Well, I spontaneously decided to go to a muffler shop and get my mufflers hacked off. The guy charged me $40 a side which is somewhat on the high side but I did it anyways. He simply cut out my mufflers and replaced it with straight pipe and kept the factory tips. It came out very nice.

My thoughts... (93 LT1 automatic, all stock except for what I just mentioned)

Quality of sound: I think that the sound is great at wide open throttle, or when you give it enough gas to pass someone. At partial throttle, you can tell that there definitely needs to be a crossover (X) somewhere in the exhaust system. If you pay close attention to the sound at partial throttle you will notice that it pulses a lot. It is not a smooth and consistent hum. The sound that comes out is kind of like a balloon against a bicycle tire. Again, it isn't completely obvious unless you listened really hard. Overall, I am pleased with the sound. I went through a tunnel at full throttle and it sounds very unique and aggressive. Definitely how a Corvette should sound.

Loudness: I found the setup to be much quieter than I expected. At idle, the car sounds normal. From the outside, you can barely tell that the exhaust is modified. From the inside, it sounds stock. Inside the car at partial throttle, it is very tolerable. It really only gets as loud as you make it. The more gas you give it, the louder it gets. It simply isn't just loud all the time. Keep in mind that I am speaking from a "inside the car" point of view. I haven't followed my car around and heard what it sounds like from the outside, but I would imagine that law enforcement wouldn't bother you about it.

Resonance: I have very little resonance right now. I get a very tiny buzz from something in my glovebox but that is about as bad as it gets. I am very pleased with that. Keep in mind that I have an automatic with 2.59 gears. Most people claim that having an auto makes it worse. Well, I didn't get it.

Drone: There is drone, but not as bad as I thought it would be. It is definitely tolerable if you don't mind having to speak louder to your passenger. The radio needed to go up maybe one notch to compensate for the drone.

Popping: Since I have an automatic, it doesn't pop at all when driving normally. When I use the shifter to hold the gears longer or to engine brake, as soon as you let off the gas it begins to pop. It sounds dumb and "untuned" but that is the only time I get it. Once you learn how to use the shifter right, you can easily prevent it.

Power Loss: I was concerned about this because a lot of people said they lost some low-end torque. Unfortunately, I am not able to officially comment on that yet. I haven't had the opportunity to do a big 0-60mph thrash on it yet, but it does seem to have lost a bit of its umph from a complete standstill. It isn't dramatic and disappointing, but I think it did happen.

Overall, I am very pleased. I think that for the price of anywhere from $50-80 (depending on where you go) it is a great thing to do if you are tired of your Corvette being as quiet as a hybrid. The sound quality is awesome and it isn't too loud. The drone might not be tolerable for everyone, but if you have always had loud exhaust on your cars then don't be afraid of it. It isn't as bad as you think.

 

Thank you for the report. I assume the cats are still intact. The x-pipe should help with the resonance.

 

I replaced the B&B system with my muffler elim set up last week. I swap them out about once a year. The B&B looks great but is too quiet for me. The elim set up has a "H" pipe just in front of the place where the exhaust pipes turn out to the mufflers. I run Hooker Shorties and stock cats. I really like the sound of the elim set up, but after a long trip, I find myself saying "what did you say?" a lot. Maybe ear plugs for long trips. Mine is a 6spd and a vert. With the top down, no problem, with the top up, it's resonance can get to you on a long trip. Cruising at 70 mph is nice until you need to add gas to climb hills where the resonance kicks in. It's great around town or on short runs. Now if I could only replace the resonator on my B&B with an "X" pipe, I wouldn't be swaping systems.

 

Yes, I left the cats alone.

I'm looking forward to installing a crossover.

 

it'll be alot louder if you do something with the cats,i did it cuz im young,i dont know about u old farts,jk,but can u stillpass emmisionswith no mufflers in ca?

 

Yes. Mufflers are not an emissions item. I just passed with eliminators on.

 

That is called gurgle, and that's what gives it the characteristic american V8 sound. The firing order is unbalanced on each side. If you want a smooth purr, get a single plane V8 or a 4 cylinder!

I don't know how much the crossover will help, the LT1 resonator is already a mixing chamber. You could put in a X pipe from RacerX70CC but that might make it unbearably loud.

 

Hey CC, can we go over that "mixing chamber" thing again for everyone...Lemme see if I can dig up that pic of a resonator cut in half.....

Now how could this be a mixing chamber??? Looks like a true dual resonator!! (I'm outta here..... )

Shot with C990Z,D490Z at 2007-07-15

 

 

I've heard dozens of Mustangs with different exhaust setups on all of them. They all had some type of X or H style crossover and none of them pulsed like that. Given this is not the same vehicle, but a Corvette still shouldn't produce such an untuned sound. Why do you think they call x/h pipes a "balance pipe." It balances the sound to make it purr.

 

LT1s have always had a weird sort of "pulse" to their exhaust note, never really understood why.

 

Less Torque.

 

Wow, amazing pics! So the LT1 actually has 4 seperate exhausts? This changes everything.

 

Thats a pik of one of those things they lob into Beirut everyday

 

Great write up with lots of good info!

 

how do you figure 4 separate exhausts?

 

Two mufflers on each side, counting the resonator as two separate mufflers enclosed in one shell.

 

I've seen that picture before on here. What year C4 is that from? I thought I had also seen a picture years ago of a different year C4 and the inside had a very small cross-over built in. Maybe not though. Anyone else remember seeing something like this?

 

Here we go...

 

That picture of the resonator cut in half is the one that I took. It is off of a '95.

I replaced the resonator with an X pipe on my 96 LT4........mistake for me....made it drone really bad in 2nd and 3rd. I had the Magnaflow SS or Wide Open mufflers ont. I took them off last Sunday and put on a set of the muffler eliminators until I get new mufflers. The sound now is way, way too loud.....can't wait to take it for a drive!!!

Later,
LannyL81