I'm building a '27 T coupe and plan on using zoomies for exhaust. Sanderson sells some with baffles to quiet them down a bit for street use. My cars are daily drivers and don't mind loud, but I don't need the Burbank P.D. on my ass everyday because of complaints that my car sounds like an open pipe dragster. Anyone have any experience with baffles...do they work? Zuluman
Alot of motors with baffles seem to be louder at an idle....My Nailhead with 16 inch long pipes was actually surprizingly quiet untill you romped on it...Same with flatheads...So depending on which motor you are using...
Couple of guys I know tried em. They couldn't stand the noise and took them off. If you get stopped, there are two different sections. Defective muffler is a fix-it ticket. Modified exhaust is a fix-it and fine.
I run straight pipes on my daily driver and never get messed with. I run a Chevy SB 307 I ran cherry bombs and would let them pop every chance I could and have been messed with. But cops might just like my smile.
What engine? I don't care for the tone from baffles, sort of tinny, but that's just me. Also, ever hear of Tinnitis? I have it and it sucks. Food for thought...
it doesnt matter what you do ,the burbank p.d. will fuck with you regardless.the ones i have encountered are a bunch of assholes.thats just my experiences.
I saw a guy in Portland who was running a BBC in a 5 window with zoomies. It was too quiet and sounded kinda weird so I asked him what was up. He had welded some washers about 2 inches up the pipes to baffle them. It looked like open zoomies, but he said the cops have never messed with him. I personally love open pipes, but the coppers can be a real hassle!
I made the collector pipe style exhaust for the roadster. They were very loud. They were actually so loud that they would make my ears ring. That was my only reason to make a light baffle system, just cause I'd like to hear later. huh? TP
I think my zoomies are louder inside, than out. I slipped in an 1 7/8" baffle in each tube, and it suprises folks, how quiet it is. W/O baffles, it just plain obnoxious - INSIDE.
Oh yeah, that's the traditional way, zoomies on the street, loss of hearing, disturbing the neighbors, open invitation to every police officer who crosses your path to pull you over and inspect the vehicle. Better have matching numbers, plates, and insurance coverage. Damn, have I gotten old or what? Reality looks more real with each passing year.
There seems to be a double standard at work. Almost every Harley in America can be heard for miles but rarely get ticketed. One loud hot rod and it's a big stink!
Don't forget all the all the Drifter-Wannabe Need-For-Speed-4-door Imports with spoilers in L.A.! Just heard one right now probably two blocks away!!
Actually, I think that's about to stop pretty soon. Folks are getting tired of loud Harleys. The kids in the hotted up jap cars are already getting hassled, but kids always catch shit. That's the nature of youth, always has been. The ratty rat rods piss off the cops who are gearheads (there are plenty of cops who have modified cars) so they will crack down on that soon. Frankly, I won't be disappointed to see a return to cars that look like they REALLY did in the 50s and 60s. The current OSR style stuff looks ugly and stupid to me. I will be disappointed that it will lead to enforcement of fender laws though. And nothing looks stupider to ME than a mild engine in a car that's real loud. Sort of like the loudmouth in a bar who gets his butt kicked all the time but never wises up. Unless it's a big block or hotted up hemi, I should not have to hear your car a half block away. I like Era Specific cars. People ran short straight pipes in hot rods in the 40s. By the early 50s there was enforcement because of them. People who run annoying sounding stuff will cause the same sort of crack downs in a short time. You just hide and watch and see if I'm right.
im goin to run lake headers on the coupe....but ill tuck away some exhaust on her the bast i can....then open them up when i need it...you know, like when im hammered and drivin by a middle school! kiddin of course...loud pipes are great, but like phil said, on something thats worthy of them! and i also agree, the new beater shit boxes will lead to more laws...just what this country needs,,more fuckin laws! [aimed at the wrong people of course!]
Zuluman, slip a set of these, in these zoomies, and it will be just fine. At the HAMB Drags, slip the baffles out, and go play. http://www.chopperscycle.com/page/VTS/PROD/42-77/13219 http://www.speedwaymotors.com/pl/163,3826_Boom-Tube-Headers-For-Sprints.html
the washer on a bolt head is an old tuning trick used on scoots w/ drag pipes . I was going to run zoomies w/ washers in my 440 powered chebby
The cities of West Hollywood and Redondo Beach are cracking down on anything over 95db's. This was due to the Harleys cruising through their towns on weekends. You ever notice how the Harleys always have to crack the throttles while stopped at a red signal. Irritating has hell.
I just finished building a T roadster with chrome zoomies. The only reason I put them on was that it was the only thing laying around the garage that would fit. I'm running a mild sbc and man that thing is loud. I mean top fuel loud when I step on it. I'm looking at other options right now after coming home from Greaserama at 1:30 in the morning with my ears ringing...I;m sure my nieghbors loved that. r
My first thoughts a decade or so ago when I saw them shifter guys running open zoomies was "I wonder which club member's Dad is a Judge?" The too much maligned "Street Rodders" spent about 3 decades cleaning up the public image of "hotrodders" and now a very small numbr of "hooligans" are going to send the whole HOBBY back into the dark ages of 1958 when you couldn't back out of your driveway without getting a ticket for something else that just became illegal. On the other hand; I really don't see how companies like MIDAS or any other non-dealer muffler shop could to do business if "modified from stock" was enforced to the letter of the law. It makes it impossible to (legally) put a non factory part in the system. That makes engine swaps illegal because the exhaust is either going to be nn stock to the engine or nonstock to the car or both. So, that law is obviously going to be enforced arbitrarily. I went to Auto Zone and asked for "a replacement muffler for a '55 Chevy with a 235" engine." The guy looked it up in their computer and pulled a Turbo muffler off a shelf... Chevy no longer sells "Genuine GM parts" mufflers for '55 Chevy pickups so this law is just as irrational as a law making it illegal to go out in public with gray hair. It is or used to be illegal for exhaust to exit between 17" and 8' from the ground too. That can't be being enforced anymore giving the number of 4+4's with exhaust at my nose level blowing in my window when I'm stopped next to them in my MGB GT!
Zulu, I run zoomies on my car, with baffles. The Burbank PD has never giving me a second look, in fact I get the thumbs up from from Mr and Mrs Whitebread, in Burbank. I made my own baffles and they quiteted down my exhaust tremendously. Hollywood and Burbank are equally lienient, when it comes to "noisepullotion" from my experience. Go for it.
Baffles? We don't need no stinking baffles! I going to run my "T" bucket with open no baffle lake headers (I'm running a basically stock flathead) because if those damn guys running Harley's can run them with straight pipes than I should be able to do it too. Nothing pisses me off more than to be woken up at 1:30 in the morning by some asshole on a Harley that's all tanked up on beer from the bar around the corner and have him go by full throttle down my street with them damned loud ass fucking pipes! If the cops hassle me about my open pipes and going to raise shit about it and tell them to do something about the damned Harley's first! I understand that motorcycles need to be loud because of the fucking morons that drive with their head up their ass jabbering on a fucking cell phone and don't see motorcyclists , but come on enough is enough! Those loud ass Harley's are almost as bad as that damned boom boom crap music emanating out of cars!
I've run them for years. The only problem I have is that I can't crank up the car before my kids wake up.
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