dallam1

Well, today I had the Hooker Aero Chamber installed on my Cutty. The installer did a nice job because the bends are gentle and not restrictive like the old piping was. I must say that I was surprised at the exhaust sound. In a word, it's quiet! the idle has an old Chris Craft boat sound to it but it's very toned down. When I give it the gas, there is no loud rumbleing. After reading all of the posts, I really was expecting something a little louder but I'm not disappointed because the car dosen't have that "vacuum cleaner" sound when I step on the gas hard. My neighbors certainly are not going to object to the old Cutty and neither am I!

Mark A Shields

Is this a Cutlas?? What kind of motor and specs on it, headers?

dallam1

Well Mark, I'll let you make up your own mind about my old 81 Cutty. I've had the Cutty for 14 years and it's had a 350, 403 and this past Summer, I put a mild 455 in it. The compression is rite at 9 to one. The intake and carb are stock and the exhaust manifolds are stock. The rear is the "weak" 7.5" and it's got the Camaro 3.23 posi innards. The auto is not a rocket but it takes care of those "Yuppies" that try to cut me off in their BMWs or Lexus's. All in all, the car is smooth, quiet and a pleasure to drive and I might add, a real sleeper. There is another world besides Chevy! But don't worry, I have a 80 4-speed Z-28 with a warmed over 383 that i built up for it a few years ago. I'ts fun to drive but every one tries to race it, not so with the Cutty!

Mark A Shields

Wow, with that set up I'm surprised your not happy with it. Sorry to hear that.

dallam1

On the contrary, I am happy with the Aero Chamber. I was just surprised how "toned down" it is. Also, I can feel that the auto has a bit more torque because it responds immediately when I give it the gas. The reason that I visited this site was to get some input as to the best muffler to put on the auto. I really think that the Flo Master would have been too loud. What I like about the Aero Chamber is that I can floor the Cutty and it dosen't attract attention. It just moves out smartly with a muffled rumble and no "vacuum cleaner" noise like it used to have. So no, I'm not disappointed! Thanks for your informative posts.

Mark A Shields

Have you listened to my sound clip?? Is your's louder than mine?

dallam1

Mark; I listened to the sound clip. To me it sounds like there is no muffler at all, just an open pipe. Actually, I've only driven the Cutty home from the muffler shop, so I really didn't get a chance to run it much. I can tell you though, it's no where near as loud as that sound clip. My Aero Chamber is the 1993 Camaro replacement muffler. I did notice that it's 20" long as compared to the Flo Master's 14". That extra length in itself will quiet things down. If you have the same muffler as I do, then I don't know why there so much difference in sound? Do you have a catalytic converter?

Jono

Mine is very very bassy. Below 2500 rpms its like having 2 subs in the car emitting the sound, it actually shakes my house when it is in the garage idling. Over 2500 its extremely loud, so loud that you can hear it a few blocks away. It may be the headers though.

Mark A Shields

Yeah, got a cat from NAPA, not sure if it's hi-flo though.

oh, and that's shifting at 4k. I really need to wind it up higher some time.

dallam1

Interesting how much difference there is in the same muffler. I remember when I was working on my 80 Z-28. There was a stock cross over pipe that went to one cat then split to two mufflers. I had the "cat back" part of the muffler system off and started the car. I was amazed how "tolerable" the exhaust noise was. I could have driven the car and not attracted attention!

84TAProject

I have the Hooker cat Back on my Trans Am and am thouroughly impressed with the sound. I have an XE262 cam, headers and a "test pipe" cat on it, and it is nice and lumpy on the idle. I get on the throttle, and man does it get loud. I didnt think it was so loud when I first got it (bought the car with no exhaust) and even with the 305 it was loud. I was dissapointed at first, but my dad drove it with me outside and it sounded just like Mark's. I wish you guys could hear how it sounds now with the 350. As my sister said when she first heard it, she thought we started up my fathers car (67 Camaro w/454 .030 over, mild cam, and true duals with dynomax mufflers). It sounds like an old cammed musclecar now. I can assure you, its much louder outside the car than it

dallam1

Just to make sure we are on the same sheet of music, we are talking about the Aero Chamber transverse muffler with the twin tail pipes for the 3rd gen. on up Camaro, aren't we? If so there is a big difference between our mufflers. There simply is no area, from idle to full throttle that this muffler makes much if any noise! Maybe it's because when I last took a physical for the company I work for, they laughed after I took the hearing test!

