It was the best of sounds . . . it was the worst of sounds (Coyote V8 content)

Waiting around outside the pizza place to pick up dinner, I was "treated" to what was apparently every Coyote powered Mustang in SW Michigan on parade.  True to form, pretty much every one of them felt the need to "open her up" at the light.  (I'm not complaining, I was safely out of "Mustang Range" behind a large ditch and a couple of rows of cars).  Here's my question:  How is the same car, with the same engine capable of sounding so glorious at times and "nails on a chalkboard" at others?  I mean some of them sounded spectacular, and others like a dumpster with a couple handfuls of gravel in being towed down a washboard road by an open header Civic.  Is this a cheap aftermarket exhaust issue?

Strangely enough, the worst sounding one had a nice lopey idle, but sounded like CRAP when lit off.  

Depends completely on the exhaust type.  Is there a resonator to reduce drone and buzz?  Headers?  Properly designed pipes, or someone with some flex tube and a sawzall?

You can change decibel level on a car simply by lengthening or shortening the exhaust tip (it changes maybe 5dB total, so it isn't a huge amount) but if such a simple thing changes it then what is an actual muffler going to do?

That being said, no clue what the crappy ones are running.  I always liked a nice choppy burble into a low exhaust note.

In reply to kazoospec :

There's one at the local autox that apparently has some kind of open/aftermarket exhaust. I still think the sound is glorious, but it's incredibly painful, even at a distance. 

Mr_Asa said:

Depends completely on the exhaust type.  Is there a resonator to reduce drone and buzz?  Headers?  Properly designed pipes, or someone with some flex tube and a sawzall?

You can change decibel level on a car simply by lengthening or shortening the exhaust tip (it changes maybe 5dB total, so it isn't a huge amount) but if such a simple thing changes it then what is an actual muffler going to do?

That being said, no clue what the crappy ones are running.  I always liked a nice choppy burble into a low exhaust note.

This. 

A lot of guys go for LOUD. Small mufflers, remove the resonators..........and then they end up sounding like garbage. 

I don't like the sound most people get out of any modular ford. Here and there a few surprise me but overall they're a bit loud and raspy. I'd rather a deeper sound.

I think it's stock but the person a few doors down has a newer Mustang with the Coyote and it sounds pretty dang good when it gets fired up.

The problem is, my guess, smaller exhaust pipes.  They always sound awful.  I have dual 3" pipes on mine and it sounded great.

infinitenexus said:

The problem is, my guess, smaller exhaust pipes.  They always sound awful.  I have dual 3" pipes on mine and it sounded great.

I think the opposite.  Big pipes sound blatty and coarse.  You need an engine in the 600" range to make dual 3" sound okay, otherwise you get the same effect as a Honda with a fart can.

To muffler or not to muffler, that is the question

In reply to buzzboy :

I generally agree that most mod motors don't sound very good. Some do surprise me but I have never figurd out what it is that makes the good ones sound good.

I had a 2V 4.6 in my '02 Mountaineer that sounded OK stock. I will say that the sound that the 2V 4.6s make when they are cranking is my favorite engine cranking sound out there. 

The cranking sound of a mod motor is very particular and does sound nice. By the same token a lot of Mitsubishis sound broken when cranking even though everything is normal. 

I'm a big fan of big mufflers if you can fit em. I just installed one of these in my buddy's turbo 1995 Caravan (which has room for huge mufflers) and liked it a lot. It's chambered but almost straight through (you can partially see through it end to end). I sort of enjoy the challenge of muffler shopping but the lack of detail about whats inside a lot of them can be frustrating. 

Just last night i was trying to find some sound clips of 36-48" long glasspacks, which was tough. Im a big fan of long glasspacks too although those almost never fit in a car-car (like, not a truck, not a van). 

Id honestly feel kinda dumb if i had a v8 Mustang that managed to sound bad. The exhaust world is literally your oyster if you own a v8 mustang. All you have to do is dig through the endless internet of sound clips of every possible setup and then buy something that bolts right up. Most of the other cars of the world, figuring out the exhaust is some trial and error. If you have a crappy exhaust on a Mustang it's just... error. 

I understood they had a resonance valve in the exhaust to increase the sound on WOT.  Guy at Stainless Works told me they are the only car customers want him to make louder systems for...

Borla makes the ATTAK muffler system for the Coyote. NOt terrible at idle but if I am behind you when you take off in a hurry or sift down from a few rpm, I want to toss a brick through your rear window. Made that way on purpose.

This topic has brought a question back to me.  Based on how different a 510 with an L20 and a 2 1/2 inch exhaust going out through a turbo muffler sounds compared to a Sentra with an SR20 and the same exhaust, how much difference does four valves per cylinder make?  Similar compression, L20 with at least as much cam.  SR20 is much raspier.  

Mod motors the same, maybe, because of more valves, or something else entirely?

