Does the location of the muffler affect sound?

[Stang|ess]

If I move my mufflers closer to the crossover, will it change the sound? I'm thinking about routing my pipes to fashion a side exhaust setup, but don't want too many bends, nor do I want to change my mufflers. So I was thinking if I move the mufflers closer to the front of the car, I can get a pipe with a 45* bend to achieve the look I'm aiming for.

Also, where's the cheapest place to buy Roush tips? Those things are $400 on eBay, and $171 on stage3motorsports. Never knew they were so costly

 

[thomas91169]

That wont work, or will be very hard to work. Basically the Muffler will need to be integrated with the x-pipe if you want to try that. And yes, location of muffler does affect sound. The more piping after the muffler, the mellower the tone gets, as opposed to a muffler thats dumped/turndowns right after.

You will probably have to find a muffler with a inlet and outlet on the same side. Your options are limited. Magnaflow has one, Spintech has one, and thats all i know. Roush uses magnaflow if i remember, and they sound like garbage IMO. I used the Spintech 333scs, its 2.5" in/out and was 140 for the pair. Some say these types of muffler lose power, but i think the coolness factor of side exhaust and the exhaust note makes up for the loss of maybe 3hp/3tq and is still better than the stock mufflers.

If youre going with the roush kit with the side exhaust, you have to go with genuine roush tips. Nobody makes them or anything like them, they are Cast Aluminum btw, you cant just weld them on. We basically took a 4" long piece of 2.25" Outside Diameter pipe, stuck it on the expander, and expanded the pipe until the pipe was snug inside the tip(2.5" Inside Diameter), tacked the pipe and tip together, then welded the unit to the exhaust. unless you just want to use a screw like roush does and wonder where your tips fell off at a week later.

you will have yo do what is pictured here.

 

[Stang|ess]

I was thinking if I move the muffler closer to the crossover, I won't have to get the nasty sounding mufflers with the inlet and outlet on the same side.

And damn, $400 for exhaust tips is crazy.

 

[RoadconeTuning]

side exhaust sound like it does because your only hearing half the engine really... its going to sound like crap no matter what.

 

[Matt's 03 GT]

side exhaust sound like it does because your only hearing half the engine really... its going to sound like crap no matter what.

You just need to roll down both windows...

 

[thomas91169]

side exhaust sound like it does because your only hearing half the engine really... its going to sound like crap no matter what.

how would you be only hearing half the engine? the same amount of exhaust flows through the muffler in any setup. are you basing this off of mere speculation side exhaust flows less? a side setup like this will flow less than a straight back exhaust, but its still better than the stock mufflers, and IMO you gain more power with a h/x pipe than a catback anyways.

BTW sounding like crap is a matter of opinion. I love the spintechs on mine, sounds better than any run of the mill flowmaster/magnaflow i hear everyday, and most times other roush guys ask why mine sounds better than their roush with the "enhanced sound" side exhaust. The tone is agressive when you get on it and very deep during cruising. Sounds basically like Eleanor from Gone in 60 Seconds (since they also used spintech) is what i would compare the tone to. Only drawback right now is its not loud enough (comparing to my Cobra with bassani x and catback with removed packing), but that will be fixed later with a catless x-pipe as well.

and to roadcone, i think that while these pics arent to scale, youre thinking your mufflers are smaller than they really are.

 

[mity2]

Also, where's the cheapest place to buy Roush tips? Those things are $400 on eBay, and $171 on stage3motorsports. Never knew they were so costly

what ur asking has been done by few people over at the fnsweet.com. and done fairly eaily. Just need someone to bend up few pipes for ya, and weld up new mufflers. It will not have pretty shinny muffler visible from rear like that with stock set up, however, unless you manage to find someone with mandrel bender and tig welder with various muffler shop equipment

It will actually not change sound much. Infact, makes it sound hell of alot better then genuine Roushset up - Just look all of those nasty bend stock roush exhaust on diagram above. U can imagine how much restriction there is on those set up

below is one example using magnapack.

