Old-school mufflers

[Deleted User]

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I don't know about you all, but I think all these cars and trucks with Flowmasters and similar mufflers all sound alike going down the road. The only difference is the size of the exhaust tips the car/truck is running. With that...



I happen to like the sound of a glasspack muffler. My favorite old-school mufflers are the Smithy's 30" with 2" in/out, and the old Thrush mufflers that were painted black, white, and red and had the "thrush" bird and logo on them. Some turn-down tips out the back for the looks, an "X"-pipe as a crossover (as opposed to an "H" connection"), and the classic sound is there! I'm doing my son's '67 C-10 and my '67 Dodge CSS D-100 in the same way, with Smithy's on both! Had a single Thrush on one of my previous Hudsons, too, and it sounded right!



The chambered pipe that was used on the '69 Camaro had a righteous sound to it, too!



Any comments? Your favorites? What are you running?

[Deleted User]

I used Flowmasters on my 85 Jimmy 4x4, but that was because they are some of the toughest mufflers around. You can run them up a rock and they won't crush!



Saying that.....I have to agree with Patrick that on a street car there is nothing better than a good set of glasspacks! Don't remember the brands we used to use, but they sounded great, especially after a couple of months.



Of course there is always the screwdriver through the side method (yes I've used it in my younger, poorer days)! lol



Not sure what I'm going to run on my '50. Taking suggestions though! :-)



Jay

Unknown

jsrail wrote:

I used Flowmasters on my 85 Jimmy 4x4, but that was because they are some of the toughest mufflers around. You can run them up a rock and they won't crush!



Saying that.....I have to agree with Patrick that on a street car there is nothing better than a good set of glasspacks! Don't remember the brands we used to use, but they sounded great, especially after a couple of months.



Of course there is always the screwdriver through the side method (yes I've used it in my younger, poorer days)! lol



Not sure what I'm going to run on my '50. Taking suggestions though! :-)



Jay

Jay-



Since you're taking suggestions: they are more expensive, but the borja mufflers have a real throaty, race car kind of sound to them. There's a couple of different models to choose from and different in/out configurations and sizes to fit your needs. Try JEG's. Many places carry them.



RL Chilton

Unknown

I run a Clifford header on my '54 308 with duals all the way out the back. Due to space limitations though, the glass packs are 24" so it really raps out the split six cylinder sound. Let off the gas and they really talk back to you, happily burpling along. Really cool... nothing quite like it.

Jay_G

Glad you started the thread. I have a Clifford header on my stroked 308 and I too am wondering what will give me the best sound. Mine is a singel outlet header that I will split into duels. I did this just to making plumbing a little easer. I would like it to run quitely when it is cruzing but have a nice sound when you get on it. I have a 60 Dodge with cross rams and glass packs and it sounds great but I am unsure what a six will sound like.



Jay (other Jay)

[Deleted User]

Thats a good start, thanks. Not sure if I'm going to run headers on this one. Do headers effect your computer module settings? I'll look those borja's up tonight.



I ran some rotted out side pipes underneath my old '42 Ford P/U and they sounded great! A bit loud for sure but the truck's front end would just roll a little at idle with those pipes and everyone knew it was me!



My parents hated when I'd drive it to church on Sunday (late of course!) and you would hear it inside the church! Maybe thats what ended my church days! :-)



Jay

RL Chilton wrote:

Jay-



Since you're taking suggestions: they are more expensive, but the borja mufflers have a real throaty, race car kind of sound to them. There's a couple of different models to choose from and different in/out configurations and sizes to fit your needs. Try JEG's. Many places carry them.



RL Chilton

[Deleted User]

I like the glass packs, but if you have room and want a really mellow sound, and if you can find them use the old Corvair turbo mufflers. I put them on my 67 Fairlane after I got a noise ticket with the glass packs, sounded really mellow and barely passed the noise level. Don't know what they would sound like on a Hudson, If you could get them to fit. They are sort of bulky...

