I have smithys on my 54 chevy with a 350, i got the longest ones and it purrs, not loud at all just right....
I have very short gl*** packs on my HO 302. I like the sound and they have broken in nicely in the year that I've had them on....but I have been very tempted to go straight pipes. It's loud, but want it louder. Opinions?
straight pipes are loud, but not as loud as you think.. i drove mine for about a year with straight pipes, it was ok, but in my opinion kustoms dont sound right when they are loud...
while on the topic of gl*** packs....i had a coronet in highschool with gl***packs. when i was under the car one day i noticed it had 2 different length packs on it. i had noticed the different sound before from the back of the car but thought it was just a weird echo. the car had 2 diff length packs though and you could actually hear it from the duals out by the bumper.....does anyone know why they would have done this? is it something that was common? should westcoast ct run two length packs on his car?
I've heard this gives a better "rap". Some of the stovebolt Chevy guys will run a gl***pack in one pipe and straight pipe on the other for this reason. Personally, I wasn't too crazy about the Smithy's after I put them on my 52 Chevy Sedan (SBC 350, 2" exhaust out the back). It was a little too mellow for me. I liked the Cherry Bombs I had on it before better. A friend of mine put some kind of Edelbrock muffs on his 51 Fleetline, along with an x-pipe. I was really impressed with the sound.
Power = Noise You can run a flattie or small displacement stock V8 with open pipes fairly successfully. Like 300 ci or less, making 250hp at the most. Ya learn to backpedal just a little bit when p***ing cops and it's all good. Now on the other hand, something like with 400ci high compression big cammed 400hp......bring earplugs if you ain't running mufflers. Small children will run & cry. Even the cool neighbor will politely ask you not to drive it to work at 7am.
ha, thats actually true ^. had a room mate who always borrowed my truck coz his nova was too loud to take out at night. it was a 4oo punched to 406 and full roller blah blah blah...bad *** small block. it had 3inch exhaust with ****** aerochambers and a x pipe. you could hear it from a few blocks away. our up stairs neighbor complained and it was just easier to let him take my truck than listen to the *****in'. chris's (westcoast ct) motor is a stock 350 with a edelbrock intake and carb. i think gl*** packs are his best bet.
The 16 gauge steel "bullet" type gl***packs that J.C. Whitney sell sound pretty good actually. If you want louder, go with a smaller outside case diameter. If you want it more mellow go with longer larger outside case diameter. If you want it really mellow, put an extra set of short ones as resonators near the ends, but to me, that's TOO mellow.
Sound is one of the best parts of my car. Clark put some inserts in the pipes and that is that....judge for yourself
Ram horn on one side, rear exit on driver side, 2.25" with 18" gl***packs. sounds real good. Mine actually go straight under the axle, less bends.
my local guy said thats what he would do, had specific sizes he'd use too, said they made the right "rap"..
Never have heard of that before. I have 30 sedan with a 350 horse 350 has 2 inch pipe with about 24 inch gl*** packs, sounds good. not really any rap to them. My 59 edsel has a 292 y block with a 3 on the tree and ran dual 2 inch with the shortest smithys I could get, I think 12 or 14 inch. Has a lot of rap and is real loud in the upper rpm range under acceleration or deceleration but at an idle I have to tap the gas to hear it. It is by far the best sounding engine exhaust setup I have had. I had a 55 ford with a 272 y block with 24 inch smithys, 2 inch pipe. definatly was more mellow. When it comes to your style of car smithys are the unly way to go IMO. I think lenth can change the sound as much as anything. A friend has a 61 chev wagon and ran 2 1/4" with the flowmaster hushpowers and it sounds great but doesn't have the "echo" or tin sound of a normal 40 series flowmaster. Keep us posted.
center dump manifolds and gl***packs on my flatty. When I let of the throttle omg popping haha. Thinking of going smithys just not sure yet.
SBC Running ******s and Smitty's with straight pipes under axle to bumper on my 54 Chev and I love the back talk they give.
Flowmasters are for 5.0 Mustangs. Gl***packs are for hot rods and customs. My buddy had Smithys on a split manifold 216 in his '49 Chevy and they were too quiet, he now has straight pipes but that is a 216 not a SBC. I tried his Smithy's at the rear of my '62 Biscayne with a 454 and they sounded like I had stuffed teddy bears in the pipes. I ran some oval straight thru gl*** packs made by AP Exhaust (used to be called Goerlichs now called Xcelerators, best flowing muffler I found anywhere) they sound good but since the are at the very end of the system they make it a little too quiet. M. McFly
chris has heard my 216 with straight pipes and factory manifold. going down the road isnt too bad at constant speed. its sounds bad *** at the top end of first and second when the pipes cackle back. i think it would be too much if its gonna be the family croozer.