I think I'm going to run my exhaust all the way to the back of the car now. I was going to end it under before, but dont think I'm going to do that anymore. I now want to run two Flowmaster single chamber mufflers. I was looking at them and cant help but think its just a box with a few pieces of 90 degree welded inbetween the inlet and outlet. I almost would feel dumb spending $70 or so per muffler when I can make that same thing easily. So my question is, is there any science going on inside that box as far as the exact size of the 90 degree pieces or their exact placement, or is this something that can be made very easily?

 

Seems likely to me that there's some science involved, at least with the higher-quality mufflers, dealing with sound wavelengths, resonant frequencies, etc. I'd wager that there's a ton of cheaper mufflers that the manufacturers pretty much just threw together without a thought for any of those details though. I think it'd be worth a try, at the very least you'd have something unique and regardless of how it turned out, it'd still probably be quieter than glasspacks.

 

Yes there is a bit of science to it. The way the type of muffler your describing works is it reflects sound back on itself to cancel noise out. This means things have to be set up right to have the same effect. Now by no means am I trying to say they are hopelessly complicated space age technology or magical you could build your own muffler. What i would do is find the muffler you liked cheap maybe a rusted out muffler being replaced someone would probably just give it to you. From there you can do it the chinese way and just cut it open and copy it. If you were really determined you could probably even build a decent copy based off their website pictures and cut away views knowing the overall dimensions of the muffler you could calculate many of the other dimensions needed to build it. Trying to copy it will take more time and there would be some trial and error but you would probably save a few bucks.

 

Last week on Muscle Car, Rick Bacon showed how to make what amounts to a glasspack muffler. Basically, he drilled a bunch of holes in a 2" straight pipe, wrapped it in steel wool and fiberglass, then stuffed it into a 3" pipe and welded caps on. They didn't show it running, so I don't know how it sounds, but it was pretty cool to see how simple this kind of muffler really is.

http://www.powerblockswag.com/Muscle.../mc2010-02.htm

 

The science involved is dealing with the length of the sound waves you want to cancel and creating the baffles in a shape that splits the flow and recombines it with enough of an offset in time to invert the sound wave. There is also a bit of overall chamber size vs the opening which acts like a tuned port, _I SUSPECT_ for best results you want to tune for a resonant frequency below the range that you're getting effective noise in, so the effect would be like a subwoofer box that is too big for the driver (tuned too low), you get no reinforcement in the range that you can hear and although you might actually have more low end extension, it all feels kind of soft (the other side of this, if you put it in an enclosure that is too small it will cause a peak in the sound frequency response causing it to "hit" harder).

That being said, all but the more complicated flowmasters mostly just put stuff in the flow path that keeps it from going straight out deadening some sound by restricting some flow.

As far as making your own... from experience, unless you do it from stainless you'll find that the biggest problem is that most of the steel that you can get your hands on is not aluminized like most mufflers are, so they'll rot out and fall appart faster than ones that you would buy.

 

or you could by this COPY of the flowmaster single chamber Race Muffler
at $25.00 ea and give them a try.

posted for a short time only...hehe


(NOT TELLING AT THIS TIME) Performance Muffler w/ Ceramic Powder Coating
Retail: $90.00
Your Price: $25.00
You Save: $65.00 (72 %)

Quantity:

Detailed Description

All welded performance muffler similar to the Flowmaster Race Series Single Chamber. Ceramic Powder Coating withstands heat up to 2000 degrees.
Inlet: 3" Center
Outlet: 3" Center
Overall Length: 13"
Body Length: 6.5"
Body Type: 4" x 9"
Other: This muffler is not reversible.

Product Reviews


+*****
F150/400ci hobby truck//Ken

(Unknown) 5/9/2008 12:31 AM
Got my one chamber "muffler" in three working days. The actual product is what you see on the website. I wanted BIG NASTY rumble from my big block and that's exactly what I got!! Love them! As competitive as the prices are, you've got nothing to loose because you know what the others want for their product. One more thing...as high as gas prices are...who cares, I love the sound so I drive it every day! Enjoy! Ken

Awesome mufflers

(Unknown) 7/14/2008 11:41 PM
I installed two of these mufflers on my 2003 Chevy Silverado 5.3L and they sounded awesome. Way better than the flowmasters i had on it before and for a fraction of the cost. Will definitely buy these mufflers again.

 

After I posted this thread I found out that the Super 10 series are stainless and only $60 each so I may just buy these. Cheaper than the other 10 series and stainless. I dont know if I could make them for much less than that anyways.

 

For what mufflers cost, I can't see making one if cost savings is your goal. Like mentioned above, you can get flowmaster knock-offs for $25 now. I paid $30 for the Thrush version and it seems to be holding up great.

 

I might try making these after all. I just called my local sheet metal shop and it would cost me abou $15 for the metal to make both of them. Even if they turn out like crap, its not that much money. This is for regular steel, 16 guage. Stainless would cost me about $45. I figure though for the first time I'll try regular steel. If they turn out good then maybe one day I'll remake them out of stainless.

 

The easiest to do is an absorption muffler. I have built several mufflers and side pipe inserts. I always use stainless wool and stainless perforated cores. The mufflers always have a good deep rumble. I wouldn't want to tackle doing a cancellation type muffler because of all that's mentioned above.

 

The Muscle Car guy mentioned this exact point. He said that it wasn't any cheaper to make them himself, but it was fun and he could say that he did it instead of buying them. I was amazed at how simple this type really can be.

 

As far as the price goes, it actually will be a lot cheaper for me to make them. As I said above, the metal is only $15 or so. That is enough metal to make both mufflers. On Summits site is a good pic of a Flowmaster single chamber where you can see the welds holding the baffles on. Since it also lists the dimensions of the muffler, I think I can measure it accurately enough to make them. Even if I decide to make them out of stainless later on, the price for the metal for both mufflers will be less than one of the flowmasters. For how simple they are, I think most of the price of the single chambers is for the name.

 

There is no reason why not! I recently helped my buddy pipe his mustang (whoa I know CAMARO site lol) and all we used was some cheap steel tubing from a oilfeild supply shop. Just two pipes, straight off the exhaust headers, into the mufflers, over the axle and out the back.