Alright guys I don't have a 300 right now, but I will some day, I do have another I6, what I want to know is what sounds good on these engines. I need to know what exhaust systems would make the most die hard nothing but V8's should make noise guys say, not bad for a six. I want to know not only cat back but headers anything that sounds awesome, anything from loud to not very much louder than stock, in fact both if you can.

 

I love the way mine sounds straight piped, no cats or mufflers. I used a old chunk of stainless fence post to make most of the system. It exits infront of the right rear tire through a 3 inch chrome tip. I strung it up to the truck with bailing wire and a couple bent up wire hangers.

It has a nice lumpy rumble going down the road. It has a cackle when floored, nothing like a v8, more like a tractor.

I tried a few different mufflers on it over the years. most made it sound like rice.

 

Back in about 1980 my exhaust dropped off the '77 F150 as I headed on a trip to Georgia from Michigan. We had the truck loaded, so it was very loud with the pipe exiting under the floorboards. Got to TN and pulled off to take a leak off the embankment and I spotted a muffler at the bottom, just like the one that goes on these trucks. Retreived it, beat it on the pipe with a big rock, tied it up with rope (kind used to frame silk for silk screens to print T-shirts) and drove off. Much quieter. Had that muffler for several years but had to use some strapping iron to better secure it.

Anyway, yeah, you'll never impress a V8 fan with the I6 sound IMO. As jimbo says, it's best sounding like a big tractor and that is easy. Look in my gallery to see what I did. I like my sound and it cost little and has lasted about 5 years so far, ripening and getting louder with age.

 

I dunno about that.. I like the sound of my I6 winding up better than my dad's tone 350 in his chevy. Actualy as foolish as this may sound, I personaly think my I6 sounds a lot like a v8 when it's winding up. it sure doesn't sound zippy like a normal 6 cyl or 4..

But, I'm not a huge v8 fan. The love for my 4.9 may be why I love the sound too! haha

 

Well the reason I ask is because I had a cat back straight pipe on my old XJ Cherokee, and I liked the sound alright, but knobody else did. It sounded better than my brother's 300 six F-150 with glasspacks. I would like to hear a good sounding exhuast that even a V8 guy could say it doesn't sound terrible. Most non gear heads thought my old Cherokee had a V8 in it. It was real throaty and deep but it could be better, the 40 and 50 series Flowmasters sound good on the Jeep six but I haven't heard them on the Ford, or even the Buick V6 cause I have one of those too. Someone said there is an old hot rod trick that makes sixes sound awesome by splitting the manifolds or something. I heard an old Hot Rod driving in front of me during the car show weekend here and I don't know what motor he had but it didn't sound like a V8, but it didn't sound like a six either, it was just awesome, I should have followed him and asked him what it was, he had the big horn looking tips coming out the back. It sounded like a mix between V8 and 6 cylinder motor, man if I could get a six to sound like that.

 

I don't know about Flowmaster for the 300 I6. I don't want my truck to sound like a hot rod. If it was fast, it would be a different story, but to me, it is sad for a vehicle to sound fast and not be fast. That's why the tractor or truck sound is perfect for these big sixes.

 

Go with a straight pipe, no cats to a Flowmaster 40 with a turndown. I've owned several Jeep inline sixes, Ford inline sixes and even Triumph inline sixes. I've done that exhaust system with ALL of my sixes and they all sound like V8's. The Jeep and Triumph sixes scream and sound fantastic.... the 300 sounds like a V8 but unlike the Jeep and Triumph motors... it doesn't really scream (exhaust velocity issue).... and at about 3000-3500 RPM you can't even really hear the exhaust from inside the truck anymore. If you're wanting to keep the cats on your truck if you have any, it's literally impossible to make the 6 sound like an 8 or even good for that matter. Right now i've got two cats infront of my Flow 40 and it SOUNDS LIKE CRAP. I have to do it for stupid Central Texas emissions though.

If you're running an old log style exhaust manifold (it'll make it sound like a Harley with a straight pipe, kinda cool / not really), dump it for some headers then run it through the Flowmaster 40. It'll sound like a Ferrari with twice the cubes. I did it with my 6500RPM 300 in my '82 F100. People will be shocked at what the noise is coming from. It literally sounds like an exotic.

Anyway, Flowmaster 40 original, not delta series or any of the other gimmicky Flow 40's. You won't be disappointed.

 

I love my exhaust as well, its a Flowmaster 40, no cat. and 4 1/4in. big rig pipes..photos in my gallery coming soon. It really sounds meaty, esp for a I6 300.

 

Where exactly did you put the muffler at, and how big were your pipes?

 

I got my muffler from a custom exhaust shop. The pipes I have are 4 1/4in. I added 3 pictures in my gallery of them if you want to check it out. Since those pictures, I have also added rain caps.

 

yeah because 4 and a fourth inch pipe wont kill back pressure or anything ... post and audio clip i like the set up just but dont know how good it would sound on anything but a diesel..

 

lol... yeah I think 4+ inches might be much for a stock 300. As it is the 300 has always had low exhaust velocity. The issue is at the exhaust manifold. they are so untuned, they don't scavenge when you need 'em too and the pipes are too big (EFI) for too short of a distance. Long tube headers and single 2.5" (MAX)exhaust systems work wonders for the 300. Sound wise and performance wise. I would shift my built 300 powered F100 at 6500 RPM through a 2.5" exhaust system and it was more than enough. I think 3 inches would have reduced performance and i know it wouldn't scavenge as well either. It would just do the typical 300 buffet and fart like they all do with huge low restriction exhaust systems. My current truck described in the earlier post does that buffeting crap. Too bad it's limited due to it being EFI. If I could program the computer i'd be shifting this truck at 6500 like my old one.

BUT if you're out to have fun, hell put 4x12 inch round exhaust stacks out the bed lol... it's your truck you do what you want to do and whatever floats your boat man. The big thing here is just have fun.

 

Ohhhh trust me, its sounds meaty as hell, it has a nice low grumble all the way through 4th gear. Once you get around 65mph, it starts to even out and just makes a loud hum but until then, its a great sound. I know its not gonna compare to a diesel but I was very impressed when I got it back from my exhaust guy. It never backs up pressure or back fires ever. I had a 2 1/4 inch pipe on it before and noticed a huge difference in pickup after I got the 4 1/4in pipes, it was sooooo much better. I'll get one of my computer geek buddies to show me how to do an audio clip one of these days and post it.

 

sweet. i was going to call bs on that on but im glad you had pictures up, i mean it looks very good but if i ran those i would want a 7.3 turbo or something..

 

How in the heck are you revving your 300 to 6500 RPM's? I've never heard of this. I've never even tried to get mine past 4K, and to me it was screaming then!

What's all been done to it?