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I currently have headers on my 352 with dual 24 inch glass packs without a crossover. I am looking to make it sound a little meaner, but not ridiculous. I have always been a fan of Flowmaster's metalic sound. I am wondering what you guys think is the best route to go. Should I run dual flowmasters, with or without a crossover? Or single inlet/dual out flowmaster? Of course I want good performance. Flowmasters are pricey though. Should I just get smaller glass packs?
What ever you decide you need some back pressure for low end torque. Other wise it will be flat till you hit 2K rpm. As a rule no larger than 2.5"/side. If you do a 2 into 1, I would use 3". If you go with the X pipe you can go smaller (2") since you will be using 2 pipes where you originally had 1.
You do not need back pressure for torque, you need the same thing as you need for HP, a free flowing exhaust. The crossover is a worthwhile addition and 2 1/2" dual exhaust would work nicely.
Thanks for the input guys. What do you guys run for exhaust? So back pressure, less back pressure? I want it to have plenty of torque. I am not looking to run this thing on the top end all of the time.
Keep the backpressure, I ran headers with a 3" collector to about 18" of 2 3/4 pipe and flowtech purple hornies 3" in and out 18" long also, It was loud, it sounded mean but as said before it will be flat untill 2,000 rpms and I mean flat (if there was wet pavement, you could give it about half throttle, and once 2,000rpms hit that truck spun out and all hell broke loose its like having a 2 stroke powerband). Keep a 2.5" system, I would also look into magnaflow, in my opnion they make some really throaty sounding mufflers. Cherry bomb is also making mufflers, take a look at there xtreme muffler, it should sound mean - http://www.cherrybomb.com/extreme-mufflers.html
on my 390 im running flowtech headers with about 2ft of 2.25 pipe going into 20" long power sticks and exiting out before the rear tires. to me it sounds great. love setting off car alarms in parking lots. at 2000rpm mine dosent flat out.
I'm running ceramic coated full-length Hookers into 2.25 inch pipe then into the Hooker Aero Chamber mufflers. Not real loud, but very old school sounding.
I have Hooker long tubes running 2.25" pipes into 18" glass pack(s) dumped before the rear axle...still plenty of backpressure and torque from idle and...it sounds pretty dang mean! it's fun to see those z-71r's stare in wonder hahaha
My horn doesn't work so I had to find something else loud enough to get peoples attention!...ran about 6' of straight pipe for a while, got tired of coasting by the fuzz though, this setup is plenty tolerable..at least for me
I am running headers with 2.5" straights all the way back. Sounds good to me!! And I dont have any problem with low end ( not that I have noticed ). It will roast'em ( 35" super swampers ) off the line, NO PROBLEM!!!
Call me a noob, but what are power sticks? I'm also looking for a good exhaust setup on my 66 f250 with a 390. Why do so many people insist backpressure leads to improved torque? Wouldn't equal length headers designed for the lowest possible backpressure be the best ticket for managing exhaust pulses and minimizing both hp/torque losses attributed to the exhaust system?
migook-
If you run smaller pipes the exhaust gases will escape at a higher velocity giving you more low end torque,the exhaust leaves the chambers at a high velocityy actually sucking the air and fuel in at a highe a high speed causing a minor super charging effect. but the smaller pipes could also get restrictive at a high RPM. Backpressure is just a product of running the smaller pipes.That is what i think people dont realize. Ideally you want a free flowing exhaust , but that usually means a increase in pipe size. The bigger pipe will be more effective on an enigne that is running at high rpm
On your 390 I would suggest no larger than 2.5" if running true duals. That is what i have and it drives great.
I don't want to get into the great backpressure debate, but if there is truely something i am missing please post it and give us some info.
Last edited by slinger34; Nov 5, 2007 at 07:04 PM.
Slinger34 - AGREED 100% !! As for mufflers, I've got Thrush 31" glaspaks following Flowmaster long-tube headers on a 360. (dual pipes) I will install an X-pipe between the headers and mufflers. Acording to the info at the time, that could net me 15-25 HP alone on a stock engine.
powersticks are basically old style glasspacks. mine are 3 chamber and 20" long. and mine exit out before the rear tires. and also im running 33.5x16.5 tires on the rear and with my exhaust im able to smoke the tires, the flowmasters i could not do that. do a google/yahoo search for powersticks they have a few videos of other vehicles that have the powersticks. try powersticks.com.