The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop No muffler?

Is it OKAY? not to use a muffler????????????

you dang tootin.....I run straight pipes on my 37 pickup running a 350 in it. Man it does it sound good. The guys and gals in the car club call it the obinoxious pickup and some like it so well they have cut their mufflers OFF. I have two Smitty's I've been wanting to put on it so my daughter will ride with me....but, I guess she will have to continue to walk to shows.....

I imagine the innocent bystanders find it obnoxious too. It does nothing to help our hobby. You'll get more praise for a truck that looks good than for one that makes noise.

Cletis, with about 30 trophies and Best of Show at the Big Peach Festival is not to bad and most folks like the way it looks! I don't even go for the trophies anymore. I think I'll throw the ones I have away. Its all about the commradiere, or ever how you spell it, that really counts. At least I don't go around trying to show off. I like the way it rumbles and very respectful about it until some [censored] wants to show off at a redlight and I have to dust him. Good gosh, why am I defending myself here...... I like what I like...you like what you like. Maybe your just more southern in Texas than us'uns here in S.C.

Hey Chipmunk; ask around. You may find a group trying to put together a fund raiser show on a low budget that could re-cycle those trophies. I've seen a few of them around here and I'm happy to contribute. Also, I started giving those trophies to the kids in the neighborhood. They love it.

You may want to consider putting glass packs in instead of going totally muffler free. The sound is great but it is also more reasonable than going straight pipes. I LOVE having an exhaust you can hear with a nice tone and the barking of glasspacks but there are also a lot of young kids that get frightened or cant just enjoy a cruise because of the straight pipes. I guess it all depends on how selfish you want to be. Chipmunk appears to be very selfish as he puts his own wants over his daughter. I personally factor my daughter being able to enjoy my vehicles.

I had a '55 235 that I went muffler free with. It wasn't that loud and I never had a problem with the law.

suspose it is ok,,,,just stay out of my neighbor hood

on my 89 camaro which still had its cat,i took the muffler out and ran a straight pipe.it wasn't that loud.however the inspection place wouldn't pass it because nc law requires a muffler.

I prefer a 22 inch Smitty on my 62 1/2 ton Chevy truck with a 235 c.i. engine. I don't like looking over my shoulder wondering if the local Law Enforcement Folks are going to pull me over. I have always heard that a straight exhaust was hard on the valves?? The best sound for an old stovebolt is a split manifold with two Smitties!!

This does not have anything to do with loud or quiet mufflers. I have heard that running straight pipes on cold days was bad for the exhaust valves. Before the exhaust valve totally closed the piston was on a down stroke and would suck "cooler" air over the valve and the change in temperature "might" crack the valve. Any opinions? (Personally I like straight pipes at midnight for about 15 minutes. More than that and I get a headache.)

Put on long glasspacks. All that noise gets irratating after about 5 minutes. The only way straight exhaust will hurt exhaust valves is no exhaust system at all.

I used to like loud trucks...... that was when i was 16. I had THE best sounding truck at school- 350 with a little cam, headers, duals w/ glass packs. Now, I can't stand loud pipes- except on bikes. I do like the flowmaster sound, but for my daily drivers, i wouldn't even think about messing with the stock exhaust.

Catching up on the topic and decided to make a comment or two here. Jerry, your right. I am planning to re-cyle those trophies. I belong to a non profit club and we do many cruises, toy drives and cruises for cancer victims each year. Its a joy,and sometimes tears, to see the appreciation for our generosity. The childrens shelter, a couple of outreach ministries, and cancer families who are suffering,including my own niece finally losing to cancer after a 3 year battle at age 16. I've took chocolate pies and cakes in the face for these folks so your suggestion is RIGHT ON.....now for Zipper who appears to be new and may not understand the stovebolt humor now and then, I resent the implications of putting my own wishes over those of my daughter. She is one of only 3 people that ever drove this pickup, and Amy,(cancer victim) being one of the other. My daughter helped scrap off over 60 years of mud,grease etc to get this old truck project up and running yet she is quite the young beautiful lady that understands and appreciates old cars and trucks. I would never fire it up with some kid,or others, standing behind or close by and I'm usually one of the last one to leave a show...after helping to pack up things. So unless you really know someone and what your talking about be careful how you judge folks. I figure zipper must be a good guy as he likes stovebolts!! Am I judging?So take it for what it is worth and move on....and yes, I may put my smitty's on.....some day.

Well those pipes sound better than the boom boxes,that pass you by or shake the windows out of your house.Now there should be a open season on them.

I go exactly the other way- Mufflers and resonators to keep it as quite as possible.

