I had about 2 feet of pipe and a turn down after the big stock cat on my '97 460 I wasn't too loud. I took the cat out and put a 3in magnaflow muffler in its place I think the muffler is actually louder.

 

i like them weldup headers you can make the exhaust come right out the top of the hood. put packs on the end, and cant get no simpler then that.

 

police escort for sure! So loud i could see flashing lights. Ha! Ha! true story!

 

Thanks everyone for the replies.


Not too sure about the exhaust through hood thing being something I want to try. If it were a dedicated off-road truck then sure, but I have to drive through a lot of highway before that off-road. I also drive through some to go play in the desert here.

I live in Arizona, and try to avoid California, but if I have to go there ever I would rather not have exhaust pipes sticking through the hoods melting the safety layers of my windshield. :-P

Something tells me that the CHP would love me for that. I doubt they will love me driving with nearly open headers, but I can mitigate that by not driving like a country boy in a mud hole to stay off their radar as much as possible. They only positive thing is that the truck isn't lifted, and I run street tires until I get to the trails where we hunt. So it looks like a work truck for the most part.

 

I think a good compromise would be cutouts. Open headers at a flip of a switch and quiet when it needs to be.

 

Wont having a really loud exhaust be a disadvantage when hunting? Ive got a 77 with a 460, stock exhaust manifolds and some sort of glass packs, and its fairly loud as it sits. personally when i 4 wheel i want to be able to easily hear more than an exhaust, things like tire spin, or noises within the entire driveline

 

I don't hunt from the truck. LOL!

I'm not worried about hearing anything else. If it starts making funny noises there is nothing I can do about it until I get out of the woods. The only thing I travel with are fluids, tire chains, a tug cable, and belts. If something is making a noise that means there is something wrong that I will not be able to fix with my socket set and fluids. The E4OD is already a noisy beast.

 

Im not suggesting that you hunt outta the truck, but as you approach hunting grounds arent you dealing with animals that possess far better hearing than humans? as such, isnt announcing your presence with a louder than necessary vehicle putting you at a disadvantage?

 

I only use the truck to pull and carry the carcass. I park the truck and walk in.

 

Noises often times start off as a warning........adding a little fluid, or tightening a bolt when the sounds first occur can prevent worse damage or an actual breakdown..But if you dont care about how loud your truck is, i certainly dont either! Im hundreds of miles north of you. It seems as if you really werent interested in others opinions, only looking to argue. Even the question is kinda silly, since any internal combustion engine without much exhaust is loud, whether its a 460 or a 50cc Stihl Chain Saw.........

 

Actually, you seem to be the one arguing or having an issue with it. I was asking how loud, not if it were too loud for you to be comfortable with. There is a distinctive difference in the two. One is something measurable and quantifiable, the other is your opinion and prone to subjective variance depending on what time of the day and how well hydrated you are.

It was the other members of the site that took it upon themselves to mingle the two and be abusive with their tone and outright disrespectful. I was never disrespectful, but I did respond in kind.

Have a nice day sir, and I hope you future efforts are just as prosperous and positive as your current ones.


If you want to know I solved the problem. Open headers were not that loud, I drove it around for a week like that, and with a full dual exhaust the truck actually sounds nice.

 

I have been running Wicked Flow straight thru mufflers on my 77 for years. They dump out under the truck and the noise is minimal except when driving in a closed area. It is fun driving through a parking garage. I set off every car alarm in the garage.

 

Well then you answered the question to your own satisfaction............."Open headers were not that loud" "And with a full dual exhaust the truck actually sounds nice" These are hardly numbers, nothing quantified. Equipment required to measure decibel level is not the sort of thing that most of us possess, i suspect the vast majority of us dont consider purchasing it for the very simple reason that we are able to ascertain that it will be too loud for OUR own tastes, not to mention that it might get us unwanted attention from the local LE.
Did you honestly expect someone to give you actual decibel levels?
And Best luck to you, your vehicle and in your travels, sir.

 

i've got a dB meter if someone is willing to pay for all the exhaust work required to quantify numbers.

any takers?

beyond that, it is all subjective.

i drove my plow truck on and off the trailer with open headers and qualified it as "unbearable" and that is just a SBC ... no way would i try that with a 460.... but, to each his/her own.

i'm glad you are happy with your exhaust.

i do wish you would have done what you wanted everyone else to do, though ... that way we could all have numbers to reference.

 

I have that Magnaflow off road pro series muffler in a 1991 jeep. If you Want it loud this is NOT the muffler for you. BUT it does tuck up nice out of they way. Will