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Thread: Exhaust dilema

  1. #1

    Default Exhaust dilema

    I need some exhaust help. I picked up that 79 pace car and for a 302 base motor I've never heard something sound so bad. 302 roller cam motor trick flow stage 1 cam. Gt40p heads with mid length headers. What I'm told is an x pipe into some Flowmasters. I'm driving back from Illinois to Pennsylvania and if I didn't have ear plugs I would have burned this car to the ground. It's incredibly loud and drones quite badly. I have some Flowmasters from a 2012 5.0 that I believe are called Super 44s at the house that I'm considering trying. My first thought is to get rid of the X and go with an H but other than that I don't even know where to begin to make this sound better in a lot wider. Help me before I sell this damn car

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  2. #2
    FEP Super Member 84StangSVT's Avatar
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    Get rid of the Flowmasters and go Dynomax or Magnaflow. Flowmasters are horrible with drone period. The X is not really an issue as compared to an H as it just gives it a bit of a tonal change. They are a bit more exotic sounding than an H pipe.

    Also, if it is dumped out of the bottom of the car as opposed to out the back with tailpipes, that compounds the drone issue tremendously as it just bounces around below the car.

    I'm running shorty headers, off road X into Dynomax Super turbos and there is little to no drone with it. While it is a bit quiet compared to Flowmasters, I can cruise it 500 miles and still have my hearing and sanity intact when I'm done.
    Last edited by 84StangSVT; 09-13-2017 at 09:00 AM.
    Brock
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  3. #3

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    2nd vote to ditch Flowmasters. Had super 44's on the vert with stock headers & catted h-pipe. Drone was so bad I couldn't have a conversation or listen to the radio. Switched to Magnaflows & car is quiet enough to have a normal conversation at highway speeds with the top down. WOT still sounds very aggressive!

  4. #4

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    Thanks for the advice,, now current issue is the rear end is about to explode. I'm in the middle of nowhere Ohio and finally the third place I went to feels sorry enough to take a look at it.

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  5. #5
    FEP Super Member sowaxeman's Avatar
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    Start from scratch...get rid of the mid-length/long tube headers. Put 85-93 stainless shorties on, or get an aftermarket set of shorties. Put a catted H pipe on the car (unless you like the foul smell), and whatever mufflers you like with a set of 2.5" stainless LX style tails from LMR out the back. You definitely want tails if it don't have them now...drone city without them.
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  6. #6
    FEP Senior Member
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    Flowmaster mufflers (any chambered muffler) will sound best with an off road h pipe. I have always run shorty headers, off road h pipe and either original 40 Flowmasters or Super 44's. The Super 44's are a little more mild than the Original 40's. I think cats will increase the drone as well. If you don't have LX style tailpipes, get some. It will sound and look better.

  7. #7

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    Hi Brian,

    That was me you met at the Shell station by the interchange of Pa Rt 19 and I-80. Sorry I wasn't more help but my mind wasn't in car work mode. I was headed to the south side of Pittsburgh with my sales manager to have a refit done on a company demo truck. I hope McCandless Ford was able to help you out, if not I'll be letting my sales department know as we deal with them on a regular basis.

    This is the right place to be. All the information you need to know is here, just ask.

    Good luck!
    W

    As always, "It ain't what you don't know that gets you, it's what you think you know that just ain't so."

  8. #8
    FEP Super Member erratic50's Avatar
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    Even just a short tail pipe with a turndown on it will help like crazy. and make sure the two pipes are not perfectly parallel and straight to one another - this will quiet up your ride substantially.

    I suggest that if a shop won't work on it that all you need is a jack, jackstands, and basic tools to swap a rearend. 12mm 12 point socket for the driveshaft bolts. Nothing wrong with going to a self service junk yard. You should be able to grab an 8.8 out of a 86-93 mustang or a Tbird or an SN95 mustang. Birds and sn95s have longer axles but will fit in a pinch. With sn95 you need 5 lug wheels or you will have to pull the axles and brake brackets, etc, and swap them.

    It stinks dealing with it, but I swapped rear axle in my 86 right by a junk yard back in the 90's. It took me about 6 hours.

    A local uhaul should be able to add a hitch and rent you a small utility trailer so you can get everything home. I just let the yard owner sell my old broken 8.8 for scrap back when I did mine.

    good luck getting her home!

