Tips or tricks for picking a good muffler to quiet "the Pig"?

[Chubbinius]

Good morning to you all. So as I continue to plink away at little things on my 1970 Wagoneer, I find the one that I probably really need to start thinking about and pricing out is mufflers. I have realized that I should be a nice neighbor and make it so firing the Pig up to head to work doesn't wake up the San Diego neighborhood before 6am.

It has the Buick 350 in it and appears to have pipes running out from under each rear corner, but no muffler(s) installed. Reading up on muffler topics on the forum here and also on other sites, seems like lots of folks like Thrush, Magnaflow, and Flowmaster. But it seems all of them comment about the nice "sound" or "tone" coming from it. I'm looking for quiet, not worried on tone so much (I'm okay if everyone doesn't know it has a 350 V8 in it ). I also would like to avoid sacrificing power and oomph for the quiet, but understand that I can't have both (super-quiet and no power loss).

Some specifics about the Pig...Buick 350 dauntless in it, floor shifted automatic, Rochester 2 jet carb (which by the way received an estimate of $500 to re-jet, which I thought was wayyyy expensive, , please let me know if I'm wrong), exhaust exits both rear corners, but cannot recall if it is straight pipes down both sides, or straights coming off a Y-pipe.

I'd love to hear any suggestions, tips, or tricks to getting this quieted down. Thank you for any assistance that will help me to approach this smartly, effectively, and with some degree of competency (economically is a plus too)!

[Stuka]

There are plenty of quiet mufflers from the brands mentioned above.

To get it super quiet you could run a resonator and then a muffler. This is what new cars do to get quiet.

[tgreese]

How do you plan to do this? There won't be any pre-bent exhaust parts available anymore for these cars.

I would spend the money and have my local custom exhaust shop install a complete exhaust system. They can recommend mufflers that will be quiet and sufficiently free-flowing that provide the result you want. Ask around for shops that do good custom work. The will bend the new pipes to fit, using high-quality aluminized pipe. They are also experts at removing the bolts from the exhaust manifolds, to remove the old system and install new.

[mx71]

I have a cat and a magnaflow, and it's a little too loud for me, even with new weatherstripping all the way around and the doors/cargo/ceiling dynamatted. Driving it isn't too bad, but I don't like the drone. A lot of people like the Walker mufflers for stock replacement.

[tgreese]

In my experience, Walker parts rust out really fast, particularly the pipe. The exhaust my local custom shop put on my J10 15 years ago is still going strong. They guaranteed the muffler for 10 years and the pipe for lifetime.

[Stuka]

I have a cat and a magnaflow, and it's a little too loud for me, even with new weatherstripping all the way around and the doors/cargo/ceiling dynamatted. Driving it isn't too bad, but I don't like the drone. A lot of people like the Walker mufflers for stock replacement.

Put a resonator in front of the muffler, should get rid of drone.

[Chubbinius]

Thanks for the resonator suggestion, Stuka. Thanks for the info too, mx71, quieter would be better for me.

Tim, I had given thought to trying to patch them in myself using the existing pipes (just cutting out a sectikn, adding muffler, and then welding the tailpipe back on after adjusting the lengths. But, agree with you on getting one of the local shops to do it up with nice new pipes in aluminized or stainless.

Thanks all...

[candymancan]

walker anything is cheap steal and rusts fast.. mom had a muffler from them and it rusted out in a year same with the tailpipe..

I put a magnaflow cat and flowmaster muffler on my wagoneer and a walker tailpipe... But i did spray 2 coats of exhaust paint on the tailpipe to prevent it from rusting so bad on the outside. Its been 6 months and there is no rust on it.

[Renodemona]

If you can find one of those exhaust shops thats mom and pop they will bend, weld, patch, whatever. Usually an old guy who chain smokes with a couple tweaker kids hanging around the shop. Any big "bus" muffler will do. If you put a cat in this will sorta act like a resonator too, not sure if you need one for emissions. I have a flowmaster but its not one of those rumble rumble muscle car mufflers, its just a big square one.

[mx71]

I have a cat and a magnaflow, and it's a little too loud for me, even with new weatherstripping all the way around and the doors/cargo/ceiling dynamatted. Driving it isn't too bad, but I don't like the drone. A lot of people like the Walker mufflers for stock replacement.

Put a resonator in front of the muffler, should get rid of drone.

Thanks!

[Chubbinius]

Renodemona, definitely looking for the old mom & pop shop. Plus it's smog exempt being a 1970. Found several muffler shops listed that are like 50 year old family owned ones with great reviews. Definitely liking the idea Tim suggested of having them make it new from engine to tailpipe with the right bends.

Candyman, is the combo nice and quiet on your Wago?

[babywag]

Here in SoCal the walker stuff works just fine.
The folks who complain about them rusting out live in areas where just about any exhaust component that isn't stainless will rust out.

I like the Walker SoundFX mufflers they're quiet until you hit heavy throttle. Inexpensive as well.

Magnaflow is generally pretty loud stuff.

If you just want to add mufflers a shop generally isn't required.
Using band clamps eliminates need for welding. Just cut pipes, slip mufflers and clamps on and tighten everything up.

[candymancan]

Here in SoCal the walker stuff works just fine.
The folks who complain about them rusting out live in areas where just about any exhaust component that isn't stainless will rust out.

I like the Walker SoundFX mufflers they're quiet until you hit heavy throttle. Inexpensive as well.

Magnaflow is generally pretty loud stuff.

If you just want to add mufflers a shop generally isn't required.
Using band clamps eliminates need for welding. Just cut pipes, slip mufflers and clamps on and tighten everything up.

Thats not really true.. There are diff types of mild steel.. The metals can be mixed better or worse and rust less or worse depending on what kind of steel it is. Ive seen non stainless steel pipes and mufflers last years and years in Virginia. then ive had walker stuff on my mom 4.0 ZJ and it ended up rusting out in a year.. The rust was so bad i could grab the tailpipe with my hands and crush it like a soda can.. You could take a hammer to it and rust would fall off like dead leaves on a tree.

Same goes for the cheap steel clamps autozone and so forth sell.. Ive used them and they rust to twigs in a year or less.

Flowmaster mufflers for example arent stainless steel unless you buy that type the average ones are just painted mufflers but the metal on them is much higher quality they dont rust out like a walker muffler does.



As for the question of how mine spunded.. Mine is loud as hell.. I didnt buy the flowmaster cat and super 44 flowmaster muffler to be quiet i wanted it loud. Removing the stock rusted out muffler and the stock cat for this pair the sound deff got louder and more deep toning. Its deff louder then my 5.9 ZJ.

Id say go with what people are saying.. get some resonators. For example my brothers 6.2l ls in the 13 camaro was so quiet when the car was new you couldnt even hear the exhaust at idle really. After the resonators were removed and a borla exaust was put on it got 10x louder.. Then headers and a cam and it sounds like a drag strip vehicle now will make your ears rings if you stand behind it when you turn it on or rev it.