Fox Why are these so loud?

paddyrk

Member
Jun 7, 2018
71
4
18
Dublin, OH
I have a 1991 5.0 LX, swapped for a 347 stroker, and it just seems incredibly loud. I have had multiple exhaust set ups on this car (all had shorty headers and an x pipe), and it seems like they are almost all the same loudness. I had a dump exhaust with mufflers, then I put on tailpipes, then I switched out the mufflers to other mufflers, but it seems like it is still just as loud. I have friends with v6 engines with no mufflers, and they are not nearly as loud as this. Even when I am just idling it’s hard to talk standing near the back of the car, when you can barely hear that they are on. Before I did the engine swap the car had a very mild cam in it, and it was somewhat loud but not as loud. But now that I have a street/strip cam it seems a little louder, but this car has been loud since the day I got it. Are these pushrod v8s just naturally that loud? Is there any set up that anyone knows of so that the car is quiet at idle but loud when driving? The mufflers are chambered so they should be doing something to quiet them down. I have started the car with open downpipes a few times and it is monstrously loud. I love loud cars, but it’s a little rough when you’re trying to leave early in the morning or talk to someone right next to you. Any help or info helps, thanks
 
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I run cats and probably always will. Here in Albuquerque, vehicles won’t pass a visual inspection without em. Cats keep the vehicle, and you, from stinking and keeps the neighbors happy because the cars exhaust is tolerable. I do like the sound of a catless 5.0 though! Sounds crisp!
 
I have a 1991 5.0 LX, swapped for a 347 stroker, and it just seems incredibly loud. I have had multiple exhaust set ups on this car (all had shorty headers and an x pipe), and it seems like they are almost all the same loudness. I had a dump exhaust with mufflers, then I put on tailpipes, then I switched out the mufflers to other mufflers, but it seems like it is still just as loud. I have friends with v6 engines with no mufflers, and they are not nearly as loud as this. Even when I am just idling it’s hard to talk standing near the back of the car, when you can barely hear that they are on. Before I did the engine swap the car had a very mild cam in it, and it was somewhat loud but not as loud. But now that I have a street/strip cam it seems a little louder, but this car has been loud since the day I got it. Are these pushrod v8s just naturally that loud? Is there any set up that anyone knows of so that the car is quiet at idle but loud when driving? The mufflers are chambered so they should be doing something to quiet them down. I have started the car with open downpipes a few times and it is monstrously loud. I love loud cars, but it’s a little rough when you’re trying to leave early in the morning or talk to someone right next to you. Any help or info helps, thanks

Sounds to me like it’s time to dump the chambered mufflers. ( a true oxymoron...anything “ chambered” is not a muffler)
There are several manufacturers making alternatives to a noisy assed chambered muffler. Adding cats will reduce some of the noise, but you’ll still have an obnoxious loud assed car even after that.
Most of The community prefers that noise. It’s the classic 5.0 sound. And that usually means that you can be heard from a block ( or more) away.
You can swap out as many chambered mufflers as you like, but you’re never gonna reduce the noise level in the car until you remove them altogether and replace them with a real muffler.

Every manufacture of those noisy btches make a real muffler that won’t kill your power, but will greatly reduce the noise level. Take your pick, and call one up and ask for some tech advice from one of the guys that sell them...All you’ll get here is “ Whaaa? You wanna make it quieter? What’s wrong with you?”
 
When I got my car it had long tubes and off road h pipe and it was obnoxiously loud. Later swapped to equal length shorties and high flow cats and it was so much better. Semi quiet till but still has balls, and sounds great when I open it up, the smell going away was huge also.
 
I run longtube's catted h pipe and slp loudmouth catback. I' m an oldfart and really enjoy setting off car alarms.
 
A true sign that our community is aging, but aging gracefully. Add a catted midpipe and swap to a true performance muffler like a super turbo from dynomax. I'll always love the way our sbf sounds with an off road pipe and flow masters, but just not on my car please.
 
I believe there is a borla kit that is pretty quiet.
But as everyone else said, add a catted mid pipe back, it's like having 2 or 4 little mufflers.

I too have soured on my car being ultra loud.
Switched to a dynomax ultraflo weld muffler kit and it's better, but still fairly loud, just less at low throttle.
I don't have cats (NJ no longer has smog for 1995 and older, but it did pass, guess that's what the benefit of running an 03 engine in a 1990 car), but I may put them back on one day.
 
Believe it or not the Mac Prochamber will cut down volume and drone significantly. I will also make the tone deeper and less raspy. I ran one for years on my '06 GT and may switch out my H pipe for one on my fox shortly.
 
A few years ago I had thrush turbo mufflers ( 20 bucks each new ) on my 86 LX 5.0. It had an x pipe and no catalytic converters. The car was actually pretty nice sounding. Had a nice muffled deep tone to them. Don't know if they hurt any power....I just needed cheap at the time. Ended up selling that car after a few months.
 
I'm going to give Jones Maxflow mufflers a try, for the price with LMR discount I couldn't resist.
I installed a set of Ultra flows last year, they have eliminated the drone but would like to tone it down a bit.
As I get older I tend to take the car out earlier on weekend mornings (cars & coffee etc.)
Hard to sneak out of the neighborhood without disturbing the peace..lol.
Won't be until the weather breaks but I'll try to post before and after sound clips, from the info I can gather
maxflows are on the quieter side..we'll see.
 
I have Jones max flows on my car. 3'' x pipe (Jones 1229) with dumps.
Quieter then it has any right to be,and no drone at all.
See this is what I'm talking about.

Quieter than what? You have a dumped exhaust and it's quieter than it has a right to be?
What the hell does that mean?

One guys version of "freakin loud" is another guys version of "not bad at all".

And neither are a good measure of reality.