  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by WilliamCapri View Post
    Hi Brian,

    That was me you met at the Shell station by the interchange of Pa Rt 19 and I-80. Sorry I wasn't more help but my mind wasn't in car work mode. I was headed to the south side of Pittsburgh with my sales manager to have a refit done on a company demo truck. I hope McCandless Ford was able to help you out, if not I'll be letting my sales department know as we deal with them on a regular basis.

    This is the right place to be. All the information you need to know is here, just ask.

    Good luck!
    Small world William. Mcandless Ford was swamped and couldn't touch it. Taylor Ford said it was too old to even bother. A tech told me to try Minners garage and those guys were awesome. We put it right up on the lift and the rear end was trashed.

    After searching for a rental car to go home for an hour my buddy mentioned rentng a uhaul truck and trailer.

    So Mcandless in the long run really helped me out as did you. It was a hell of an ordeal and took all told 23 hours to get the car home.

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  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by erratic50 View Post
    Even just a short tail pipe with a turndown on it will help like crazy. and make sure the two pipes are not perfectly parallel and straight to one another - this will quiet up your ride substantially.

    I suggest that if a shop won't work on it that all you need is a jack, jackstands, and basic tools to swap a rearend. 12mm 12 point socket for the driveshaft bolts. Nothing wrong with going to a self service junk yard. You should be able to grab an 8.8 out of a 86-93 mustang or a Tbird or an SN95 mustang. Birds and sn95s have longer axles but will fit in a pinch. With sn95 you need 5 lug wheels or you will have to pull the axles and brake brackets, etc, and swap them.

    It stinks dealing with it, but I swapped rear axle in my 86 right by a junk yard back in the 90's. It took me about 6 hours.

    A local uhaul should be able to add a hitch and rent you a small utility trailer so you can get everything home. I just let the yard owner sell my old broken 8.8 for scrap back when I did mine.

    good luck getting her home!
    The u haul is exactly what i did, it wasn't exactly cheap but it was efficient.

    I will take out the rear end later today and a shop down the road will do the rebuild. The 3.73 is way too high of a gear for me and I will be dropping down quite a lot.

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  11. #11

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    When the car was up on the lift I took a good look at everything. It's a modern BBK blended X pipe and it 2 1/2" all the way back and past the bumper. It's all new so after some research a set of Borla 2 1/2" offset mufflers may work very well. After years of fighting with the 3.7 motor platform I know all about drone control and sound quality with anything stamped Borla.

    There is room before the X to add some resonators which is another way to knock down the volume if the Borlas don't do it.

    The shame about the Flowmasters is how good it sounds out side of the car.. it's amazing actually.

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  12. #12
    FEP Super Member erratic50's Avatar
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    Use an RPM calculator to see where you are at vs where you want to be on gears. A stock tire is 25.86. Stock overdrive is 0.68. Stock they were usually born with 2.73 or 3.08. Some years 3.27 was an option. SVO had a 3.41 available with a lesser OD like .75 or something. Cobra R had 3.73 if memory serves.

    Personally if I was going to drive it on the interstate I'd go no steeper than 3.55's. 3.27 is very often well loved behind a WC T5 -- they usually have a 3.35:1 low gear unless they are an early non-WC or a T5Z/Cobra box.


    I really liked my MAC cat-back and my Dynomax kits. I dont mind flowmasters with tail pipes on my car which has 2.73 rear gear, 0.63:1 OD, MAC X pipe with cats, and BBK equal shorty headers.

    to my ears dynomax is great

  13. #13

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    I have Walker Super turbos on my Fairmont, and I love them. I told my brother, with a 1966 Mustang, to install them with 2.5 inch pipes over the rear end and out the back. The muffler shop talked him into Flowmasters, I wasn't there and wouldn't have let this happen. But the shop installed the Flowmaster, and they are beyond loud and droning. I told him to take it back and install the Dynomax which are comparable to the Walkers, but he wasn't into the conflict resolution part of it. I hope he eventually changes his mind, the drone is terrible at freeway speeds.

  14. #14
    FEP Super Member erratic50's Avatar
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    Anything that directs the sound towards the ground helps vastly with drone btw.

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