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Topic: Any decent noises if I swap glass pack for factory ler? (Read 6118 times) previous topic - next topic

Any decent noises if I swap glass pack for factory ler?

Waiting on bits for my fuel system rebuild. Noticed my tail pipe is rotten. I have two schools of thought. I live in Pennsylvania in a county whose emission standards are as strict as California. In a college town who is funded directly by college children’s car window tint . Mirror reflectivity and exhaust decibel level

So I must keep my smog pump lines and hoses. I notice this exhaust disconnected at the cats , has more of a shshshshshshshsshhhhh compressed air sound ,than engine note. Taking that’s the smog pump.

So instead of illegally driving my car with expired inspections. Thinking Maybe go ultra quiet. “Pull the interior,  dyno mat everything and put a high quality sound system in. Soft springs for a ultra cruiser experience.

The other option is to listen to my inner 17 year old , wants to clothes hanger up a cherry bomb and a $22.00 tailpipe then install air shocks with 4” of rake and cross fingers.  But I’m sure that’s a horrible option.

Bought the car solely on sentimental reasons. Hard to nail down a objective. Part of me wants a crate motor monster. Which here is impossible unless you have a source for licks and sticks. But I’m starting to settle for vacation/beach/. Long haul cruiser. If it was my choice I’d unbolt those buckets and use them in my living room they’re so  comfy.  Stuck in a rut I guess builders block. I dunno thoughts on going “elegance vs performance “ ?

Re: Any decent noises if I swap glass pack for factory ler?

Reply #1 –
I dunno for me to do the exhaust correctly is to delete the pollution controls. Shorty headers no cats straight out to tips no h pipes or x pipes.   Yet  as good as that is. It’s the  racket. We had a open pipe 280z sure screaming around at 7000 rpm to Motley Crue was fun but 900 miles on vacation is misery.  Then seeing any crown vic caused panic attacks with the 25 year expired inspection lol

Re: Any decent noises if I swap glass pack for factory ler?

Reply #2 –
I out cherry bombs on my ex wife's crown vic wagon. Exhaust and engine are very similar to our cars except it has about a 2" h-pipe with duals all the way through.

We bought the car cheap, but right around the lers was rotted out on both sides, it was the low point where water collected when it sat. It was a california car and had virtually no rust anywhere else on the exhaust.

I actually ordered factory replacement lers for it at first, but the pipe was so rotted out I could break them with my finger tips, so I cut out everything that was rotted and then took a measurement for how much pipe I needed to replace it.

I ended up just getting cherry bombs because they were longer and cheaper then an exhaust extension.

I was really disappointed in it, sounded 100% stock. You could hear the mechanical fan over the exhaust, even at wot.

My 88xr7 also had no tailpipe, they had a cherry bomb welded right to the cat. Couldn't tell until you hit a bump and it hit the floor.

Honestly, in our cars, the 3 super big cats and tiny 1 7/8" exhaust diameter where it necks down in places for clearance and tight bends kills all the sound. Mix that in with the exhaust manifolds, even "open header" they really aren't all that loud.

One day ill get around to throwing duals on one.
Quote from: jcassity
I honestly dont think you could exceed the cost of a new car buy installing new *stock* parts everywhere in your coug our tbird. Its just plain impossible. You could revamp the entire drivetrain/engine/suspenstion and still come out ahead.
Hooligans! 
1988 Crown Vic wagon. 120K California car. Wifes grocery getter. (junked)
1987 Ford Thunderbird LX. 5.0. s.o., sn-95 t-5 and an f-150 clutch. Driven daily and going strong.
1986 cougar.
lilsammywasapunkrocker@yahoo.com

Re: Any decent noises if I swap glass pack for factory ler?

Reply #3 –
Yeah instead of investing $$$ for a custom bent option I think we will invest that towards the interior/stereo/video. Lots of negative feelings towards "Full size" cars even though ours was a mid size. Since when did luxury mean BMW ride and handling. Ok so our downsized land yachts weren't  the best. Maybe we need a new segment.  American  gluttony....."elegance"? Not how fast we can get there. It's about how comfortable can we get there?  Pack some beef n chedders  and a 86 oz mountain dew. Off topic but I know where I want to be with her.  Plus ultra low mileage  no reason to yank a perfectly  fine drive train or RIP it apart trying to make it sound louder.

Re: Any decent noises if I swap glass pack for factory ler?

Reply #4 –
I've had headers and 2.5 cat-less (Michigan has no sniff, YAY!) H for years, but it was attached to some turbo lers on stock 2" cat-back pipes.  The whole thing was horribly corked up.  I just re-did it with 2.5" Mustang mid pipes, some 2.5 ID to 2.5 OD adapters to make them long enough, a pair of 2.5" double offset FlowMaster FlowFX straight through lers, and because I'm 40 and straight throughs are too loud, and the 2.5 Mustang GT (turndown ends) tails are too short, I cut the tails before the hangers and used 8" body length cherry bombs to extend them to the bumper.  Whole thing is mildly louder at idle, but about the same at cruise once I hit overdrive.  Loud enough to make me feel 17 when I floor it.  Resonated tail pipes are a trick I stole from 80's and 90's full-size cars, and it does wonders to cut down the extra loudness of straight through lers.  With that, and a track-max stg1 cam, I'm pretty sure nobody's 5.0 sounds like mine.

Re: Any decent noises if I swap glass pack for factory ler?

Reply #5 –
Mine has a home brewed true dual setup no crossover no cats factory sized pipe with glasspacks. Doesn't sound too bad. I'll have to see if I can get a clip and some pics tomorrow. I want to do a "before and after" anyways lol
85 Tbird 5.0
78 F150 351w
13 F150 4x4 3.5 Ecoboost