I'm sure about that... Backpressure is what kills horsepower.. I run open pipes for the maxiumum possible performance... Uncapped STS baffles come right behind running open...

 

Just got back from a rather "Spirited" drive ..... Now that the motor is broken in & I can fine tune the timing and carb, it seems a little quieter ... Well at least not quite as harsh.
So Screw the neighbors!!!! It's a beautiful day here, I'm going to grab a bite to eat & head to the local Hot Rodders Cruise-in!!

 

Gonna take out my '68 today too....

 

I don't charge myself labour so it is free to me and only around $40 in materials. I'll have maybe 8 hours into them when I am done. Like I said I don't have $500CA to spend on these baffles so it is very much justifiable.
So yes there is a cheaper way to make hp and have a quiet car as long as you have the time, equipment and some ability.

Here's the justification:
$500 for JCL baffles- $50 materials = $450 left for labour

Say I pay myself $30/hr

$450/ $30= 15

That means I have 15 hours to engineer, fabricate and fine tune these mufflers before it is more cost effective to buy the JCL's.

 

I know this was long ago and far away but it was in this same universe. In 1970 at Naval Base Charleston in Charleston South Carolina myself and my buds worked in the ship yards and did all sorts of fabricating. This particular modification was not of my invention, many of my buds were running it. The only caution I can remember taking was a quart of marvel mystery oil per tank of gas for upper end lube to keep from burning up valves. We ran some pretty radical exhaust systems, but the trickest mod was a twin cut out on a spring reload.
I had a 1959 Corvette, red on white, 4 speed top loader, convertable, with a pumped 327. Once I had put a half diamater cross pipe between the forward pipes of my duel exhaust, just after the collecters, I fabbed up a coupla ridge held slide valves out of 1/8 inch thick sheet metal that were literaly tied by wire to a Y harness under my dash with a pull ring and hook. These sliders were ring welded to springs on the bottom end so I could pull the ring in my cocpit and put it over the hook at the bottom of my dash to expose in either pipe under the car a 1.5 inch square hole. When I needed to quiet my motor I simply released the ring from the hook, the springs pulled the sliders back over the holes in the pipes to make her a little more stealthy for running on Post...LOL It was the fix of our time!

 

So Chuck do you use that formula for everything you do?

This is a hobby. Labor is free.
Just like fishing.
Parts is expensive.

MikeC

The inserts below are $15, three per side = $90
3.5" pipe = $40
Misc adapters $20

1/2 hour worth of welding $0

They sound great and flow fantastically. They have a smaller inner pipe than JCL's so uncapping them is less important and makes less difference on sound levels.

Summit used to have them on their website for less. Might want to call them and see..

Auger style muffler insert

 

That's exactly what i had in mind for you to build, those "auger
style muffler inserts" as in the post above!

Didn't know you could actually buy them!!

 

Thats basically what I did... Except I ran 2" tube down the scenter and cut my hooker glasspacks in half and inserted them into them and am jsut finishing welding the glasspack outer shell and they'll be ready torock and roll.

My engine should be done in around 3 weeks and my sidepipes should be coated a week or two after that so start uptime should be around early Dec. I'll have to jury rig up the ignition, starter, and rad. But I haven't heard my beast roar in over 2 years.... I'm going through major withdrawal.

 

Thats exactly what i used to make mine too,3 on each side and welded them togther,i love the way they sound,so for 100.00 and an hour of time i think it was reasonable.