The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Old school exhaust

I don't know about you all, but I think all these cars and trucks with Flowmasters and similar mufflers all sound alike going down the road. The only difference is the size of the exhaust tips the car/truck is running. With that...

I happen to like the sound of a glasspack muffler. My favorite old-school mufflers are the Smithy's 30" with 2" in/out, and the old Thrush mufflers that were painted black, white, and red and had the "thrush" bird and logo on them. Some turn-down tips out the back for the looks, an "X"-pipe as a crossover (as opposed to an "H" connection"), and the classic sound is there! I'm doing my son's '67 C-10 and my '67 Dodge CSS D-100 in the same way, with Smithy's on both!

The chambered pipe that was used on the '69 Camaro had a righteous sound to it, too!

Any comments? Your favorites? What are you running?

I'm a big fan of smitty's(smithy's). Especially on a I-6 stick car/truck.
I've had them on several cars done 50's style, and can make'em sing.
Well, I always used either split manifolds or fenton headers. So I don't know if that changes things, sound wise.

I agree the smaller pipes give a better sound. My 70 with 350 has 2 in. pipes with 30 in. glasspacks & sounds great. Not loud, just mellow rumble. With high performance or a bigger engine we would need larger pipes.

YES !
p66 for President!
My 55.1 has a cute little '57 283, dual exhaust, "X" pipe and two 26" Smithy's coming out in front of the rear tires. I went one up on the cam and it has a nice low mellow glug..glug..glug while sitting idle and sounds a little beefy going down the road.

Buddy in AK

I'm staying with my Flowmasters. I don't like the cackle of the glass packs. I do like the real long Thrush mufflers but I can't find them locally,
Scott

well being a part time muffler maker, i do like the good glass packs on the old hot rods and in line 6s and you realy need no larget then 1 3/4 inch pipe to get that old sound. i like the way the blue streak glasspacks sound and last. best bang for the buck in my eyes. i dont use any on my cars because i make a muffler here that i like the sound of, but its not old school by any means
. cant beat old school on an old ride.

Well, Guys, I'm running some old 24" Douglass steel packs on my 261 and would not trade, except for straights! Those things have been on my truck for 25 years and thery are almost straights. To me that's as old school as you can get. I prefer the higher pitch sound a steel pack gives you on either a straight six of bent motor. Steel packs are still being made by a couple of different folks.

Joe

I was going to get smittys and then received as a gift Patricks dual stainless muffler that was previously made by basani. I've got a 235 with 2" pipes from fentons staight out the back on either side of the hitch with bowtie tips. The muffler is in the stock location. Going thru the gears is musical. It is very deep and mellow. I'm happy with it but then again, I like the way they all sound

That's what I have on my truck!

You folks know me, I´m "Mr. Old School"

I had two glaspacks on the 41 for 3 years now, but after a 6 hour trip on a german Autobahn "blood starts comming out of my ears". :rolleyes:

So I went to 2 Flowmasters and I´m verry happy with that setup. They sit way back just bevore the rear end.

Still have a nice rumble at idle and in town, but at 75 mph on the Autobahn it`s yust a mild growl from the back and not that Messerschmitt WWII fighter plane riding the rear bumper.

Frank

Another smithy's guy here.
Got a 52 Chevy truck, 235 with dual Carter YFs, Fenton headers, 2" pipes, into 22" Smithy's under the cab with turn downs on the sides before the rear wheels.
I make instruments old world style and the sound from my daily driver is like music to my ears.
I do a monthly 250 mile round trip and love the warm tone in the background around 2500-3000 rpm from my 3:55 rear.
Not loud, but beautiful and natural.
But then again, I never owned another vehicle and used to play through very loud amplifiers in my early 20s.
Driving in the passenger seat of a friend's modern silent car or even truck is something totally different and just not for me.

For my future second daily 47 Chevy coupe I'm gonna try straight pipes...

Old school - new school - I never needed any school - just do what I need to live and have fun.

my 70 chevy with 355 turbo 350 and 3.08s had 2 in. pipe with either cherry bombs or thrush mufflers and to me i did not care for the sound.... wasn't loud enough so what i'm thinking of doing is puttin on purple hornies (bolted to the headers) (2.5" pipe) and run a little bit of pipe straight back then a 45 degree bend and how ever much pipe i need to make the 24" long 2.5" to 4" tips stick out the side in front of the rear tires with a SM420 4speed should be in for a nice throaty bark and i know my 78 suburban is not a bolt but i have a full 2 1/4" exhuast system from LMC with glass backs with like 12" long 2 1/4" to 2 3/4" or 3" tips and it has the SM465 with 4.11s and it just rumbles going down the interstate doing 70 @ 3 grand
Nate

I run fentons with dual smittys, love the sound,,,,many have commented on how well they sound.. thanks for the post,,,,Fred

as for me im just gooing to run hedders and stright pipes out the back love the rumble

My first car was a 64 Impala, it had a 283 with a powerglide had dual 2in pipes with cherry bombs. It was loud, but I loved it, problem was I couldn't keep my foot out of it. I finally sold it 13 years and four engines later.

