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Muffler or Straight Pipe?

jamierayo

jamierayo

Enter Witty Title Here:_____
Messages
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Location
North Pole, Alaska
I'll be ordering a 4" Warpspeed exhaust this week. I'm looking for better performance, and I'm not too worried about the sound either way, but all things being equal, I'd prefer it quieter inside & out.
Will there be a noticeable decrease in power and/or fuel economy with a muffler, instead of a straight pipe?
I do a bit of towing, and I do get into some hills. Future upgrades will be an ATT & Heath GL4.
 
From what I've READ on here, you'll be better off w/ straight pipe the ATT seems to like that a little better.. But I'd wait for Doc or Sim to say for sure.
 
i think if you get a att and a straight pipe it will be too loud. i think you need some high flow mufflers that arent baffled or something like that?
 
if you get down my way stop and check out my truck. I have a 4" with a muffler with the louvers turned out to not slow down the exhaust. It's pretty rumbly and from what I've read thee ATT will make it louder.
 
WarpSpeed muffler is straight through and it is still very nice rumble outside but not inside the cab. At least not inside my sub.

There is a slight power and mileage improvement with any free flowing muffler as supposed to the stock pinched muffler.
 
A straight-thru type muffler should not hinder performance noticably, but make it much quieter.

Once you have the ATT you are probably going to wish you had the muffler, So i'd go with the muffler now, so you don't need to re-do anything later.

I like the muffled rumble from my Diamond Eye. My muffler has a 4" hole all the way through it, with what appears to look like a metal screen type honecomb system as the muffler. In no way does it lose the 4" straight through whatsoever. Also my system has no louvers.
 
ATT + 4" warpspeed exhaust= LOUD!!! Before my ATT install I first had just the 3" down pipe to the 3' long 4" section before the muffler and that was it. With the gm8 that was cool...lots of whistle...great!!! But that was until I pulled my first load with that setup, by the time I returned off of a 200 mile round trip and couldn't spell Quiet in the cab, let alone hear someone spell it out to me! So I installed the rest of the system, muffler, curve section over the axle and the tail section....cool sounding. Now, with the ATT installed...let's just say that when the truck shifts into 4th-OD...and you have you foot in it........:aargh4::aargh4::aargh4: I just hope you don' t have noise ordinances in effect there like we do here but hey, by the time someone comes out to see who's making the house shake....I'm long gone! :thumbsup:
 
OMG the exhaust is loud, understatement, with the ATT. I have two straight through mufflers in line and its still too loud to me. I put the pipe out in front of the wheel, so maybe I'll change it back to behind the rear wheel and see if that helps the in cab noise.

The noise is pretty bad in the cab until I hit cruising over 2000RPM, then it quiets out. Could just be because of my muffler brand, the AeroTurbine mufflers. Before I put the second muffler on it was unbareable in the cab. Now, turning up the radio easily drowns it out, but if youre try to have a conversation or someone is trying to sleep you may end up with a headache.

I used to have a Ford 302 with dual glasspacks which was loud and I liked it, but that was years ago and now its kind of nice to talk to people in the cab without shouting.

So I would actually recommend one of those very large baffled mufflers. I had a 4" non stright through on there with the ATT for a while and it didnt hurt performace too much, that muffler I got free and was designed for a Deere tractor, so not ideal. A high flow baffled one should be fine, they make them larger so they can still flow a lot of air.

Otherwise two 4" straight through mufflers.

I had a 3.5" system that had Banks huge muffler and a cat, and I had to rip it off to get the ATT to work correctly. It was quiet with that but I also only had 5psi boost. I think the cat was too restrictive for it, since when I put the 4" system with a chambered muffler it still performed well.

In comparison, my GM4 could push the same boost and it was silent, although the engine backpressure was twice as much.

My 94 may just need more sound insulation/dampening, but I have learned that anymore I guess I am looking for a comfortable quiet ride :) Maybe I need a Lincoln
 
I had a silverline glasspack on straight pipe, which was enough with the GM turbo.
With ATT, it was loud.

