Well the title says it.

1994 LT1

I have short tube headers, factory downpipe/cats and Magnaflow catback - stock heads and cam. I can talk over it at idle, it isn't absurdly loud and I don't have terrible resonance.

Now, does a head/cam change all of that? I'm thinking it probably does make it louder but to what extent and how so? Volume alone? Drone? Idle? Will the neighbors take notice?

 

Good possibility it will get louder. The more air you pass through a motor typically volume will increase. How much? WHere? Depends, youll never know til you get it running. You may love it or decide you need to tone the exhaust down a bit. Most arent bad, I was shocked how much mine picked up noise wise but the changes were huge.

 

Head work should not.. but CAM change will, depending on the valve timing (duration/LSA/Lift), it might/will increse exhaust noise and idle (low rpm will be rougher)

 

maybe a bit,but not really much, i would say 5% max , not more and im talking about a cam+head+headers work

 

The reason I'm concerned is that I live in a condo complex and loud cars can get fines. I've had no problems thusfar with the Vette/Magnaflow. My Pontiac (Flowmaster + lopey idle) got a verbal complaint from a neighbor - I went back to factory mufflers on that car.

I'm primarily concerned about idle volume since that is really the only engine speed I use in the condo complex. I know it will get choppy and likely louder and I think the Magnaflows may just amplify that - I guess this is a wait and see.

 

Wow , i have experienced that in the past,not with my Vette
but i feel your pain !!! What does your neighbors drive ?
It won't get much much louder anyway, at all

 

He has an old BMW and is a self proclaimed 'car guy.'
What irks me is that he is 2 doors away, between us there is a guy that has a motorcycle that is much louder than my Pontiac and the complaining neighbor doesnt seem to mind! He even warms it up right outside. I mean this thing makes stuff in my house shake. But, being a car guy myself I dont mind. Its not like he is out there at 2am doing that. The Pontiac left the garage ONCE this summer and not at night. It was running for maybe a minute while I started it and pulled away. During that time this complaining neighbor felt the need to RUN out of his house and stop me. Needless to say I go the other way now if I'm driving the Vette or Pontiac. To boot, there is a light commuter train that passes by a few hundred feet away which easily exceeds the volume of any of my cars so you'd think he would be used to a bit of noise. I did the neighborly thing with the Pontiac and hushed it up with factory mufflers but I don't even have a factory set for the Vette otherwise I'd consider it.

 

I have a 96 lt1 and put dart 180 heaDs and a custom grind comp cam on, along with pace better short headers. I Also have a corsa exhaust. The hanger in sound after installation of heads and cam made a tremendous difference in sound. It was louder, and has a deep rumble with low resonance. The cam and headers are the reason this ocurred.As far as I know about laws, excessive noise classifies as someone who is reving their engine on purpose to make alot if noise.

 

The hanger in sound?

 

This 'car guy' neighbor or yours is a pr!ck - plain and simple. Chances are he's just targeting you because he doesn't like American cars, and the fact that you own two probably just chaps his a$$ even worse.

Next time he goes out to start his car, you should run out and complain that his old BMW is too slow for the neighborhood. Race him if he needs proof. In fact, you should make him a deal - if he beats you, you'll install stock mufflers on the 'Vette; if you beat him, he keeps his mouth shut.

BTW - I have a set of Magnaflows on my '89 (w/stock headers), and they are fairly loud (I regularly set off car alarms when driving through underground parking garages). I can't see a set of heads making any difference to how loud the car already is; a cam would primarily just change the idle, but probably only increase the volume by a very small amount if any (obviously, that would depend on how wild a cam you go with).

 

I think any kind of challenge to this neighbor would end up in a complaint to the association. My course of action so far has seemed to work well and that is that I don't linger around with the motor running, I don't rev it up and I leave through the exit that does not force me by his house.

I'm only concerned really with idle volume since that is the only engine speed needed within the complex. Regardless of what the law says about noise the real rules that matter in this case are those imposed by the association - which state that 'excessively' loud cars are not tolerated and can result in fines. 'Excessive' is an undefined and broad word. What is excessive? Its an opinion. But, if someone wants to complain and the car has anything other than factory mufflers the arguement is in their favor to say it is excessive.

Right now I am in wait and see mode cause I think the only way I can judge whether or not it will be too loud is to complete the work and start it up. I'm already worrying myself about adjusting rocker arms with the motor running! That's a solid 15+ minutes of idling, what will the neighbors do! I'm even dreaming up ways of inserting flex piping into the muffler outlets that lead to a queit muffler sitting on the ground - that way I can idle the engine to adjust/monitor/test and go unoticed for the mostpart.

 

Youre making an effort, screw him! Most are used to new cars that youcan barely hear. An older V8 with an exaust is going to make some noise too bad for him. Not like youre in there at 1 am revving it up.

 

If your mufflers have dual tips that both allow exhaust flow, you can temporarily block one on each muffler with something like balled-up aluminum foil or steel wool. That should dramatically lower the sound level until you're finished. Between the two, balled up aluminum foil worked best for me.

Choose the tip that allows the most flow (engine idling, one tip will flow more than the other one) and you can use a broom handle or something similar to pack in the block off material. I did that on a 86 I owned and the material didn't blow out until I ran the engine at WOT for about a mile or so.

Some guys even weld in metal block off plates, then drill smaller diameter hole in the plates. Let's say the ID of a muffler tip is 2", then just weld in a block off plate and drill a 1" hole in it. That'll quiet down the exhaust sound while still allowing some amount of exhaust flow. Of course, you can play with the size of the holes you drill.

The foil can be removed once you're finished but you can get spoiled on how nice the sound level becomes and the absence of resonance.

Jake

 

Yea, that tripped me up too. Gotta remember to ask him what he meant by that, LOL

Jake

 

I have to warn you - in my situation there was a significant difference in sound going to the hotcam, and then again with the headers. I have been asked why my car now sounds like it wants to eat something. But definitely do it . . .

 

Louder? Depends on you're moving from what to what. Increasing C.R. by going with heads with smaller chambers; shorter duration cam increasing cylinder pressure.

A cam with more cam overlap takes away the smooth idle sound. That un-even sound is irritating to many, especially older people. I wish I had a dollar for every call I responded to for just such a "Loud Noise" complaint.

Jake

 

I'll be using my stock LT1 heads and will have the work done by Loyd Elliot. I emailed him a while back and he also suggested one of his cams. I believe he described it as similar to the hotcam but will make more power everywhere. I don't know the specs on it. I've only heard good things about Loyd Elliot so I'll be putting my trust in him to guide me to the combo that best suites my needs - which are pretty simple:
350-370 rwhp, decent street manners, pass smog test and all on a stock bore/stroke with only a few other bolt-on mods that I already have.

Looking at his website I believe it will be the LE1 or LE2 port work and using the 223/230 .565/.565 112 LSA. - 1700-6100 RPM cam.

 

This is just me spouting off my opinion. If I were in that situation I would find a different place to live, someplace where I could do what I want to do. Since that may be impossible for you, you should have went & seen the complex management and got their opinion on whether or not your car is too loud. If they approved it then you could have told the crybaby to go take a walk. You can't do that now because you already changed the mufflers. You are a good person to try and keep everyone happy but trust me, that is not possible, there will always be a whiner.