Magnaflow 2.5" system drones!

[stangman67]

About 4 years ago i picked up the magnaflow 2.5" stainless x pipe system for our cars. I added a set of 3.5" tips, about 12-18" long, i dont remember, and it would drone at cruising speeds (around 2100 rpm with the t5). So for the last 3 years i ran it with turndowns, and all the drone was gone, but I would always smell like exhaust pretty quickly, plus 1 hr trips gave me a headache, haha. My wife didnt like it at all, so i put the tailpipes back on last month. It made the smell better, but the drone gets to me. Any ideas on how to fix it, or different mufflers instead. I like how it sounds at wot, but the constant boom on the highway gets to me. thanks for you thoughts.
Mike

 

[iskwezm]

Mine is the same way.I have a single 3" round 18" muffler with a flange so i can take off the tailpipe.It too gave me headache and smelled the interior.My drone isnt as bad though.

What muffler does your kit use?My buddy that works there said some are louder then others.

 

[Rusty67]

Do you have any resonators in line ? That will help. Also tips with a spiral louver exit will help. That reminds me, if you are going to add resonators, get ones with a spiral louvered core.

 

[JonK]

Did you just remove the 12"-18" tips and put turndowns (how far in/out past the rear valence)? or did you remove the tailpipes and put turndowns after the muffler when you got exhaust smell? Just trying to follow, I read tailpipes as from muffler>over axle> to valence part. So the tips gave you a drone?

I was thinking the turndowns in place of the tailpipes but at the rear valence if that wasn't what you tried already.
Jon

 

[stangman67]

The turndowns were directly on the mufflers, and gave the smell. I have yet to try the tailpipes without the tips (big wazoos i believe), since i welded them to the pipes. I have been looking at the dynomax vt mufflers with the internal flap. Looks interesting.

 

[dodgestang]

Drone? What drone? I don't hear no stinking drone

1968 gt 350 clone - YouTube


In all seriousness....it is uber quiet compared to my 65 with 3 inch pipes and flowmasters.

I would:

1. Change my cruise speed and/or gear 4th vrs 5th if it is that bad
2. Change my rear ratio to change my cruise RPM if I didn't want to change my speed
3. Turn up the radio

 

[iskwezm]

Change my cruise speed and/or gear 4th vrs 5th if it is that bad

Thats actually what i do

 

[67GTFB]

decided to append to this existing thread, but there many other threads all more or less having the same theme ..... I hope this will move the discussion away from mufflers to tailpipes and branch resonators (or other resonators -- please comment with your experience) .... or this may fall into the "total crap" bucket ... but I thought it was all worth noting ....

not to keep poking the skunk here, but add me to the ever growing list of owners being sick and tired of the dreaded "drone" ..... still seems that a solution to this problem (if you consider it as such) remains ellusive .... since I have some time this wintry AM to do some research, I stumbled across some interesting info that may shed light on the subject and provides some insight into possible cures .... first, "drone" semms to be all about exhaust system resonance, so you can imagine the variables that go into figuring it out ..... but it seems the basic problem is the tailpipe, specifically the length of it from the mufflers on back ..... found an interesting line of discussion at this site ( http://forums.corral.net/forums/general-mustang-tech/496793-exhaust-drone-completely-gone.html ) that pretty much sums up what I think we've all been experiencing .... I also found this article ( http://www.enoisecontrol.com/related_articles/engine_exhaust_sound_control_barrier_wall.pdf ) that backs up the previous one with a fair amount of "engineering" (aka equations) .... seems that the "2200 RPM drone" is highly related to the roughly 72 inch tailpipe length found on typical over-the-axle Mustang exhausts .... true enough, there are other factors that influence the severity (such as muffler design), but this gets real close to the core issue .... slide 35+ in the pdf file addresses this issue and solution exactly .... and it turns out the 6 ft tailpipe is precisely the wrong length of pipe for 2200 RPM (your specific experience may vary) as it makes a pipe organ out of the exhaust .....

both references discuss adding 1/4 wave branch resonators to the tailpipe as one way to significantly mitigate the resonance (acts as a notch filter) ..... all of this backs up the anecdotal evidence presented here by many that muffler dumps get rid of the drone (no "organ pipe" following the muffler) ... also noted was that different muffler designs/products have demonstrated different levels of drone -- probably do to how the output of the muffler provides resonance excitation to the tailpipe ..... and of course H- and X-pipes influnce the resonance inducing characteristics of the entire system ....

now as far as practical solutions go, unfortunately I have nothing to offer beyond what is out on the web ..... the notion of adding 1/4 wave branch resonators to the tailpipes sounds interesting but has practical implications as noted in the first reference ..... I guess technically the 1/4 wave branch resonator can go anywhere in the exhaust circuit so as to reduce the excitation source frequency (which for the typical tailpipe are harmonics of roughly 34 Hz) .... running straight pipes is also good as then the "organ pipe" would have a much lower resonance frequency due to the extra length ....

HTH -- 67GTFB

 

[MFE92]

I added 1/4-wave tube resonator pipes to the G8 GT I just bought, that came with a Magnaflow catback which droned badly around 1900 RPM at 125 Hz. The G8 folks are hip to the phenomenon, and a company called SOLO makes a catback that incorporates adjustable-length capped J-shaped pipes that mount back by the mufflers. It's important to note that the phenomenon doesn't care where the pipes are mounted, or how they're shaped, just how long they are. It just so happens that there's a perfect spot for them on the G8's platform back by the mufflers near the bumper. These ones are adjustable kind of like a trombone, but they come pre-assembled at the perfect length. I had them installed yesterday, and the difference is incredible. And measurable

As seen by this screen shot from my handy-dandy sound meter app on my iphone, the big hump in the 125hz range is the drone:

I don't have any sound files, but the meter tells the story: Same RPM, same stretch of road, same time of day. Look how much smaller that hump is, and look how many fewer decibels it's reading. That 10-decibel difference is huge. The way the decibel system works, every 10 decibels higher means twice as loud. That means the old setup was twice as loud as the new one, or put another way, the new setup is half as loud as before. :

The drone has been virtually eliminated, and I'm a happy camper.

 

[Smitten65]

A picture speaks a thousand words! Good info here!

 

[Rusty67]

Threadsurection....

I think those adjustable tubes are called airbimbas or soemthing like that.

 

[stangman67]

well, i fixed my issues...by adding a turbo. its amazing how quiet the car is now, im going to remove the muffs to get more growl. all i hear is whistle.

 

[iskwezm]

well, i fixed my issues...by adding a turbo. its amazing how quiet the car is now, im going to remove the muffs to get more growl. all i hear is whistle.

How is yours quiet with a turbo? Mine is insanely loud with out a muffler and not that much quieter with one.

 

[horse sence]

i have flow masters on my 35 ford pick up ,2 1/2 inch all the way out . they turn out in front of the rear tires.they are loud on acceleration but quiet down when the rpm.s level off when cruising, no dronning. i did have a 66 gt fast back that cherped like a canary through the trumpet tips ,just about drove me nuts. i finaly cut them loose and turned the pipes down behind the rear valance. kinda sounded like a volks wagon.

 

[stangman67]

How is yours quiet with a turbo? Mine is insanely loud with out a muffler and not that much quieter with one.

Not sure why, i made my own 1 5/8" headers into 2.5" collectors that feed a T4 .81 housing on a 62mm turbonetic. The downpipe is a 3" that splits to feed my old magnaflow xpipe system (useless for the x i know). It just doesnt have that muscle car sound now, ill probably try it next spring with out muffs.