I have replaced the glasspack with a AE3535XL hi-flow muffler with built in resonator and a special chamber which creates a vortex.

I'm very happy with it : nice rumble at a really affordable level, and it seems the AE3535XL helps the ATT. I have the feeling my truck is even more responsive, more "agressive".
I had a buddy driving it, and he has the same feeling.
Placebo effect ? not sure....
 
Shoot, any more "agressive" and I'd be a tone-deaf, speed demon...pickin on any dodge-loving, powerjokin...:dr:
Dodge & Ford people, any compliants? I can be reached @ the next red light, but I'll be :ciappa: by the time you get there :D:D:D
 
I think the AT4040 combined with the AT5050XL actually did increase performance in line as the company claims. I noticed slightly higher top end boost under less load.

There appears there are others that agree the aero turbine mufflers arent much good at muffling. I can say having two of them there it is much quieter than straight piped, because I had it straight piped for 5 days and it drove everyone, including me crazy.

Having smaller pipes and longer will in and of itself act as a muffler, so having 3.5" all the way to the back of an ECLB or CCLB will muffle quite a bit already, thats why it got so much louder when I not only put ATT on, but 4" pipe to 5" pipe and its a lot shorter in front of the rear wheel.
 
I actually think that I will need to "muffle" more in the near future. People along the roads I travel don't like that kind of noise some 2, 3 a.m. in the morning when the roadway is only 100 ft. away from their homes. :nono:
But, I....don't want .... :cuss: :outtahere:
 
I appreciate the responses, but I don't really care about the noise either way. Noise ordinances aren't a problem, and I'll run the pipe all the way behind the rear wheel, so the cab shouldn't be too bad in a crew cab long bed. I'm mostly interested in the performance difference between the muffler & the straight pipe.
The only reason I mentioned the noise is that, if there's not much power to be lost, I'll just put the muffler on.
If the muffler's going to bog me down when pulling a load up a long hill, I'll go with straight pipes. If all we're talking is shaving a few hundredths off the 1/4 mile times, I'll put the muffler on.
 
I don't see how a straight thru design 4" muffler would hinder performance enough to warrant not using it.

Overly loud exhaust can get annoying, and depending how you assemble exhaust system, and what tools and know how you possess should be the deciding factors. If its very easy for you to add a muffler at anytime with torches and welding gear, then go straight pipe.

If you use the standard clamps that come with exhaust kits, they do NOT come apart once they are tightened. The clamp comes off, sure, but the indents leave things in place.

So you would have to cut, and install a muffler in between the cuts. Which isn't too hard...

I have a GM-8 with Diamond Eye straight thru muffler, and it's loud enough for me. ... Don't think i'll add another when I ATT, but i sure wouldn't want it without mufflers.
 
I just got back from making a road trip, and I have a Jardine straight through exhaust that goes all the way to the back of the box, at 1800 to2200 the noise is dampened real good, get into 2400 to 2700 rpm cruising and it gets a little low end frequency rumble.

Now towing is another story, I love the deep rumble when towing at 8 to 10 psi cruising at 65 to 70 mph, The Dodge and Ford guys just stare at the exhaust as you pass them, wondering what is in the engine compartment that makes that kind of big rig noise. :eek: :D :confused:.

I guess I may try to quite it down a little in the future. I like Matuva's idea or Buddy's
 
When my Banks muffler rotted out I dumped it and put in a piece of straight pipe, system was 3.5 from the downpipe all the way to the exit behind the right rear duals. It sounded awesome, not too too loud, but pretty raw under hard throttle. I now have a complete 4 inch Diamondeye straight thru, muffler reversed, stock exit location. I think it prevents noise in the cab exiting behind the far side duals. It sounds much different with the A-Team turbo, but not what I would call loud. And I'm not really a fan of loud exhaust. Under a load or at some higher rpms (or both) it sounds really mean. I turned a few heads with it last weekend pulling the camper.
 
If I get this job in Cincinniti. Im getting the ATT along with the rest of the goodies. Along with another Dually. I have my eye on a 99 6.5 K3500 Crew Cab 4x4! The ATT will nice in both trucks!!
 
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