Hot Rods Any one running straight pipes?

Hello
I have a 1964 Merc: FE 390, cast iron manifolds, straight pipes to resonators. Throaty and not excessively loud.

If you have full length exhaust, any loudness issues are lessened by the long length of the straight pipes, and get it out to the rear of the car then you won't suffer from the droning.

Must depend on compression ratio, firing order and other things because I had an OT car (98 FB) with a single exhaust and a straight pipe (LM1) in place of a OEM muffler and that thing would make you want to jab your ears with an ice pick. idle -= OK, WOT loud but OK, 3000 rpm highway = ear bleed. some how, It's also a frequency thing.

 

Straights sound good on some stuff depending on what it is, I remember way back when I first started getting on forums, I mentioned this subject and got shot down immediately by someone who said it sounded like a busted out muffler on a welfare Cadillac Thats where I remember starting to try and grow some thicker skin on these forums sometime
....but anyway....Ive ran straight pipes split into duals after the cat on later model daily driver v8 GM trucks too that sounded great, not cackley at all, just a good low mellow tone until you get into it pretty hard

 

Eh??...What??

 

Sometimes loud is just loud. I've seen some cool cars/bikes that are loud but I've seen far more loud cars/bikes that aren't cool. Loud and Cool, the two are not synonymous.
Or to put it this way, loud crappy music is still loud crappy music, no matter how old the listener.

 

I can't imagine my MEL fettered by a regular exhaust. Its distinctive sound is part of its character. It IS loud tho...

 

Way back in 1967, I had a 57 Ford Skyliner retractable with a 312 4 barrel. When I bought it, the forner owner had just put a full new dual exhaust system on it. I worked in a local gas station, and one night I had it up on the hoist for a oil change. My boss walked under it, and said, "I can't believe you have stock mufflers!" He said, "Let's cut them out, weld in pipes, and make it sound like it's fast."
30 minutes later, I had straight pipes about 40 feet long ( like the car), and it sounded GOOD. I had a couple chrome 5 inch stool posts left over from the remodeling of my uncle's
bar, so we shortened them, welded plates onto one end, and, presto, cooool echo cans. This little touch made that Skyliner sound and look great, and I only got two nuisance tickets as long as I owned it.
I did this same thing to almost every vehicle I built or bought (some with mufflers) - except my wife's car - go figure.

 

I ran straight 2-inch dual pipes all the way out the back in my old 60 El Camino. It was not that loud at all with a mild 307 engine. Gave a nice rap when heavy throttle, but since out the back it was not loud inside at all, plus the X-frame had lots of bends in/out and up/down.

 

Heres my merc with straight pipes.
https://scontent-lax3-2.cdninstagra...n.mp4?_nc_ht=scontent-lax3-2.cdninstagram.com

 

Straight pipes.

 

You'll wake the dead in that cemetary...

 

My carefully engineered race exhaust for the HotRod Hillclimb