I have a coyote in my truck and I Love the way it sounds wot. All stock but Gibson makes single outlet that is said to sound pretty good

Streetwiseguy said:

This topic has brought a question back to me.  Based on how different a 510 with an L20 and a 2 1/2 inch exhaust going out through a turbo muffler sounds compared to a Sentra with an SR20 and the same exhaust, how much difference does four valves per cylinder make?  Similar compression, L20 with at least as much cam.  SR20 is much raspier.  

Mod motors the same, maybe, because of more valves, or something else entirely?

Cam timing, duration, lift shape all play a role.  1 vs 2 exhaust valves will affect the pressure spike and general curve, because they need different timing, and the max flow is different as well.

heck, compare a healthy 496 with a stock Vortec 8100.  Same displacement, same number of valves, the exhaust profile is going to be wildly different. 

Streetwiseguy said:

This topic has brought a question back to me.  Based on how different a 510 with an L20 and a 2 1/2 inch exhaust going out through a turbo muffler sounds compared to a Sentra with an SR20 and the same exhaust, how much difference does four valves per cylinder make?  Similar compression, L20 with at least as much cam.  SR20 is much raspier.  

Mod motors the same, maybe, because of more valves, or something else entirely?

I've always wondered how block and head material affect it.

Our neighbor has a rather uncorked Shelby. He's punctual. I'm not. It's a great measure for how late I'm running in the morning. 

In reply to David S. Wallens :

I gauge my morning commute by if I woke up early enough to be in front of or behind someone in a Matrix that is completely covered with local metal bands' stickers.

That and "SLOW R", whose driver gets on and off of I-71 at the same exits as me.  I'm not SAYING we play "follow the leader" in traffic, but... well...  (The funny:  He was doing all the blowoff-valve noises at me when I have the RX-7 out.  Wonder if he knows that it's the same guy as the a-hole in the Volvo)

In reply to David S. Wallens :

When I was in high school, my family lived within a decent chip shot of I-94.  There was a guy with a piped sport bike of some kind that used to get on the highway a mile from my house.  His bike was so loud, I could faintly hear him rolling on the throttle on the on ramp.  I'd hear at least 3 WOT upshifts, and he'd flash by the house doing at least 100 mph. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.  If I was still in bed during the flyby, I was running about 10 minutes late. 

I used to be an alarm clock. In highschool I drove an ACVW with a stinger exhaust. The kid across the street would be woken up by it daily and know it was time to go to school. A local craftsman said he could here my exhaust from a 1/2 mile away while wearing earpro and using power tools. I'm sure everybody was happy when I sold it.

Still, it sounded better than a straight piped Coyote.

I still have the stock mufflers on my 2005 Mustang for this exact reason. The good sounding ones with aftermarket are really rare, and unless you are doing full headers and system there aren't a ton of gains to be had on a stock motor.  I think that X pipes add raspyness on these cars, and they're pretty popular. The cheap, loud option for mufflers are bolt-in straight pipes which are also popular and sound horrid. The worst sounding actual mufflers I've heard are the Flowmaster stuff, also a popular name. The better sounding mufflers - deeper, smoother tone - seem to be the most expensive ones so they aren't as popular.

All of which is a shame because the old iron 5.0 could be one of the best sounding engines around if done right.

I left my Montero on the choke for like 5 minutes today and went back inside so i could get some heat in the interior (a little below freezing this morning).  It's got a flowmaster and once it warms up on the choke it runs like 2300 rpm so im sure SOMEONE was annoyed. But on the other hand, i ended up passing someone wandering in the middle of a two way street in the neighborhood because their windshield was so frosted they couldn't see (here in s. texas we don't know nothing about cold and are real dumb about driving in it) while my windshield was already perfect, so.. 

Anwyay, the flowmaster makes the truck sound like a nicer truck because it drowns out all the little noises that would make you think it's a rickety pile of E36 M3. It could stand to be a little quieter, but  im not touching that muffler unless it is in the process of installing a turbo. 

ultraclyde (Forum Supporter) said:

I still have the stock mufflers on my 2005 Mustang for this exact reason. The good sounding ones with aftermarket are really rare, and unless you are doing full headers and system there aren't a ton of gains to be had on a stock motor.  I think that X pipes add raspyness on these cars, and they're pretty popular. The cheap, loud option for mufflers are bolt-in straight pipes which are also popular and sound horrid. The worst sounding actual mufflers I've heard are the Flowmaster stuff, also a popular name. The better sounding mufflers - deeper, smoother tone - seem to be the most expensive ones so they aren't as popular.

All of which is a shame because the old iron 5.0 could be one of the best sounding engines around if done right.

I remember looking at a Mustang magazine at the supermarket a few months after the S197 came out. They tested several catbacks and only one of them made any more power than stock. And it only made 1hp more! I was shocked.

I think there are two main factors at play. 

One is that while there is usually some common ground peoples opinions differ on what's a good sounding exhaust.  I, for example, have never heard an inline 4 that I thought sounded good.  I just don't care for them.

The other issue is that modern factory exhaust systems are really good.  They make good power over a wide RPM range and also sound good.  Most aftermarket companies just don't have the resources to develop a system that provides both a performance and sound improvement over stock.  Some of them fail miserably at both.