Since I drive my car on the streets some, I remember researcing on here about what was the best muffler for the Hooker sidepipe exhaust was that wouldn't rob you of a bunch of power. I ended up going with the Hooker Maxflo mufflers. I've been racing in a class called Mean Street around the dragstrips in our area and just wanted to give an update for anyone trying to decide on a muffler for the Hooker sidepipes.

I run a pump gas 10.5 compression small block 434 with a custom grind solid roller cam specifically to work best with nitrous. This hurts a little on motor, but works great with the nitrous compared to the more traditional cam I ran last year. Rear gear is a 3.89 and run 275/60 drag radials as per our class requirements. The car weighs 3100 with me in it. It's not at all gutted and has a full interior, no aftermarket gauges, as well as the required 10 point cage with swing out side bars for easy in and out on the street and 5 point harnesses.
Well anyway all of our tracks are 1/8th mile since Memphis Motorsports isn't open back up yet, but you can easily convert time between the 2 length of tracks using the NHRA chart or online formulas. This weekend I ran a 5.72 @ 121.5 mph which is about a 8.9x in the 1/4. This was spraying 240 hp of nitrous and progressing it off the line for traction, so I wasn't at 100% nitrous until 2 seconds into the run. The car ran a 1.32 60ft time. It runs 6.6x @ 108 MPH on motor which is about a 10.4x in the 1/4.
This takes a more than average amount of horsepower to do this, so I am very impressed with these mufflers being able to flow good enough for that. I was thinking of taking them out to see if they were holding me back any, but the power, times, and MPH seem to show they are fine. So, in conclusion I would highly recommend anyone that has the Hooker sidepipes that they go with these mufflers. I haven't tried any others to compare them against, but these work and won't hold you back at all. I don't even think they are that loud compared to some of the Flowmasters I've heard side by side. They have a very deep sound to them.
I don't know if this will help anyone, but I thought I would give a real world example.

 

Good report.

Any way of posting a clip w/audio? AFAIK nobody else on CF who has them has yet to do so. I've narrowed my choices down to MaxFlows or Sweet Thunders.

BTW, what's the latest you've heard on MMP?

 

I can try to record something on my phone, but I bet it wouldn't be worth it.
I've heard they are going to open late July to early August. Of course it keeps changing.

Shoot, I can drive it to work and you can hear in person. You're close enough!

 

Inbeforethestsclubmembers

 

I've actually been looking for new mufflers for mine. I have sweet thunder 2.5" right now but they are too loud. Wonder if the sweet thunder guys could tell us which are quieter?

 

I pretty sure the Sweet Thunder mufflers are stil of the chambered variety. Although I've not used their product, I have used chambered pipes as inserts and can tell you they are a bunch louder than the perforated core MaxFlows

 

All I know as far as sound is that the Maxflo's have very low deep sound compared to what I've heard with the auger styles. I noticed it instantly. I've heard some videos of the auger style ones and they seem to be very tinny and reminded me of the old flowmaster sound.

All I really wanted to show by this is that I know how much horsepower my motor makes and how much nitrous I am using. You can also pretty much use any online horsepower 1/4 mile calculator and see how much it takes to run in the high 8's at 3100 lbs and both of those correlate pretty darn close. So, I just wanted to show that these don't have much loss at the 900 hp level. I was very surprised that they did so well. Others might do as well, but I know these work and are reasonably priced and easy to get.
I'm upping things by another 100hp the next time out and I'll let you know how they do at 1000hp level, if everything else can handle it!

 

I put the hooker sidepipes and maxflows in my 454HO about a week ago and I absolutely could not be happier with the performance and sound.

 

Can you tell me which part # you have for those inserts? If they're way quieter than my ST's I might change over. The ST's are pretty much just a straight 2.5" pipe with little louvers sticking out of the walls. The max flows are different?

This is what the sweet thunders look like:

 

Part number: 21046 HOOKER BRAND
If I remember the don't have all of those bent pieces in the way.

 

They're just a 2 1/2" perforated straight tube within a tube.
I've bought and made just about every possible insert for the Hooker sdiepipes and these by far sound the best overall and probably flow as well as anything else out there....

 

I should probably take you up on that, and take the "tour". If it works for you, wet me know when would be good and I'll see if I can work my schedule...

 

I'm here everyday from 7:30 to 4:30 Mon - Fri. Just let me know a good day and if you want me to drive my car in, one with no rain!!

 

i'll second the maxflow recommendation.. i have them on my LS2 powered '64 and love 'em. i won't get into the sound debate, since it varies greatly by personal opinion, rpm, and engine load.. i will say i just completed a 4300 mile road trip and am not deaf

my car made 390 rwph with open pipes, one day this summer i will re-dyno to see what i lost with the maxflows.

my car had STS spirals on it when i bought it with an old tired 350 and while it didn't make enough power to worry about flow, i'll say best i can remember the STS were definitely louder, although i was ok with the sound..

i had an opportunity during the power tour to switch rides and drove behind my car in a chevelle. listening to my car from the outside was pure music. it is much deeper from behind the car than sitting in the car.

engine size, intake design, etc all play into exhaust note, so results may vary

 

I'll PM/email you when I see how my calendar and the weather forecast match up next week. Definitely want to see/hear your bad*** 'vette too.


/Charlie

 

I'm interested in swapping to these as well. Been driving around streets with open pipes for past year with 400rwhp, I love the open pipe sound but i cant enjoy car like i want. I dont take it out in evening, i scare little kids, **** off old people, and driving on highway is killer.

I was afraid of losing hp or getting a tinny sound from auger style. I had the sweet thunder 2.75" for little but they seemed a too restrictive so I sold them.

 

L82 Kid,I wish I had your hood!

 

I wish I had your motor, hp, and drag times!


my hood is a 5" cowl by Glasstek. It fits pretty good, its nice and lightweight, and i run a 144 blower with 1/2" spacer and a 1.25" drop base air cleaner and still have 1" clearance.

here the website.
http://www.glasstek.com/

 

Cool! Maybe that will be my update this winter unless my motor dies.

I can tell you something that will make your car a beast. I know a guy that used to run a 383 sbc with one of those blowers on it and added a simple nitrous plate on top. He would only spray 75 - 100 shot max, but the cooling effect of the nitrous made a ton of power since those blowers heat the air up pretty bad. He used to run low 9's on pump gas! he drove it to the track every time. He was in the Compcams Pump Gas Drags with it.

 

Thats actually what I was thinking of doing. I'll be upgrading the fuel system soon and then I want to do a 75-125hp shot. I already have an Aeromotive ss series electric pump (supports up to 750hp), and Aeromotive reg waiting to go in. I'm about to order a 16 gallon fuel cell with sump, 10an line to feed pump and 8an line to feed motor.

Once I get the fuel system installed then I'll be looking into nitrous oxide systems. I was looking into Nitrous Express Hitman or NOS power shot or super power shot. Never ran nitrous before so I'll have a little research to do.