Bob

rambos_ride

66patrick66 wrote:

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I don't know about you all, but I think all these cars and trucks with Flowmasters and similar mufflers all sound alike going down the road. The only difference is the size of the exhaust tips the car/truck is running. With that...

I happen to like the sound of a glasspack muffler. My favorite old-school mufflers are the Smithy's 30" with 2" in/out, and the old Thrush mufflers that were painted black, white, and red and had the "thrush" bird and logo on them. Some turn-down tips out the back for the looks, an "X"-pipe as a crossover (as opposed to an "H" connection"), and the classic sound is there! I'm doing my son's '67 C-10 and my '67 Dodge CSS D-100 in the same way, with Smithy's on both! Had a single Thrush on one of my previous Hudsons, too, and it sounded right!

The chambered pipe that was used on the '69 Camaro had a righteous sound to it, too!

Any comments? Your favorites? What are you running?

I'm right there with you - glass packs, cherry bombs, thrush all evoke good memories! My 90 GM pu has single into dual cherry bombs, but doesn't sound like a rental truck!

I'll probably use the round glass packs to get the 49 down the road within reasonable decible levels - and a couple of these bad boys mounted down under when I want to be extremely obnoxiously loud and make your ear drums bleed!:eek:

[Deleted User]

tha long length of the tail pipe makes the split manifold 6 cyl sould GREAT with smitty's glas pacs. remember ? ? ?

faustmb

Does anyone have pictures of complete dual exhaust on a stepdown? I'm not too keen on having the exhaust under the floor pans, for ground clearance reasons. Any good ideas on routing?



Matt

Unknown

I have a set of photos posted on Hudsonmotorcar.org of the dual exhaust, headers on my 54 Hornet sedan. Even though they kind of go all over the place underneath, there is no clearance problems. I love it and the sound of the short glass packs.

faustmb

That looks like a cool site. I need to spend some more time to check it out more thoroughly. Thanks for the info.



Matt

Unknown

I can also email the photos to you. 308, Clifford Headers, Dual Exhaust... not a bad way to go if you're not going Brand X.

Unknown

I would like to see your Clifford photos....



George t.

[Deleted User]

The center of my stock muffler is shot now and it sounds so nice. The 308 is a racing engine all the way they sound so sweet with the right mufflers on them. Now I have to find a muffler that sounds like my shot muffler and I am going the backtohudson route with the Clifford header and dual glass packs. I have the Clifford header now to find the right glass packs anyone have any suggestions?



And yes I have the photos of backtohudsons setup over on my site. The sequence is in its own gallery and starts here http://www.hudsonmotorcar.org/coppermine/displayimage/album=20/pos=0.html I whinned and whinned until he posted them. Great info for a nice setup. And Matt come on over and join up, share some pictures of what you are working on.

[Deleted User]

i used to think smittys were the way to go. my dad ran them on his 48 ford coupe. well when i got my 48 i was going to run smittys on it as well. I spoke to a guy and he said he would sell me a new pair. i asked him the reason why he was selling them and he said they were not loud enough. he opted for brockman mellowtones. well i got a pair and tried them on my ford. may dad and i were more than impressed. the rumble was awesome and it would snap and pop when ya let off. i am hooked. i bought a pair for my wasp. and the quality far exceeds the smittys. I would also like to say the help on this site is fantastic. everyone really comes together to help one another out. the best hot rod forum on the web and I'm glad I'm a part of it.

[Deleted User]

Check these out! Really pricey at $345 but a friend of mine is running them on his Blazer and he loves the sound.



http://www.supertrapp.com/product_sections/detail.asp?CatID=31&ItemID=546-2519



Adjustable too!



Jay

faustmb

My brother used to have one of those on his old Kawasaki Motorcycle. Also knew I guy who had a pair on a 50 something Dodge. They do sound really good, but I'm not sure I like the look. I'm thinking dual exhaust pipes turned down in the stock location will look pretty sharp.



