loud side exhausts revisited

[Richard Weddle]

As usual, the forum has come up with many excellent suggestions regarding my wife's problem with loud side exhausts. Baby-blue is factory side pipes, so conversion would be difficult. I am most interested in a quiet aftermarket side exhaust system. Any leads out there for such an animal?

[Stephen L.]

Re: loud side exhausts revisited

Side exhausts are loud and louder compared to undercar exhausts. If your wife is looking for the quiet of a Honda then you're in trouble.....

[Chuck R.]

Re: loud side exhausts revisited

Just buy her a sweet little 67 Camaro rag top with a 327 with duals underneath and you can put in the ear plugs and play with the fire breather

I know, this is no help but I'd kill to have your "issue" seeings how my hearing is shot anyway.

My wife told me in no uncertain terms that the 68 WILL NOT have side pipes. She still has the scar from her then boy friends 66 on her calf.

Chuckster

[John Chesher]

Re: loud side exhausts revisited

I have Hooker sidepipes w/ "Spiral Turbo Baffles" (sold separately, byt different manufacturer. They are EXTREMELY loud. Wife hates it, I love it. From what I am told, about the ONLY semi-quiet option is the reverse flow baffles (for the hooker pipes), but if I would you, I would hear before buying. From my experience, everyone's opinion of what quiet and load exhausts are varies greatly, so they may not be nearly as quiet as under car exhaust. That said, I do know there are fairly quiet options out there, as I have seen/heard a vette with the hooker pipes that was no more load than the average muscle car. Just don't know what baffles he was running...
Good luck.

[William C.]

Re: loud side exhausts revisited

I know where there is a nice '67 Camaro convertible for sale (6-cyl) that would make your wife forget about riding in the Corvette...

[Wayne K.]

Chuck, that must be a girl thing as my wife ....

has one on her calf from a previous boy friends 65 with hooker sides. Maybe it was a way of branding their women in the 60's.

Wayne

[Joe C.]

Re: loud side exhausts revisited

Richard,

There are NO sidepipes that are as "quiet" as conventional, NON-CHAMBERED undercar exhaust, while still offering minimal restriction. Chambered undercar exhaust will not solve your "problem" and if your car IS, REALLY, an original sidepiper, then that's not an option. Do you know, that the original diameter sidepipe mufflers are very restrictive! And, if you think THAT'S loud, you oughtta hear the high perf low restriction mufflers being sold by at least 3 manufacturers that I can think of! They'll make your ears bleed, but the low restriction offered thereby is really a NECESSITY for a BBC, and to a lesser degree, for an extensively modified SBC.

A lot of BBC guys swear by the "Spiral Turbo Baffles" inserts, which are made to replace the glasspack baffling inside Hooker Header sidepipes. Dyno tests seem to prove that they offer significantly lower restriction than stock type 1 7/8" perf pipe baffled sidepipes. I have heard them described as "mellow", "quiet", "docile at cruise RPM, but they really BARK when you jump on it" as compared to original (type) sidepipe mufflers. Yeah, I know, these are all very scientific, objective, and quantifiable conclusions. If you ask 1000 people for their definition of "loud"........you'll get 1001 answers.

All of that being said, there are four things that you can do:
1. Put a potato(e) in each exhaust outlet.
2. Trailer your car to cruise-ins, shows, etc.
3. Buy yourself a nice, sensible vintage car, like a 1959 Rambler Classic.
4. Trade the wife for a set of "Sweet Thunder" 2 1/2" inner perf pipe mufflers.

Me........I love the sound and smell of my Corvette. Maybe it's because I lost too many brain cells by not using a mask on "the job". Besides, I'm almost deaf from too many FDNY engine sireens screaming in my ears for 21 years. Plus, there's nothing on the radio that can beat the sweet sound of that SBC singing. If I want a sensible car, I'll drive my rice burner and get 35 MPG instead of 12. The only thing that I miss, is the smell of TEL in the exhaust fumes.

Joe

PS: Are you sure that your car is an original sidepepe car? If not, then it's real easy to convert back to undercar. That's really what you need to do. If you need to know what to look for, then contact me off the boards.

[Phil P.]

Re: loud side exhausts revisited

check out there for chambered tubes, (same as chambered exhaust), as they come in different lenghts and diameters---have a 67 468 with a real snappy cam,(does'nt sound like a boat in a marina), using hooker sidepipe header setup---it is loud in the garage and at low speeds but once you get it up on the pipe you can live with it---it is a 36" X 2 1/5" inside dia tube, which is next to nothing at all---they come longer and smaller than that---i would think a 1 1/5 or 1 7/8 dia with 48' or longer will keep the noise down for the wife--good luck,phil

[Richard S.]

Re: loud side exhausts revisited

Richard,

Do a search in the archives. The smaller diameter side pipes can be really quiet. This has been discussed before in the past and I'm surprised no one is pointing you to an aftermarket supplier who sells the smaller pipes. Start calling some of them yourself after you look in the archives. My 66 427/390 is MUCH quieter than my 67 427/435. Hope this helps.

[Joe C.]

Re: loud side exhausts revisited

Rick,

There is no such thing as smaller pipes. The smallest set reproduced is about the same (1 7/8 - 1 3/4) as the inner diameter of the originals.....only difference is in the tube thickness and the perf config/shapes. The reason that they sound "quieter" might be because the original pipes on your 435 car are "broken in" , ie: slightly corroded inner tube. The original inner tube is very thin (which is essential to producing the "stock" exhaust note), and corrosion doesn't take long to begin opening up the perforations. They become "louder" relatively quickly.

There are three manufacturers of repop mufflers AFAIK:

http://www.stainlessworks.net/cart/index.php

http://www.sweet-thunder.com

http://www.allencorvetteexhaustsystems.com

All three offer 1 3/4" , 2", and 2 1/2" inner perf pipe styles.

With Hooker Sidepipes, the BBC crowd seems to like:

http://www.spiralturbobaffles.com

Joe

[Chuck R.]

Never did it with a Vette Wayne

But my ole 71 Triumph Bonneville left one limping and swearing at a Dairy Queen.

She refused to get back on it and called her mother to pick her up.

Needless to say, I was tounge lashed in sterio .......................... Man I STILL miss that bike

Chuck

[George J.]

Re: loud side exhausts revisited

In my experience, the difference between the 390hp and 435hp cars is the cam. It seems to me that all the solid lifter cars, including small blocks have the louder sound while the hydraulic lifter cars are much quieter. This is from an unscientific study by observation over the last 12 years.

George

[Jack H.]

And mine...

swallowed a valve and grenaded the engine in the Yucatan jungle of Mexico! Cost be a bloody fortune to get myself and the bike out of country!

[Chuck R.]

Re: Ouch

Ahh Chichen Itza I remember it well..............and the Baboons

[Verle R.]

Re: loud side exhausts revisited

Compression ratio play a role in exhaust note.
The higher the compression, the more pronounced the note.
That is one reason the solid lifter engines sound different/louder.
Overlap of the high performance cam adds to the sound.

My ears have a permanent ring from some of those sounds.

Verle