The exhaust sound of New cars vs Old

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Palmetto

Palmetto

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Is it my imagination, or do newer muscle cars all sound like they are inside a 55 gallon drum? The old muscle cars of the 60s and 70s sound so mean and crisp compared to the new ones... Any thoughts???

Are the newer cars designed with fundamentally different muffler systems? Maybe something to do with the pipes??? Straight pipe exhaust vs an elaborate cross-over type design.

What about Fuel injection making the car sound different vs a carburetor?

A fuel injector squirts a small amount of fuel and a carb pours it in...


I've really scratched my head about this for many years starting with the mid 80s fuel injected 5.0 Mustangs and Iroc Camaros.:banghead: Any thoughts?
 
The difference is that modern exhaust systems are acoustically tuned to have a specific sound, where older systems all they really were concerned with was no resonance.
 
Lots of newer cars have sheetmetal "header" style low restriction exhaust manifolds, as well as "tuned" exhaust tubing and flow through mufflers, not to mention larger diameter pipes.
 
I agree with all the previous replies, in addition to a lot of the newer cars have OHC heads instead of OHV. I see this with Metric motorcycles, with aftermarket exhaust vs. say the Harley's which are still pushrod.
 
I'll take an old V-8 with a nice set of turbo mufflers over the ricer with the "beehive" or "fart can" on it any day....
 
I worked at the local chebbie dealer from the late 80s through the early 90s. I remember when the "new" 88 C/K trucks hit the market. They had what I considered (and still do) the gheyest, most hideously horrible dead arctic monkey ball suckin exhaust not ever. I think most any factory fuel injected V8 sounds similar. The fuel injection does something to fag out the exhaust note, IMO.
 
The original muscle cars did not have catalysts, the cat does a lot to the tuning & sound.
 
Catalytic convertors/DPF's
Headers vs. manifolds
Variable valve timing
Variable timing
Camshafts
Higher vs. Lower compression (new cars would surprise you how high of compression newer cars have)

If you've ever heard a older V8 with a fuel injection system retro fitted on to it they sound like an old V8
 
SSVDP said:
The original muscle cars did not have catalysts, the cat does a lot to the tuning & sound.
Click to expand...

This what I think as well. The wife's 6.4 300 is kind of a funny sound when it first starts and then mellows out after 30 seconds, but at hard throttle it sounds good and cruising is nice and quiet.

I'm thinking going to new exhaust after this summer, for a more aggressive sound.
 
The fuel injection does something to fag out the exhaust note, IMO.
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This is the main difference. FI completely changes the sound of the exhaust at idle. A muscle car's idle isn't a steady RPM...it fluctuates slightly and is rough in comparison. You can't duplicate that sound with FI. Camshaft design has a lot to do with it as well.

I like the sound of a lot of different engines. I used to have an 02 Stratus R/T...the two door version with a 3.0 Mitsubishi V6. I had a Magnaflow muffler on it and it sounded really mean. Not loud and annoying...kind of exotic sounding.

The 90's Chevy trucks sound AWFUL. So do the Chevy V6 engines.(2.8/3.8/3300/3800 exc...)
 
burdar said:
This is the main difference. FI completely changes the sound of the exhaust at idle. A muscle car's idle isn't a steady RPM...it fluctuates slightly and is rough in comparison. You can't duplicate that sound with FI. Camshaft design has a lot to do with it as well.

I like the sound of a lot of different engines. I used to have an 02 Stratus R/T...the two door version with a 3.0 Mitsubishi V6. I had a Magnaflow muffler on it and it sounded really mean. Not loud and annoying...kind of exotic sounding.

The 90's Chevy trucks sound AWFUL. So do the Chevy V6 engines.(2.8/3.8/3300/3800 exc...)
Click to expand...

damdess description I ever heard, rusty! lol-bob
 
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