I have a 68 Camaro with a 350 motor out of a early 80s chevy truck (so I have been told) I would like a little better performance but do enjoy a "quiet" ride. Would putting headers on this motor with a "stock" quiet muffler system gain anything? Or should I leave the stock exhaust manifolds on for a super quiet ride? What else can I do to get more "zip" but still keep it quiet?

Thanks!

You'll get a lot of different opinions on this one so let me be the first. First of all, a good flowing exhaust does not mean you have to have a loud car. I have headers with true dual exhaust going back to two Flowmaster 50 series mufflers and then of course tailpipes. I used the 50 series mufflers because it uses 3 "chambers" in the muffler to quiet down the noise. The 40 series, the most popular model, uses only 2 "chambers" and is much louder. With my system my car is VERY quiet under steady cruising (at least as quiet as stock, maybe quieter) and mild acceleration but, when you punch it the sound deffinately increases but is not very much louder than a nice sounding stock system. To me this is perfect, quiet when I am driving like "normal" people, great tone and sound when I open it up (just enough to let the guy in the car next to me know that he's gonna have a hard time keeping up!)

Now about your header question. Headers will help the engine breath better but any restriction behind the headers (stock style mufflers) will limit the performance gains you could expect. I still say get them and put them on, just remember that this is just your first step in getting a good exhaust SYSTEM. I've been taught and fully believe that the highest point of restriction in any exhaust is the mufflers. With that in mind I designed my system around mufflers with good flow. I even went one step further (and many people may not agree with this as I have never heard of anyone else that has done this but myself) I installed mufflers with 3" inlets and outlets and the pipes in and out of the mufflers are only 2.5". I did this to help the flow through the mufflers.

To give yourself an idea why I did this go to a store and start looking at some straight through inline style mufflers. You know, basically just a large straight pipe. Look through the muffler. The first thing that you will see is that the pipe diameter inside the actual muffler usually gets smaller so your 2" muffler now becomes a 1 3/4 diameter muffler. That restricts the flow and reduces performance due to the increased backpressure. I tried to avoid that by increasing the size of the muffler compared to the pipe.

I could go on and on but I won't. Just remember, an exhaust SYSTEM has many components. Don't expect substantial improvements by changing just one component. By all means, put your headers on then when it is time for new mufflers do your homework and put on some good ones and you will be in pretty good shape.
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