so, my grassroots brethren, who makes the best glasspack style muffler?
I've probably bought 15-20 thrush glasspacks over the years. They're okay, mainly just really cheap, but it seems like the packing blows out and I'm looking for something better than that.
This is for my triton 'vic, to use in place of the catalytic converters. I find that placing a glasspack where a converter was keeps the noise level about the same, for less money, and with no added backpressure.
what say you
the chevelle has some old cherrybombs on it that so far have outlasted the jet hot coating on the headers. i normally use them as resonators before or after the muffler to control sound. the thrush ones seem to rust out quicker here in the rust belt
Smitty's used to be the E36M3 for the Rodding crowd for years.
I like the Thrush ones over the Cherry Bombs because they are perforated compared to louvered. The louvers decreases the inside diameter and disrupt flow but they are slightly quieter.
My Cherry bomb GP's are not louvered, and I've never blown the packing out of one (although my cars don't make a lot of power)
The guys that make Cherry Bombs are located in my town and are so very supportive of racers even to the point of designing my SM exhaust. Buy their stuff please.
I can usually get a 12 inch glasspack from the local shop for like 25 bux. I would think that would be fine as resonators in place of the ''Cadillac Coverters''.
Smithys for that old-school sound.
They're steel packs so they don't burn out.
The longer they are, the mellower the sound.
Shawn
Fiberglass packing will eventually burn out in any muffler. Oh, and if you can afford an engine swap, you can afford cats. Run them.
bravenrace wrote: Oh, and if you can afford an engine swap, you can afford cats. Run them.
IF your engine isn't blowing a ton of unburned fuel out of the exhaust, such as in a race engine. In that case it's pointless and you'll just melt the matrix. But otherwise I agree that it's nicer to run them.
I'm thinking a relatively stock engine like the one in his car. I'm no tree hugger, but the good that cats do far outweighs any benefit of not having them. Unless they are the four legged kind, and then I have no use for them. 
I do feel a little guilty, but a decent pair is probably $300. $200 more than I intend to pay for glasspacks. That's a meaningful amount of money for something I don't HAVE to buy.
belteshazzar wrote: I do feel a little guilty, but a decent pair is probably $300. $200 more than I intend to pay for glasspacks. That's a meaningful amount of money for something I don't HAVE to buy.
Well, do Burns Stainless count as glasspacks? They might be expensive, but you probably would only need to buy them once. Ever. And they weigh next to nothing as a side benefit.
belteshazzar wrote: I do feel a little guilty, but a decent pair is probably $300. $200 more than I intend to pay for glasspacks. That's a meaningful amount of money for something I don't HAVE to buy.
If you're talking about cats, you can buy them for about $60 a piece.
belteshazzar wrote: so, my grassroots brethren, who makes the best glasspack style muffler? I've probably bought 15-20 thrush glasspacks over the years. They're okay, mainly just really cheap, but it seems like the packing blows out and I'm looking for something better than that. This is for my triton 'vic, to use in place of the catalytic converters. I find that placing a glasspack where a converter was keeps the noise level about the same, for less money, and with no added backpressure. what say you
You lost me at "in place of the catalytic converters". 
In truth, please run cat's on your daily drivers...it makes a huge difference on emissions, and doesn't cost any real power.
I agree for something you are going to drive often on the street keep the cats on there. I just checked summit and saw them between $50-$60 each for anywhere from 2" to 3" pipe.
that's in the ballpark. Thanks fellas
David Vizard in one of his 'Horsepower' books (Vol. 1, I think), has a whole big section re: headers, mufflers and tailpipes and measuring flows and Delta P's and evaluating cats and such. I don't recall Cherry Bomb's place in the pack, but there wasn't a great deal of difference between most of the tested pieces. The trick seems to be to keep the bends full cross-section (as opposed to crushed by a bender), and not to go too small in diameter. The best results I've had have been with Summit's 'house-brand' stuff...good sound, enough quiet to keep John Law happy, long service life and low enough cost that the Finanz Ministerium didn't balk at the idea.
THAT might be the crucial point...How much are you willing to spend? Will it cause any grief with your significant other?
Yuck. The glasspacks did really really badly in a hot rod test on the dyno and they sound really bad at anything other than idle, if you want my opinion. If you already have a muffler on the car, get a resonator instead of a glasspack. Cheaper and nothing to blow out.
I hate catalytic converters... leave 'em off.
How about Supertrapps
tuna55 wrote: Yuck. The glasspacks did really really badly in a hot rod test on the dyno and they sound really bad at anything other than idle, if you want my opinion. If you already have a muffler on the car, get a resonator instead of a glasspack. Cheaper and nothing to blow out. I hate catalytic converters... leave 'em off.
can you link me to the article where the straight through glasspack made a difference on a dyno?
tuna55 wrote: I hate catalytic converters... leave 'em off.
YEAH! Stupid catalytic converters and their ridiculous emissions reducing properties.
Now lets go out and hunt some spotted owls.
I like the Magnaflow Race Bullets.
And +1 on not being a douchebag who runs catless on the street.
Cats only work properly when operating at correct temperature, and with the mixture held very closely to stoic. You can't just 'bolt them on', and hope that the magic happens. Practically speaking, it requires an EFI system and an O2 sensor, running in closed loop. The OEM's have spent billions on this issue over the years, it's the main reason EFI has been universally adopted. Otherwise, running cats is a waste of money, and resources. Resources? The platinum, the cost to manufacture and distribute, and loss of motor efficiency requiring more fuel to be burned.
Carter
You'll need to log in to post.