I don't know what the rules are for Arkansas, but I know that in some states it's illegal to not have some sort of emissions control on your vehicle -- which a straight pipe exhaust does not have.

I also am not really happy when someone drives by my house in the middle of the night with no muffler. In many towns/cities/counties there are noise rules that you can get a pretty hefty fine for breaking.

At least put glass packs on. You'll still get a rumble, but you won't have people with torches and pitchforks after you because of all the noise.

In Arkansas you can drive anything that moves, there is no inspection of any kind. Even the cops ride Hogs w/no mufflers. I drove my old black truck for a month w/no exhaust at all(well it did have about 2 ft of pipe off the engine), never got a second glance. brian

About 2' of 6" well caseing with offset inlet and outlet sounds real good. This works real good on a inline six with a split exhaust takes all the pop and crack and leaves a nice rumble.

I don't have any mufflers on my 92 shortbed, but it's got a catalytic converter way up front. It's not very loud at all. I'm a Flowmaster guy myself, nowdays. Back in the old days I ran the longest Thrush mufflers you could get. You know, the Woody Woodpecker mufflers,
Scott

i for one agree with that fact that straight pipe is the way to go i'm only 18 so i'm still at the age that loud is the way to go so ya i already have bad hearing but i don't like gettin tickets for loud exhaust its kinda a pain, been in trouble for loud exhaust twice one time it was like ya i knew that was coming but there other time it was like "man that guy was a [censored]" but i just love the god awful growl of a straight pipe V-8 with a manual and just let er bark, its my own opinion and i'm entitled to it i'll respect others opinions on the fact that they don't like a truck roaring past there house in the middle of the night and i respect that so when i did drive my straight pipe suburban i behaved myself during the times that most would be sleeping
Nate

I got straight pipes on my '77 with no cat or muffler at all. The pipe actually ends just at the back of the cab. Sounds good going under tunnels with the windows down! Nothing beats the sound of an unrestricted 350!

having that exhaust dumping under the middle of the truck also contributes greatly to the corrosion of undercarriage components, including the frame

Bill

as long as you have a couple of feet of pipe you cant hurt the valves..i've seen em crack a valve on a 350 that was started with just the manifold and no pipe.

What causes the valve damage (specifically)?

The burned exhaust valves is a wife's tale more or less,goes back to the good old days when valves were manufactured from wood.The wood would burn up after a long run without a muffler.

if you have headers or a split mani on your inline and no mufflers god help the county you live in and the ones near...doc

This is a GOOD POST!!! I am a daily driver of a '49 1/2 ton, '56 235, Fentons, 2-30" glasspacks that aren't that noticable until I 'get on it' a little. I'm averaging 5-6 thousand a year with several long trips mixed in and I don't think I could handle the sound of straights.

What if one used an X-PIPE? Supposed to give MORE power with less noise. I bought one off ebay over the winter and will be installing this year with either Smitty's or my original glasspacks. Right now that event is low on the Priority List so don't hold your collective breath. Hopefully someone can jump in that has already done this....

I've been away for a bit and have been trying to catch up.

I have a '51, 3100, 235 with Fenton Headers and Offy two carb.

Yesterday I had two Flowmaster 40s installed. What a GREAT sound.

Thruwurkin
Kennewick, WA

Heck, some of you would not want to be my neighbor. I have cut offs on my 455 '72 Buick that dump out the sides just behind the front wheel. When I want to run quiet I put the pipe caps on it and use the 3" turbo mufflers out the back. Of course some of my neighbors run thir 1/8 mile cars down the street before races tuning. I can even hear the drag strip from my house. I LOVE IT!

If a more efficient running engine, better gas mileage and more power is you ticket to cool, then you need to have some back pressure on the exhaust. Even an expansion chamber (like a burned out glasspack) will help.

I love the loud sound too. But when I drive for an hour in a vehicle like that (I'm used to loud Harley's too) I might want to listen to the radio, or have a conversation without the words "huh" and "what" with every sentence.

If noise or rapping is your cool, fine. But, when some of the kids in town can't afford to replace the muffler that has fallen off or rusted through, it is offensive when they rattle by my house at any time of the day or night. But, by all means have it your way. You'll pay for it later when "huh" and "what" are normal in every sentence of your conversations. If you don't care about what others think, it will come around to you eventually.

This isn't a "do gooder" attitude, it's an experienced one.

Builder is absolutely right. I have irreversable hearing damage from when I used to like loud stereos in my car. I also studied audiology in college and graduate school. There is a HUGE increase these days of people who have noise induced hearing loss. Protecting your ears from too much noise is just as important as protecting your eyes from too much light. Maybe even more so because they haven't figured out how to fix the damaged hair cells on your cochlea yet.