What are some aftermarket mufflers others have ran here?

I am looking for a mild muffler that can be driven at night without waking the neighborhood up but has that sporty sports car sound.

Im currently in a drawing to win a '56 Tbird with a 312 in it to go along with my Fairlane and I been thinking about aftermarket mufflers.

I have a Magnaflow XL 3 Chamber muffler for my '82 F150 but cant find any videos of magnaflow mufflers on a Y block so not sure how that would sound. I know smithy mufflers sound pretty good on a Y-block but hard to gauge volume in a video.

 

I would recommend saving a lot of money & go with Allied resonators......available is any muffler shop nationwide, are of excellent quality, 1/2 the price of “performance Mufflers”, available in any length from 10" to 38" (IIRR), flow as good as Borla or most any of the "Race Mufflers”, tone is deeper and you get a nice rumble (low) with no drone and none of the tinny "ricer" echo. Allied has been made for at least 30 years and available in just about any diameter you would require (I have personally run these for since the 1970's). It's best to go to a muffler shop, have them drop the mufflers then hold up a couple of different ones (length) while you sit in the vehicle with the engine running. Longer is quieter for the most part although diameter has a bit to do with it as well.

My dad back in the day, had a "hot' 1948 Merc flathead, he did try the Smithy's but they sounded very loud and more like a commercial truck like sound versus "HotRod". He went back to the Allied resonators.

On my 65 mustang, 300+ hp 289, I run 38" long units, 2.5" diameter, quiet but a very nice rumble..... my nephew who is about 30 years old, he's finally starting to want to learn about cars, went for "check out' drive in "Betsy" last year for the 1st time. I gently revved the engine in 1st, 2nd, 3rd and his response, "This sounds like a race car!" My Mark LT has 24" units (2.5" diameter). probably would have been better with 30" long units but it is still quiet with a nice rumble and the wifes 1997 Cougar Sport with the 4.6.... has 2- 10" long units....... really nice sounding!!!!!

If you desire more of the name brand units, on the net, please read as they give real good info on flow, sound levels, etc.:

broaderperformance.com/muffler_flow_tests.htm (Independently tested cfm flows of the more popular mufflers, glasspacks and resonators @ 15” wc:

2 ½” diameter straight pipe 521

2 ¼” diameter straight pipe 365

2” diameter straight pipe 283

2 ¼” diameter tailpipe 268

2 ¼” round glasspack- no louvers 274

2 ¼” round glasspack- with inward punched louvers 133

2 ¼” round glasspack- inward punched louvers/installed backwards 141

2 ½” inlet/outlet Dynomax SuperTurbo 268

2 1/4” inlet/outlet Thrush CVX 260

2 ½” inlet/outlet Flowmaster 2-chamber 249

2 ¼” inlet/2 ½”outlet Cherry Bomb turbo 249

2 ¼” inlet/outlet Flowmaster 3-chamber 229

2 ¼” inlet/2 ½”outlet Maremount Super C (OEM Replacement) 149

2 ¼” inlet/2” dual outlet Maremount 183

2 ¼” inlet/outlet California Turbo 229

2 ½” inlet/outlet Hooker Aerochamber 324

2 ½” inlet/outlet Hooker MaxFlow 521

2 ¼” inlet/outlet Maremount Cherrybomb Vortex 298

2 ½” inlet center/outlet offset Borla Turbo 373

http://www.popularhotrodding.com/eng...../index1.html (this is an in-depth article that tests not only the mis-conception of flow demand but also how placement of a muffler (a glass pack in this dyno test) can actually "fool " the system into thinking that it is essentially a straight pipe.

