Ok I know this has been asked a 1000 times before, what is the better sounding muffler on a 235 with fentons and duals? I am getting ready to start rounding up parts for dual pipes. I want it to be louder than stock, but not obnoxiously loud. Just a mild rumble.Any place to listen to different sounding mufflers. thanks for any help
Last edited by elm (51 Basket case); 09/08/20166:06 PM.
it wouldn't really matter either way, if you put them way forward there is a good possibility it will be horribly obnoxious. further towards the back should produce a more desirable tone.
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Smithy's are glass packs as well, correct? I"m not so sure they will sound much different than cherry bombs if they are in the same place in your exhaust system. My dad put them on his 40 Chev, 235, and split manifold though. Sounds good (not as loud as he had hoped for, but he has only moved it in and out of the garage and turned it around in the culdesac)
Define "better-sounding". That annoying BBRRRRRRAAAAAAAAPPPPP sound of a set of open-chambered mufflers on an inline six makes me want to get out my 12 gauge pump shotgun and a bunch of 3" magnum turkey shells! "Smittys" used to refer to steel-pack mufflers with steel wool instead of fiberglass in them, not too sure whether that's the case now. That sound is almost as annoying as a rice rocket with a tiny 4 cylinder and a f#*t can "muffler" on it. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
I, too, believe the longer the pipe after the muffler, the more annoying the sound. I added Walker resonators near the rear on my Suburban and I love the sound. Story here.
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I think they both sound good. I've heard a lot of good things about Porters as well. Like said before, where the mufflers are mounted (close or far from headers) and the diameter of the pipe you choose to run can change the sound quite a bit.
Those Smithy/Porter style mufflers set up right sure do produce a nice hot rod six sound, I really like it.
In my neck of the woods most cars/trucks with inline 6's I see at gatherings/shows/driving down the road are usually running straight pipes off of either a stock split manifold or Fentons with 1 1/2 or 1 3/4 inch pipes. Very loud and a lot of rap, but that is what those guys are shooting for.
Not a fan of the BBRRRRRRAAAAAAAAPPPPP either. If I ever decide to "split" a stock manifold, I will skip the isolation plate between the two halves in hopes to eliminate that sound. My thinking is that leaving out the isolation plate will allow some noise elimination from the sound waves canceling each other out inside the manifold. In other words, I plan on simply adding an additional exhaust flange to the rear of the stock one, and running another stock exhaust pipe/muffler/tailpipe. It won't really be a split exhaust, just one which breathes twice as much air. Carl
Last edited by 52Carl; 09/07/20169:42 PM.
1952 5-window - return to "as built" condition | 1950 3100 with a 235 and a T-5 transmission
I had smithy on mine.. folks said it sounded great, I never could hear it that much while driving..
put you some lake plugs on it.. that would solve the problem
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can't stress enough the location....That Braaaaap is absolutely obnoxious. I ended up with the 30" thrush version of the cherry bomb, up right under where the seat is, and I just couldn't deal with it. I ended up adding 18" flowmasters at the rear, and now I have 4 mufflers, but it has a really nice tone.I have a feeling I could just take the front ones out, but it isn't really that important to me.
Ran straight pipes on the 37 V8 for years but had them straight out the back...finally had enough and put on a set of 22" Smitty's and it purrs like a kitten.
....I've used Smitty's on other things and have found it takes a while for them to "burn out" to finally reach the sound I like.
....I put a cheap Thrush on the 50 coupe so I could here the 261 run and it ain't half bad but don't have the last section of pipe on it yet. If you like it.....run it!!
On my 261 with Corvette split I had Thrush, they were just nasty right out of the box. Then put on Smithys, quite a nice mellow tone. Time will tell after they age a bit.
I use REAL turbo mufflers whenever there is room. The "turbo" name came from the muffler on the turbocharged Corvair Spyder from the early 60's. GM knew a lot of people felt like Jerry about noise but that a turbo charger must have unrestricted flow or the performance tanks so they designed a muffler that under normal driving routes the flow through all the baffling and is quiet. With the turbo on high boost the increased exhaust flow by-passes the baffling and sounds quite throaty. Now 90% of the so called turbo mufflers are just a name printed on the box to appeal to the same ones that love to say " 4 bolt main" or "double pumper" to impress their buddies.
I had original-style mufflers on my 261 with Fentonns and dual Rochester Offenhauser (1954 Chevy pickup). The original-style truck mufflers are straight-through with side baffles. They sounded nice enough for police to stop me and compliment me on the sound (after they saw that the mufflers were legal).
I like to build "sleepers" and an obnoxious exhaust note is simply a way of telegraphing my punches. Whenever possible, I use the muffler that came stock on mid-1970's Cadillacs. It has a 2 1/2" inlet and outlet, and a single muffler was engineered to flow enough volume to handle a 500 cubic inch engine without undue restriction. Putting two of them on a stovebolt (6 or V8) makes it quiet, and the exhaust system has no back pressure whatsoever. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
Don't forget about Brockman Mellowtones. I have split headers off my 250 and run two 26" Mellowtones. Below is a link to my '64 c10 with factory exhaust manifold and one Mellowtone.
I have a Clifford Research 292 with twice pipes and Cherry Bombs in the '49 Burb. It sounds pretty good, but the timbre of a straight 6 is different from a V8. The exhaust signature of a V8 is the rumble, while a 6 is BRAAP. A V10 or V12 doesn't rumble either.
