1986FirebirdV6

Does anyone know of a stock replacement muffler I can buy that will make my v6 sound like a V8? I talked to the guy at Summit, and he told me about a Flowmaster, model 842583. There's a review on there, with a guy who bought it for his 3.4 V6, and he says it sounds good, but I want to make sure about this, before I buy one. I have the 2.8 V6, by the way. Or, if there's another one that will sound better, I'd like to know.

Thanks,
John

midias

The only thing that will make your V6 sound like a V8 is a V8 swap.

OrangeBird

iTrader: (1)

John , think about this for a moment .....

An eight cylinder sounds as it does per a given exhaust system because while running , each complete cycle (two crankshaft revolutions) puts 8 pulses (or puffs if you prefer) into the muffler whereas the six puts six pulses into the muffler in the same time constant (1 complete cycle of all cylinders during any given RPM) . In short , six bangs per cycle will never sound like eight bangs per cycle , due to the "missing" two bangs per the same number of crankshaft revolutions . In spite of what the muffler folks tell you to sell mufflers , there is no muffler that's gonna replace the sound of those two cylinders that aren't there .....

I hope that made at least some sense of it for you .

1986FirebirdV6

I understand, but I've heard mufflers on V6 Mustangs that sound like V8's, so I figure that someone has to have made one for these cars! I can't stand that 'tinny' sound it makes! I realize that it will never sound the same as a V8, but hopefully, there's one out there that sounds better than the stock one! I had a V10 van, and that thing sounded like crap! Even with a turbo muffler! Years ago, there was a muffler shop that told me he'd never do any type of aftermarket muffler systems for the V10, as whatever he put on, made it sound like a crotch rocket! So, with that in mind, can you explain why the V10 sounds like crap, compared to a V8? With two MORE cylinders (as per your explanation), you would think that it would sound even BETTER than a V8!

John

midias

Because it has a different length exhaust pulse. The number of cylinders, displacement per cylinder, number of valves, cam duration and a variety of other factors sum up to create the number and length of exhaust pulses coming out of the pipe. V10s can sound amazing, plenty of vipers sound fierce. Sounds like your guy just can't properly build an exhaust for a particular motor. Ever heard a V12 with 4 valves per cylinder they wail like a banshee completely different from the boiler plate 2V pushrod V8 motor from a variety of manufacturers.

OrangeBird

iTrader: (1)

Also John , Midas' points are well to be considered as well as the fact that with our third gens we are not talking about a "proper" dual exhaust system with essentially a separate exhaust system for each side of the engine joined by a crossover pipe , but instead we have a single exhaust that just happens to branch out into two tailpipes at the muffler .

What I can tell you is this ;

My car , 100% bone stock 2.8 , came to me with only one non factory part in the entire drivetrain (got the car with 70K miles from it's first owner) . Yep , you guessed it , my friend who originally owned the car had a flowmaster muffler put on it . It was the first thing I did after registration was go to a different friend's exhaust shop and put a stock muffler back on ! Why ? Cause the flowmaster didn't sound all "badass" like my buddy wanted it to , it sounded like a 6 cylinder with a bad exhaust pipe ! No forceful "VROOM VROOM" at all , just "BLAHHHHHHHHA" "BLAHHHHHA" when it was revved sounding more crapbox than hotrod .

Buddy , just tryin to save ya some coin here chasin a sound your car is never gonna make , that of an engine it hasn't got .

PS , beef up ANY engine and it will have the forceful exhaust note your looking for , even a properly hot rodded six CAN sound "mean & nasty" (in a good way) , it just will still sound like a properly hot rodded six instead of a built up eight .

midias

I will tell you that on the last few 4V 3 and 3.5L V6s I have put on custom exhausts magnaflow and borla are the way to go with at least one resonator two if it still rasps to much. Resonators are key for a V6, any perforated glass pack will make a fine resonator. I usually use vibrant or silverline. A dynomax super turbo sounded decent on my friends 3.1L camaro

midias

You can really hear the difference with motorcycles think harleys vs any bike with 4 cylinders. Even when displacement is the same the two cylinder generally dual piped harley puts out two distinctive exhaust pulses that's what gives it the potato potato I am about to die sound. Go 2.5" if you get a full system.

http://www.dynomax.com/exhaust-syste...xhaust-systems

arudlang

You are in Illinois so pretty much out of luck due to 'illinoising inspections'

Because the best sound I know of you can get out of a 2.8 is to cut out the cat put a straight pipe in its place and put on a cheap OEM replacement muffler. Thats all I have is the all stock exhaust minus the cat the only other factor in mine is a mild cam which gives me an even more V8-like lopey idle. It kinda shows itself for what it is once you get up over 3600 RPMS but even then its not "*****".

Check out the mp3 I attached is my 2.8 doing a wide open throttle run, Synchronicity II by The Police is playing on the car stereo in the background both for your listening pleasure and for the sake of authenticity, no sound editing speeding up/slowing down etc just a raw recording off my cell phone