I have listed here a muffler shootout test done by CAR CRAFT:

The Mufflers
MAKE MODEL Part No.
SUMMIT Turbo 630125
THRUSH Magnum Glasspack 24214
THRUSH Boss Turbo 17718
HOOKER Competition 21006
DYNOMAX Super Turbo 17733
DYNOMAX Race Magnum 24215
HOOKER Super Competition 21106
SUMMIT Fully Welded 630325
FLOWTECH Afterburner 50322

MUFFLER FLOW TEST

MUFFLER Flow at 28-in H20
DynoMax Race Magnum 528.64 cfm
Thrush Magnum Glasspack 507.40 cfm
Summit Fully Welded 343.38 cfm
Flowtech Afterburner 342.20 cfm
DynoMax Super Turbo 333.94 cfm
Hooker Competition 232.46 cfm
Hooker Super Competition 320.96 cfm
Summit Turbo 331.16 cfm
Thrush Boss Turbo 297.36 cfm

MUFFLER Idle dB WOT dB
DynoMax Super Turbo 89 123
DynoMax Race Magnum 94 133
Flowtech Afterburner 92 124
Hooker Competion 92 122
Hooker Super Competion 90 125
Summit Turbo 89 124
Summit Fully Welded 92 125
Thrush Boss Turbo 90 123
Thrush Magnum Glasspack 92 128

DYNO TEST
All mufflers were dyno-tested on a 355-cube SBC with 10.0:1 compression, Air Flow Research 190 aluminum heads, a CompCams 292 hyd. a Victor Jr. intake, a Holley 750-cfm double-pumper, and 1 5/8 Headman headers.


MUFFLER HP TORQUE 2,500-6,000rpmAverage
Hooker Competition 397.4 381.1 286.8hp/351.9 lb-ft
Thrush Boss Turbo 407.1 384.9 292.1 hp/357.5 lb-ft
DynoMax Race Magnum 409.5 394.3 298.8 hp/366.9 lb-ft
Flowtech Afterburner 409.7 391.2 294.8 hp/361.7 lb-ft
Thrush Glasspack 409.5 389.8 297.7 hp/365.3 lb-ft
Summit Turbo 411.5 386.3 291.5 hp/357.4 lb-ft
DynoMax Super Turbo 412.7 387.2 292.6 hp/358.6 lb-ft
Hooker Super Comp 413.8 387.2 292.8 hp/359.0 lb-ft
Summit Fully Welded 415.4 390.7 295.6 hp/362.4 lb-ft

While there are mufflers that will out flow a glass pack design, it also depends on the design. Does the glasspack use "louvers or perforations" - Louvers reduce the flow by as much as 50% but Allied resonators (that sell for $80) each and available at any muffler shop) installed backwards in independent test flowed 90%+ of a "race spec muffler". Others using other brands consistently showed similar results.

 

I will have to check that out, I will know if I won the Thunderbird this April 22 when they do the drawing, with just 182 tickets sold to date and its been stuck at 182 tickets sold for the last 3 weeks it will go up to 188 tickets sold when I drop another $500 on tickets to get 6 bringing me up to having 8 tickets myself.

I know I am not looking for max performance I just wanted something sporty sounding that would let the Y block idle with a nice sporty sound as well as accelerate without sounding too far from stock volume wise. I dont want a race exhaust I just want a hot little factory like performance exhaust. I think the mufflers on the car now may be OE stock and if they are the same dimensions I might swap them over to my Fairlane. I do know I want smaller mufflers width wise cause its a pita trying to get to the speedometer cable or the shifter/neutral safety switch.

 

I have Hooker Aerochambers on mine. I don't think my assessment on sound will help you because you want a comparison to stock and my engine has never been stock. If you took a 1957 E code engine and modified that, that is basically what I have. That said, it went from ear ringingly loud with purple hornies glass packs to not ear ringingly loud with the aerochambers. With the aerochambers, you have to speak loudly to have a conversation with someone in the vehicle. On a stock engine, the noise level should be lower.

 

Let's not forget to include tailpipe changes. I live in central Florida and few vehicles here keep the original tailpipe because noise is the big thing here. Trucks add a fat tip and ricers change the resonator. If it's about sound/noise, and your muffler is decent, just change the size/shape of the tip.
personally, I love that my 292 is super quiet.

 

I've run DynaMax Super Turbo mufflers on everything from my little Ford Focus through my 427 Chevelle. They flow extremely well, are quiet under part throttle and have a nice note under full power.