The drone, the drone, the drone....

  • Sponsors (?)


Drone was a concern for me also, for others it isn’t. I read on a website that the physics of a drone-less exhaust system requires 18” of tailpipe after the muffler to eliminate the drone. To get around this, I installed a GT take-off on my V6 that I purchased on-line for $50. (GT owners install aftermarket exhausts and sell the take-offs) I had a local muffler shop do the install. They had to bend the mounts slightly to center the tip in the fascia opening. Also the tip may stick out more than desired. I cut mine back about one inch and installed a GT stainless tip. Overall, it's great! (improved sound and less restrictive).
 
The Word from Flowmaster

Here's the explanation I rec'd. from Flowmaster:
"Thank you for installing FLOWMASTER kit #17421 on your 2006 Mustang V-6.
Our kit is a very popular among Mustang v-6 owners because of the FLOWMASTER sound and performance it produces but unfortunately it dose have some interior droning that comes in at different RPM's and isn't the same on all Mustang V-6's. To obtain this tone FLOWMASTER developed a special build performance 5x10 muffler that produces the performance and tone V-6 owners enjoy but we couldn't eliminate all the drone from this performance muffler and still keep the sound everyone wanted. There really isn't an easy fix for this problem, if you install a resonator to reduce the droning the exterior sound will change and become a quieter non-performance sound.

I am sorry to say this is a catch 22 problem for the Mustang V-6, improved performance and tone will also have some droning. "

Regards,

Flowmaster
 
i went with exhaust cut outs that are uncapped and deleted the mufflers. so now i have shorty headers, 2.5" dual exhaust with x pipe. i will admit it's loud, but the drone sound is gone. for everyday driving, it's a bit loud, but no louder than a harley. when i jump into it it sounds like i belong at the track. at higher rpms everyone can hear you coming. oh, i also still have the factory cats.
 
If you search the internet for answers (type in, What is muffler drone?), you will find a lot of folks trying to eliminate drone on a lot of different types of vehicles. My twin brother had axle-back Flowmasters on his 2004 300M Special. I thought the drone was annoying, but he didn’t mind it. And we’re twins! So it becomes an individual choice. For me the GT take-offs were the answer. By the way, I have an extra GT muffler with a GT polished stainless steel Ford slip-on tip if anyone’s interested. It’s a bolt on.
 
You might want to try dynamat. It won't eliminate the drone entirely, but it made a world of difference in mine while still keeping that sound you want outside.

I did under the entire center console from the dash to the rear seats and down to the floor. Next I did under the rear seat.. from the back of the rear foot wells, to the begining of trunk area, and from wheel well to wheel well. After that, I did from the Qtr windows down to my previous area I had stopped with the rear seat area on both sides.

In all I installed about 8-9 sheets (18x32) of Dynamt Extreme. Now I know that sounds like alot of $$$, but if you buy in bulk you can get it for around $15 per sheet shipped. :nice:
 
Dynamat

Where did you get it? Howabout if I did the floor of the trunk only with dynamat extreme? Do you think that would make any noticeable difference, seeings as the muffler is located underneath and to the rear of the trunk floor?
 
I'm sure it would make a difference.

The reason I chose the areas I did are.. when I tore out the rear seat and side panels, to install the SHR Louvers, I noticed that there is next to no sound deadener or insulation in that area... Then when I installed the Pioneer DVD/NAV I noticed that, again, there was no sound deadener or insulation under the center console at all. Just very thin carpet. So over the next couple months (I did it in stages) I did what the factory should of done.

There are acouple stores on Ebay that will put up good deals on bulk packs of dynamat extreme. Just keep your eye out for them and make sure it's the actual Dynamat Extreme.. not a product that they are describing as being like Dynamat.
 
look at the tranny mount to see if you still have the 2 mounts at that location. they apparently are just for the ford techs during assembly and are now being removed per a tsb due to drone and vibration. they tried fixing it with a hose clamp but this attempt still apparently does not work. just take some channel locks or crescent wrench and bend them out of the way and in a neutral area. see if that works.

Tom

here, this tsb also mentions a problem with the tranny mount
http://www.mustangcollective.com/cpg/albums/userpics/tsb08-23-04.pdf
 
How much dynamat?

I'm sure it would make a difference.

The reason I chose the areas I did are.. when I tore out the rear seat and side panels, to install the SHR Louvers, I noticed that there is next to no sound deadener or insulation in that area... Then when I installed the Pioneer DVD/NAV I noticed that, again, there was no sound deadener or insulation under the center console at all. Just very thin carpet. So over the next couple months (I did it in stages) I did what the factory should of done.

There are acouple stores on Ebay that will put up good deals on bulk packs of dynamat extreme. Just keep your eye out for them and make sure it's the actual Dynamat Extreme.. not a product that they are describing as being like Dynamat.

About how much dynamat extreme do you think it would take to do the trunk floor only? Mine's a convert., so the trunk isn't huge. I don't want to buy the whole dynamat trunk kit as I don't want to do the sides or the underside of the lid, just the floor and spare tire well. So what kind of a dynamat package should I get?
 
Not 100% sure. I haven't done my trunk floor yet and I have a coupe.. so any measurements I do would be different then yours.

The sheets I get are 18" x 32".. so you can get a tape measure and rough est it from there.. though I'm pretty sure you'll still end up saving by buying a bulk pack and ebaying off what you don't use. ..heck, if the price is right I'll buy the extra sheets. I still need to finish off my doors and rear deck lid.
 
I've had my FRPP stingers on for about 3 months. I couldn't take the drone. The GT muffs I had had virtually no drone but the stingers are a nightmare. But the GT's were pretty weak and the stingers are the nicest sounding mufflers I've heard on a v6 so far. So I had resonators installed and the drone has been cut by about 80% with the same bad ass stingers sound. That's just what I did...
 
What I've done.

Okay, what I done is put B-Quiet Extreme under the removable trunk floor, i.e. the spare tire cover and on the thinner exposed parts of the underside of the trunk lid. I've also gotten a piece of carpet padding 1/2 inch rubber with a vinyl like covering on one side, cut it to fit, and just layed it over the spare tire under the cover. The result is that while the "drone" is still there, it's only about half as loud as before and much more tolerable. Am going to attach my left over B-Quiet Extreme to the bottom and sides of the spare tire well soon. It has made a noticeable difference for the better...

Addendum: been a few mos. now since I added the above post, and either my muffler itself has gotten louder or the drone has because it's more noticeable now as certain, lower RPMs and is annoying. It's fine at highway/freeway cruising speeds: no drone, just a nice, pleasant muted tone, but at lower RPMs, from about 1800 thru 22-2500 going up thru the gears, it is annoying, despite all the noise reduction matting I added to the trunk. I would not now recommend this muffler for this reason. Wish I'd've known about the GT take-offs before I had this one installed....
 
Okay, what I done is put B-Quiet Extreme under the removable trunk floor, i.e. the spare tire cover and on the thinner exposed parts of the underside of the trunk lid. I've also gotten a piece of carpet padding 1/2 inch rubber with a vinyl like covering on one side, cut it to fit, and just layed it over the spare tire under the cover. The result is that while the "drone" is still there, it's only about half as loud as before and much more tolerable. Am going to attach my left over B-Quiet Extreme to the bottom and sides of the spare tire well soon. It has made a noticeable difference for the better...

Also, it really had a great effect on bass while listening to FM or CDs. A very noticeable, tremendous effect on amplifying the bass of the Shaker 500 sound system, so that it may sound more like a Shaker 1000 now. :nice: