I was thinking about taking of my tail pipes and just putting turn downs behind the muffler. I like the way my car sounds but I wouldnt mind hearing a little more rumble. Would it be much louder if I cut them off, or would it not make a noticable differance. thanks

I have a 90 Chevy pickup. When I bought it, it had 40 series flows on it with turndowns before the axle. It had such a resonance (<~spelling?) that was simply untollerable to me. So I asked a few people and they said it was really bad. but it was only a certain RPM's tho. So I ended up putting a whole new system on and going out the back. Sounds good now.

I don't know what yours sounds like now, but if you want more rumble, turndowns are the way to get it. Be carefull, it may be more than what you want because the sound bounces off the ground and right back up to the car. I would imagine it would be worse on a car rather than a truck.

Hope this gives you a little idea.

Joe

Being a "child of the 70's" I personnaly like loud exhaust. I don't care for the "flow master" sound that has been the rage for the last couple decades. Header mufflers are what I cut my teeth on and I guess I am just to old school to change.

I have a '69 350SS and the first thing I did when I got it was install Thorley Tri-Y header;s and 3" "Purple Hornie" Header mufflers without over the axle tail pipes. I used turn downs and pointed them at a 45 degree angle down and out.

Especially with manual shift cars (mine is a factory 3 speed Muncie), for me, if you can't clearly here the exhaust "wrap" inside the car when shifting gears the exhaust is too quite.

Is it loud, yes? Can you have a conversation while cruising, yes.

To steal a phrase from Nike....."Just Do It" :thumbsup:

Most state inspection require the exhuast to at least exit behind the driver. I'm sure the rules vary by state.

I had a full exhaust in my old car & removed the tail pipes & fitted some 45's straight out of the mufflers & just in front of the diff. It did make the car more droney but it also made it sound tuffer & from memory the 1/4 mile times improved a bit too.

With my new car when I had the exhaust made I did not even bother getting tail pipes made up, straight out of the Aero chambers with a 45 & it sounds real nice to me, my wife hates it but each to their own.

All cars should have tailpipes, Dump suck. I put tailpipes on my race car!

Its pretty easy to splice in dump tubes and have the best of both worlds. Nothing like after the car shows idling out until you see an unsuspecting spectator and then blip the throttle.

When I was young, I would always just have turn-downs coming off the mufflers... but this may have been more a "lack of money" thing than looking for the right sound :)

Nowadays though, I too have found the resonance created to be unbearable, usually. That too-much-bass droning sound can really get to you after a while (I'm getting old). Also, one important thing that hasn't been mentioned here yet is the issue of exhaust fumes. If you're dumping your exhaust out under your car, the fumes are going to end up IN your car... exhaust fumes are generally hotter and lighter than air, and will rise upon exiting the vehicle. And remember, cardon monoxide by itself really doesn't smell. It's just not safe, IMO... especially if you spend a lot of time sitting in traffic. That's the worst situation for a car with no tailpipes.

A good compromise, I think, is to dump the exhaust out the side just behind the rear wheels... rather than running it all the way out the back under the rear bumper. This still keeps a nice fat deep sound, but keeps the resonance down and gets the exhaust exits pointing away from the car like they should.

~Bob

I put a 3 inch flowmaster system on my 69 with H pipe and 1 3/4 headers. Super 40 mufflers. I have tail pipes in the stock location but they don't point straight out the back. instead with the large pipe I liked it best to just cut off the tailpipe along the body line. So the pipes point down towards the ground and slightly towards the rear. plus you don't see the pipes at all. very clean I think. I've never had dumps before the axle but I would bet this configuration is somewhere in between the dumps and regular tailpipes. I love it and the interior noise isn't bad at all. Some of the exhaust noise bounces back up in the trunk area, but not too much.

I had my 2.5 x-pipes through glass packs with no turn downs or tail pipes. It sounded like someone was banging a hammer on the bottom of the car, LOL. With the cam I run it really thumped. The reason that I put tail pipes on was because I burned a strap on the dyno and I didn't want the super hot gas burning anything else. So, tailpipes straight out the back. Sounds much better, hot gas exits where it won't hurt anything and with the pipes straight out the back no dust gets kicked up.

I haven't ever liked the look of tail pipes coming out the back...to me it takes away from the "muscle" image. I dump mine over the axle and like to hear the rumble. If it gets too loud for you, buy an amplifier and turn your stereo up!

If you guys with turn downs are driving along and for some reason feel tired worn out ,you are not !!!!! It maybe the start of carbon monoxide poisoning , Just a though good luck and tail pipes are Happy Motoring

Yes, Old Bald Guy makes a good point. However, I think dumping the exhaust out behind the rear wheels at the edge of the fender is probably the best compromise.

Ok. Thanks for all the replys, I think I am going to dump them before the axle and point them at a 45 so some of the fumes get out. I like the annoying after awhile sound. Thanks for your options, and if I dont like it I will just keep the tail pipes and put them back on.

Im running the flowmaster 2.5" mandrel tails on mine. But I cut them just before they exit out of the rear quarter panel. Looks sweet(cant see it) and sounds good.

Here's what I did to mine.....You know how the tailpipes loop over the rear end then come down.....That's where I cut them off, just slightly past the rear end.

All cars should have tailpipes, Dump suck. I put tailpipes on my race car!

Amen to this! I concur 100%.................... :thumbsup:

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3" tails here.
Have them weld flanges on the back of the mufflers. Put a set on the tail pipes and another set on some turndowns. This way you can change them anytime you want.