tubes on it he was half way to the floor just to get it off the line.He is actually a 355 vortec running 11:1 compression.

 

If this is a street car,put a full exhaust/muffler on it. It'll be much more fun.

 

This is gonna be almost an entirely street car. I think im going to drop the motor in and make sure that's a okay first and then do a high quality exhaust straight through with a segment of the pipe where I can cut and add a muffler if necessary that way I'm able to change my mind if I wanted to.

 

Without a muffler you will make less power on the street

 

Does that have to do with the back pressure (I'll refer myself to the sticky) I know it matters a lot with two stroke motors but I thought that less resistance to flow was better in a 4 stroke

 

Yes and no. Tell you what,take a look at the muffler test i attached. It shows dyno results with open exhaust(straight pipes,no mufflers) vs some of the performance mufflers. The mufflers made more power than the straight pipes almost every time. Even with the Flowtech "warlock" muffler which does have a straight thru bypass tube ,it still made more power than open/straight pipes. Now if you run without a catback system and muffler,then you end up shifting your powerband way up in the rpms ,which would take away some lowend torque, on the street and in traffic you never really go high in the rpms ,so i would put a catback on it with muffler.

 

Muffler tests

 

I would run a nice 2.5 catback and muffler

 

Would probably be too loud and sound like garbage.

 

Ditto on garabage sound and too much volume.

I had my exhaust disconnect on me (slip fit came undone) and I had to take the muffler off the car and limp home. Open exhaust is loud and doesnt sound good at all IMO.

Only time it does sound decent is on a cammed up performance build. One of the best sounding cars i've heard in my life just runs a straight pipe over the axle and dumped. 4" on a 406" sbc. Sounds amazing. Loud tho but this one has good tone.

 

I ran strate pipes on my mustang for 1 week.....tore em off and had flowmasters put on..i thought loud would be cool but cruising to philly on a saturday night from tranton nj was unbarable

 

That muffler dyno chart is really interesting. The difference in numbers is small but it IS there. I was doing some thinking too and since i do have 40mi each way to work this summer the noise would get pretty unbearable. I figure ill run a catback to mufflers like you guys suggested. (minus the cat as up here in Alberta we dont have to worry about the EPA or any of that emissions testing)

 

The difference in the test results are not small in that muffler test. There is a difference of like 20 ft/lbs of torque with one of the mufflers vs a straight pipe. Straight pipe made less power everywhere. Especially down low.Ignore the max. HP figures. Pay attention to the lower end torque. Like below 3200 rpms or so. That is where it is going to make the seat of the pants difference. You will also lose torque without a cat. I would put a cat converter on there for more power.

 

The largest gap I can see is between the straight pipes and the flowtech warlocks with the bypass open and the borla xs. The other gaps are rather small.

 

I've always ran header equipped, catalytic converter removed, true dual straight pipe exhaust with no muffler/resonator just pipe. I do run x-pipes though.

This Firebird, I've not touched exhaust wise but it is manifolds, true dual piping that at the very tip end mates to a super short glasspack and ends there before the rear tire. Super loud, let off the gas and it crackles and pops for quite a distance.

 

Thats correct, but remember in traffic and on the street you are not going to go very high in the rpms. You shouldn't have to. That is where having the low end torque is nice. Believe me with out a muffler , you will feel a loss in low end around town.

 

I mean have you ever thought about getting a cut-out for when you want to be loud? Mount it behind the converters for a good sound on the street

 

The length of the straight pipe makes all the difference in the world. If you ran all the way back with no muffler it would likely make less torque and hp overall since the tuned length of that distance does not work well with the operating range of the motor.

Properly sized, the right length of straight pipe off the header will make most power and torque. Its a tuned collector. Too long will hurt power, to short will hurt power. A muffler can hurt power if not sized right too. Different styles can also change the effective tuned length of the system. A large area open box styled muffler can send exhaust pressure waves back to the head ports and if timed right, this can help scavenging. Theres alot of science behind the exhaust side of things.

 

I think he should put a nice 2.5 catback on that thing with a cat converter to see the best results. I think he is running an otherwise stock vortec 350