I made my northstar a little louder today

AKPsiMC03 · #1 (**permalink**) 03-16-03, 03:56 PM

I got tired of not having enough noise when i got on the gas.

So while i was working on my car today, i took the airbox out, and the little silencer under it... I put them both back, but wiht duct tape over the hole for the silencer. lol. Its a little more noticeable now.

kcnewell · #2 (**permalink**) 03-16-03, 06:24 PM

Hmmmmm!

UNCLEMIKEY · #3 (**permalink**) 03-19-06, 04:40 AM

spend the money and put yourself on a set of flowmasters if you want loud my 97 eldo sounds sweet and hauls ass. bring on those 5.0 stangs this eldo will show you what a drag race is.

Tailfin · #4 (**permalink**) 03-19-06, 06:06 AM

Why the devil would you want it louder? It's not a sign that you have some "modded" power engine (especially being the Northstar has plenty as is)... You're dealing with explosions, if you took the muffling system off, a Neon would sound "sweet."

I don't know, I guess that's up to you, but that just makes the engine sound less smooth and more like it needs some work done on it. It's hard enough keeping a car from rusting, there's no need to have it sound like it's rusting...

auroradude · #5 (**permalink**) 03-19-06, 12:08 PM

Throw some dynomax super turbos on there or flowmasters. The super turbos sound sweet. Or you could just chop the mufflers out and run a custom 2.5" pipe straight back from the cat to some nice tips.

UNCLEMIKEY · #6 (**permalink**) 03-20-06, 01:39 AM

I Put The Flowmasters On And Used The Stock Tips. It Is Pretty Quiet Until I Open It Up Them It Sounds Hot.

davesdeville · #7 (**permalink**) 03-20-06, 06:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tailfin

Why the devil would you want it louder? It's not a sign that you have some "modded" power engine (especially being the Northstar has plenty as is)... You're dealing with explosions, if you took the muffling system off, a Neon would sound "sweet."

I don't know, I guess that's up to you, but that just makes the engine sound less smooth and more like it needs some work done on it. It's hard enough keeping a car from rusting, there's no need to have it sound like it's rusting...

4cyls do not sound "sweet." And you've gotta be kidding me with the jab at all the hundreds of thousands of vehicles out there with louder than stock mufflers.

auroradude · #8 (**permalink**) 03-20-06, 10:29 AM

Wow, I didnt even see that he wrote that. Why would someone say that on a caddy board..lol. 4 and 6 bangers both sound like buckets of marbles when you open em up --- 4's wanna make my face cringe though.

caddydaddy · #9 (**permalink**) 03-20-06, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tailfin

Why the devil would you want it louder? It's not a sign that you have some "modded" power engine (especially being the Northstar has plenty as is)...

An exhaust IS a sign of a modded engine! Have you ever heard a muscle car? There's a reason they don't put Ford Taurus mufflers on them!

The Corsa cat-back on my STS is claimed to add 22HP, and the exhaust sounds FAR better than ANY system on any 4 banger!

So that works for me!

Let the guy mod his car the way he wants!

Zorb750 · #10 (**permalink**) 03-21-06, 02:21 AM

4 bangers with exhaust sound like

. My friend's Neon actually sounds ok, but its system is just low restriction, not intended to improve sound. No echo resonation or anything or high pitched "pop pop pop" sound.

There's a difference between aftermarket exhaust and needlessly loud stupidity. My Grand Cherokee falls into the latter of the two categories unfortunately, with a Mopar branded system that's pretty much a single chamber flowmaster and a high capacity cat, it sets off car alarms with no difficulty. I only leave it like that because it's a fairly expensive system with a custom bent pipe just for that car (shipped bent) and I don't want to put $500 into a somewhat quieter exhaust system for it.

My Grand will is modded to the point it will beat a stock STS though, but I doubt I would lose more than two HP by quieting it a bit.

davesdeville · #11 (**permalink**) 03-21-06, 07:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by caddydaddy

An exhaust IS a sign of a modded engine! Have you ever heard a muscle car? There's a reason they don't put Ford Taurus mufflers on them!

The Corsa cat-back on my STS is claimed to add 22HP, and the exhaust sounds FAR better than ANY system on any 4 banger!

So that works for me!

Let the guy mod his car the way he wants!

I agree, but my parents SHO is probably loudest stock exhaust I've heard other than an SRT8 Charger I recently had the pleasure of driving.

Tailfin · #12 (**permalink**) 03-21-06, 08:39 AM

I didn't mean to sound as condescending, sorry...it's just that those "muscle" cars annoy me lol. Too many times, I've been sleeping or reading or something, and this car floors it with his/her "modded" car...in the middle of a vacant lot or empty road. I mean sure, you've got a car, and you've reduced the backpressure, giving you an extra 10% HP...and maybe this serves you in some practical sense. I understand the desire to give your engine more power, but not the desire to purely make it louder, as this thread was geared toward.