This guy used 2 smallest magnapack mufflers(http://www.magnaflow.com/02product/shopdisplaycategories.asp?zone=main&id=351), weldded to Procahmber, and modified stock 45degree bend outlet pipe to make it all work, and sound fregging increadible too.
here is clip from same car
http://doug.markass.com/DSCF1327.AVI - from stop
http://doug.markass.com/DSCF1329.AVI - fly by
http://doug.markass.com/DSCF1329.AVI - even faster fly by

Probrem i see with moving muffler up more is that unless you use something really small, i think u'll run in to issues with ground crealance. like pic below. u can see that you only have about 3" at most

bill from Stg3 is pretty cool. But his price on tip ($171) is for EACH. not for both side

Sorry for the bigazz pictures. Don't have time to make it smaller

how would you be only hearing half the engine? .

This is because you are only hearing one side at time. When both pipes are pointed at rear, what your hearing is combination of both side of exhaust. when you have side exhaust, and have big ol' car in between. ur infact hearing half the sound. half on driver side, and oter half on passenger side it sound like off beat thumping sound at the idle- donno how to explain it. It sound definately different tone. When your driving through runnel or sometrhing like that, you'll hear both fine tho - provided that windows are down

 

[Stang|ess]

So he had the mufflers welded on right after his midpipe? That's what I was most concerned about, and how it would affect the sound. I have Borla Stingers, so it should sound similar to the vids provided.

Thanks Mity, you rock!

 

[mity2]

So he had the mufflers welded on right after his midpipe? That's what I was most concerned about, and how it would affect the sound. I have Borla Stingers, so it should sound similar to the vids provided.

Thanks Mity, you rock!

I know I do

But u still have to go around your FL SFC tho.
When its all said and done, it may not be pleasing to look at, but it'll sound better then what i have tho

 

[OC Stang]

I am not sure about side exhaust, but I do know that short dumps rather than running it all the way back is very much louder in the cabin of the car.
Some older cars, it is almost too loud. Serious drone.

 

[Red2000GT]

Moving the mufflers closer to the engine will increase the "raspiness" of the exhaust,farther back will give you more of a "smooth roar". People think the short pipes make it louder but it's dumping them under the car that makes it louder. Even quiet mufflers with dumps are loud because of the resonance.

 

[thomas91169]

This is because you are only hearing one side at time. When both pipes are pointed at rear, what your hearing is combination of both side of exhaust. when you have side exhaust, and have big ol' car in between. ur infact hearing half the sound. half on driver side, and oter half on passenger side it sound like off beat thumping sound at the idle- donno how to explain it. It sound definately different tone. When your driving through runnel or sometrhing like that, you'll hear both fine tho - provided that windows are down

not really. you are talking about something close to "Line of Sight", IE because the passenger side is farther away from the driver and the exhaust is directed outwards means the sound goes there as well. if that were the case, everyone with rear-oriented exhausts would hear nothing, and would look up to us side-exhaust guys cause we hear half more than them, because all their sound goes out the back then. Youre talking about something like stereo-phonics, where one side is more pronounced cause you are closer, you think its like turning the left side of the stereo higher?

I hear the exhaust in stereo equally, both sides have the same tone and pulse modulation, windows up, down, if im going in a overpass. only time theres a difference is if im next to a wall, but it still has the reverb effect of any other car ive owned. you would have to be going close to the speed of sound for one side to start to have enough sound lag for the human ear to pick up.

If you can only hear half your exhaust, you have something wrong. I have awesome hearing too, and my friends get pissed cause they dont understand what im talking about when they play downloaded music in their cars and i hear the background hiss and echoing of ****ty bitrates or quality mp3'. I can walk around my car 360* and the only time there is a difference is when im directly in front of the car, otherwise the other 310* it sounds exactly the same.