Dad put glasspacks on my '63. There is nothing that sounds like it. My Dad also has glasspacks on his '46 Frd truck and every Sunday when the minister leaves the driveway in the '46 on his way to church, he punches it to the floor and screams out the driveway!

I think it is a little too loud for my taste, so I wanted Flowmasters on the '54. Dad and I fought about it. In the end, I was able to order a small Flowmaster that was shaped like a glasspack. My dad actually took my husband aside and quietly asked if JIM had bought glasspacks and just told me they were Flowmasters

That was many years ago. Jim wouldn't know a glasspack from a Flowmaster if I hit him over the head with one. Dad's finally figured it out.

So I guess I have the best of both worlds! I might go with glasspacks again on the '59 since I'm keeping the inline 6 on that one . . .

What is a guy to do. I love this thread because I don't have my truck running or any thing after the headers right now. I read all these posts and try to figure out what makes sense. An older inliner friend told me that a smaller pipe and smitty's as far back as you can is the best sound.

I would love to hear some of your trucks. I know a couple people have recorded their trucks. Anyone out there have a digital camcorder that could make up a small video and post it somewhere for us to hear.

Maybe we could have a new contest and get a couple vendors to throw in some mufflers for the prize?

Bill Schickling

The only thing better than the sound of my pipes in the morning, is a hot cup of coffee in my hand whilst going through the gears.

When I firt obtained my 68 Cutlass, it had a 425, headers and two wore out glass packs with no tail pipes... I easily set off car alarms when i'd rev it a bit. My neighbor (across the street) finally asked me if I could PLEASE put a quieter exhaust system on it... Why? I asked.. he replied go stand in front of my house while I rev it up... yikes..it was like standing between two M60A1 RISE Tanks.... the noise was bouncing back and forth between our houses.. I used that get my wife to let me buy a new exhaust system.

They are called "Smithy's", not Smitty's

http://www.pertronix.com/exhaust_products/smithy.htm

I found a NOS set of Doug Thorley "Showpipes" (sidepipes) on Ebay last year. Even though they are 20 years old they came in original box and look/sound brand new. I mated them to my brand new 350 v8 in my 1950 3600 pickup. They're mounted below the running boards and look great, plus they sound great too. Low rumble like the 60's/70's Vettes with sidepipes.
Amazing what you can find on Ebay.

I stand to be corrected, typo on my part........thanks for the corrections though..Fred

Ooops!

Home msde split manifold ran into 2" brass pipe from a old bed stead no muffler. When hacking up the head and foot board cut it so you have turn downs. If it is a little loud make several splits the end of the brass pipe about 2" back and bend inward to soften the report.

My 57 GMC has 2" pipes and glasspacks,no tailpipes,and a blown gasket between the right pipe and the manifold. I like the sound of it except for the leak,which I'll be curing when I change to later manifolds with the better connections.
My 62 Chevy with 355 runs the stock rams horns,with dual pipes kluged together with about a dozen pieces of pipe and an assortment of muffler clamps. It too has a couple of leaks;it was a spur of the moment decision when I was replacing a broken left manifold. This set up is going to be re-done professionally with 2-1/2" pipe in a couple of months when I have the money for it. I plan to run the pipes to the back and out through holes in the huge utility bumper. I've built some thick wall steel pipes to use back there to keep them from getting flattened on rocks etc. when I have to go off pavement with it.I'm keeping my glasspacks though-they've been on my last 4 trucks and were originally found discarded near a four wheeler road out in the hills. They're almost broken in now.
Speed

The chambered exhaust of the Camaro's in the '60's was probably the prototype of the Flowmasters of today. I worked at a muffler manufacturing shop in the '50's and built a train load of glasspacks, and a few steelpacks. Both have a straight thru core with either louvers (very small ones) or circular punched holes and the casing is stuffed with fiberglass blankets or steel shavings. My personal favorite was a 1953 Chev. 235 with Fenton headers and 18" Porters, wow I can still hear the sound in my mind. I have a muffler I made 50 years ago oval shaped with 2 - 2 1/4"" inlets and 2 - 2 1/4" outlets and stuffed with fiberglass blankets, similar to Jaguar XK120 and XKE's of 1960's. I will run it on my 292 with tubing headers, can hardly wait to hear it when I get it together.