Mark A Shields

I'd have to say idle to 2500 rpms isn't much but WOT there is noise then.

But cruising in OD at 60, there's nothin.

Ray87Z

Hmm, mines plenty loud.

ORAY777

I'd probably go with a Magnaflow muffler. Straight through performance definitely with that size of an engine. I think it would certainly sound a bit louder.

MikeS

Does the aerochamber on the Cutlass have exits on opposite sides? I'm thinking that maybe the difference in sound is due to two mufflers having different internal structures, but still sold under the same name. We've all seen cutaway pics of an aerochamber where the exhaust enters on one end and exits out the other. I've never seen how the F-body one (like Mark's) looks inside. I imagine that it would be significantly different that a "normal" aerochamber. Who knows, maybe they're both identical, thereby making me a fool.

dallam1

Mike; Cutlass man here. I ordered the Aero Chamber for the 93 Camaro. I must say that it fit perfectly on the Cutty. The muffler's got a 2 1/2" inlet and two 2 1/4" outlets. I really didn't think to ask about a muffler specific for the Cutty but I bet there is no such thing at least in the Aero Chamber. I've had it on for about a week now and it's still quiet but "refined" from the old muffler. The only thing I can think of that caused the muffler to be quiet is that the installer was only able to put a 2 1/4" pipe from the cat to the muffler. That and the 2 1/4" tail pipes must have toned things down. If your interested at all, I'll be glad to try and get a digital picture of the rear end (don't worry it'll be my auto's rear and not my wife's). My next project is to get the old Z-28's exhaust system freshened up. I'm leaning towards two of those Ultra Flows. I like the fact that they are giving a 25$ rebate for a quality product. I've got 5 kids (I should work on my cars more!) and have to watch my hard earned money!

MikeS

Five kids ought to be able to knock out some exhaust work in no time!

Well, sounds like my guess pretty much wrong. Almost has to be the smaller intermediate pipes and tailpipes then. I am really wondering what the internal structure of the Camaro style aerochamber looks like. I've only seen the cut away view of the "universal turbo style" that they show in the ads (which is what I thought you had put on the Cutlass). Oh well, glad to hear you are happy with it anyways though.

BMmonteSS

OOPSSS!! I think I found your problem. I also have a g-body so i think i know how you installed it. You put the one pipe coming from the cat to the side of the muffler with on inlet and ran the 2 tailpipe from the side with the two exits. Makes sense right? Well the problem is that won't work with a camaro muffler. The side with the two exits is actually an inlet and a exit. This is because the camaro puts the muffler in the back sideways and not length ways like I think you have it installed. Thats why it sounds so quite its hooked up wrong. Does any one have a pic of a catback from a camaro that will show you how it is installed on a camaro.

ORAY777

The furthest pipe is the inlet and the 2 pipes parallet to one another is the outlet pipes. Should have ordered a universal muffler. Later dude.

dallam1

Hey Gents, Give the poor installer some credit. This is what he does for a living! When I walked into his shop telling him about A Camaro muffler on a Cutty, he started yawning and said you got it dude! Well, the welds are beautiful and the bends are gentle (sounds like how we had our last child!). Anywho, just for the heck of it I ran out to my car after reading your posts and looked under the Cutty. The muffler "flanges" were named "inlet" and "outlet" and all of the three pipes were in their correct places. So, the muffler looks like it's installed correctly, to me. I really think the muffled tone is because of the 2 1/4" pipe from the cat to the muffler and that maybe the cat is a little plugged up. Later Dudes!

BMmonteSS

ohh ok just checkin i know its different than the way its set up on a camaro

BMmonteSS

http://www.holley.com/HiOctn/ProdLin...S/ESM/Aero.htm
I got to lookin around and I found this site. Unless you used the muffler setup for the truck then it might not be hooked up right. All these muffler for camaro's hook up like oray said. On the muffler for the 93-2000 camaro the inlet is on the same side as an exit. l

MikeS

He checked under the car, found the labels on the inlet and outlets, and said everything is hooked up correctly. It was a good idea whoever thought to check how it was hooked up, but sounds like that's not the case. Dallam1, it is a single 2 1/4 " intermediate pipe? If so, I agree that it is the factor causing the sound to be so much more mellow than what others have found (using 3" intermediate pipe).

dallam1

MIke S, the intermediate pipe inlet size is suposed to be 2 1/2" but the installer said that the cat was only 2 1/4" so thats the size pipe he put on. The reason that I got the 93 muffler was bacause of the slightly larger inlet size because the engine is a 455.