Matt

hudsontech

On the '39 Plymouth coupe I had back in the 50's, with the '53 small block 241 hemi engine, I had a set of by-pass pipes on it. Fellow in Mississippi made up the pipes and the set-up. Had solenoids to open and close butterfly valves on each pipe in front of the mufflers. Fellow did one hell of a job on those by-pass pipes - you had to put the car on a lift to see them. Used to raise cain with small town cops. Get into town and make a lot of noise - by the time they stopped us for loud pipes, we'd shut the by-passes off and were back on the mufflers. Most of the time they'd just walk away talking to themselves. "Gee, officer, sir, it couldn't have been my car!!! Must have been somebody else!!!"



Hudsonly,

Alex B

hornet53

I got a 53 Hornet that had a quiet muffler installed when I bought it. First thing I did was swap that for a Flowmaster 40-series. Sounded really good at first, but after a few shows it wasn't loud enough. I now have a generic 12 inch glasspack installed. Amazing how much better it is. About $100 cheaper too. The Flowmaster would probably sound better on my 99 Grand Prix 3.8 anyway.

[Deleted User]

I figured I'd resurrect this thread. So are glass packs, Smittys and Brockmans the mufflers of choice for a Hudson 6?

Lee ODell

I prefer the sound of Borla turbo mufflers. And they make for a more efficient exhault system coupled with headers then the old style glass pack mufflers. However, the sound from a muffler system is a personal preference. So instal whatever muffler makes you happy and enjoy. Lee

[Deleted User]

Flowmasters, Borlas...Yuck! they don't belong on a vintage engine.....Just my opinion. Brockman Mellow Tones and Porter Mufflers are high quality and have a great sound on straight 6's and 8's

[Deleted User]

Recently replaced the muffler on my 47 coupe, looking for a flowmaster but the installer didnt have one or even a glasspack. So, I looked around at his stock and found a long straight new muffler that you could see thru that had short pieces of metal(almost like wire strips 3/4 in long hanging from the inside wall of the pipe) Those strips were the only things in the exhaust flow to slow it down, no bends. The installer said he usually put them on tractors, so I decided to try one. It is not loud, but I can hear a little rumble and can carry a conversation in the car without yelling. Guess I'll use it a while till it rust out or gets too loud.

Put a straight pipe on my Model A speedster with a hopped up engine and a flapper to dampen the noise if anyone complains, if it's open its great, grandkids love it.

Bob

MikeWA

Check out waldronexhaust.com- they have one with an internal cut-out and control, so you can be quiet or noisy with flick of a switch. Conventional setups also. Kits listed for Hudson.

Unknown

One time I had a 78 camaro and ran about 12 inches of pipeoff the header collectors into dual cheapie turbo(thrush) mufflers and they sounded great! but I probably shoulda run some pipe off the backside of the mufflers, they dumped right under the front seat pans not smart but then I was young. has anybody ever run the supertrapp mufflers?

terraplane8

I had my '33 T8 up on the hoist the other day and noticed that the only muffler on the entire system is a small straight through resonator about 2' long.



The exhaust does sound quite crisp and also has a nice sound on the over-run, however it is far below offensive levels and passes the licensing test fine.



I don't see the need for a full muffler in this case.

Unknown

You think ground clearance is a problem, try a 29 Essex with 15 in. rims on original suspension, maybe 5 to 8 inches to ground, have flowmasters on the 2in. pipes, turned out at rear wheels



Peter



PS put them on to keep noise down from straight pipes, nirghbours like it better

Browniepetersen

I wanted a muffler for my 52 that was tuned to the pressure that I would get from the engine. We did a bit of machining so that our HP was up to 220 on the 308 and after we placed the tail pipe we measured the pressures and ordered a muffler to match the engine and exhaust. It had very little resistance, was not loud like a glass-pack but gave us 35% less base noise than a unrestricted pipe. I loved it, and it was about 40% more in cost than a standard cherry bomb or glass pipe.