I was not kidding about the "jab" at all those non-stock mufflers, but perhaps I should have refined the jab... It's just to people who do it only to make it louder with no other goal...that's just obnoxious. Also speaking of people that do it to cars with engines that are not worth it... (not the N* of course). An extreme example is the number of Neons I've seen with that HUGE exhaust tailpipe... This part is strictly an opinion, but I really think that's ugly as sin. Ruins any line or symmetry the vehicle had...not that a Neon looks cool to begin with.

All I meant by the mention of the 4 cylinder is that if you took the muffler, etc.. off it would sound louder, not better. Again, bad choice of words on my part, for which I apologize. The thing is, making your car louder is not an impressive feat. Anyone can do it. If you put my car next to a 4 banger, it sounds better with the muffling system as well...so the level of noise is rather irrelevant to how "good" an engine sounds. I realize you wouldn't put a Taurus exhaust on a "performance" car, but the thing is, the noise factor can be achieved by both performance mufflers and complete pieces of....:-P... If your goal is to make it perform better, then there are mufflers that will reduce backpressure, but they don't try to make it louder. Again, I apologize for my rather broad bash, but I'll refine the jab again...basically referring to those that would mod their car to be louder even if it had no effect on performance... Like Plato said, wise men talk because they have something to say, fools talk because they have to say something....you know what? Scratch that... Actually, I'm just thinking about it, and I think I honestly just don't think an internal combustion engine sounds cool. A bunch of cumbersome explosions going off. I think a jet sounds cool lol...although that's just too loud to the point of damaging your ears. But I think I feel this way because I like "smoother" sounds. No matter how well it's running, curtailing the exhaust seems to make the sound "rougher." Kinda gives me the feeling that the car is "chugging" along instead of "zoooooommm"

Don't take this umm...entirely the wrong way, I'm not above some showmanship in the car...but I really think it's more impressive and more of a kick in the face if you're the racing/flooring it type if you have the car quiet. Picture this... Someone in a GT or whatever has gutted his muffler, and floors it making some ***hole maneuver to cut you off...His engine is waking the dead...and you floor your N* and sail past him. Which do you think is a better "up yours"? I guarantee the putz would be a lot more shot down if his car sounds like Lucifer screaming, and is passed by a car that doesn't have to break a sweat to beat him.

This part is just me thinking out loud...don't know how practical it is, but it's what I would do if I had gobs of cash sitting around and wanted to "mod" my exhaust. I'd want to fabricate the muffler myself. You could take the muffler off, and make a recording of the engine at various RPM. Take that recording, and stick it in the computer and open it with a spectrum analyzer. That would show you the peak frequency of the sound... The resonator in a muffler cancels out sound waves of a specific length, which is the length of the resonator. By doing this, you could use the wavelength from the spectrum analyzer and fabricate the muffler's resonator to exactly that length, minimizing the need for extra passageways to quiet the engine. If it were practical, I'd also dunk the whole thing in high temperature silicone goo... That would dampen the hell out of the vibration and hey, no rusting! Ah well...anyone know where to get a vat of silicone goo?

davesdeville · #13 (**permalink**) 03-22-06, 05:15 AM

Closing off the sliencer isn't going to wake you up at night.

You're right, it is better to kick someones ass with a really quiet car IMO. But I'm in a Caddy. Say I want to run that Mustang from the next light, if I rev it and he can't even hear it...

I think cutouts are kind of the answer, quiet most of the time, louder than hell when you want it to be. The exhaust on my 75 is going to have 2 resonators and 4 mufflers... and cutouts

Then again unless you have fairly long straight pipes on the cutouts you miss the middle ground where it's kinda loud but nice sounding.

Tailfin · #14 (**permalink**) 03-22-06, 07:56 AM

Hehe well that works if you're into drag racing. I'm too poor for that lol. So I just need it when someone is a complete #$*# on the road

. Here's a wild idea...which would need refining... Bars of metal under the car adjacent the exhaust that are cut to specific lengths and have a natural frequency of your engine at say, 4000 RPM. That way, when you get the engine to that speed, it would vibrate them and they would, of course, resonate and create more sound. Probably more if they were actually touched the engine... Alright, maybe I need help...

Gearheaad43 · #15 (**permalink**) 12-02-06, 12:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tailfin

Why the devil would you want it louder? It's not a sign that you have some "modded" power engine (especially being the Northstar has plenty as is)... You're dealing with explosions, if you took the muffling system off, a Neon would sound "sweet."

Ummm I gather from your statements that you have NEVER been to a Car Show or a racing event.... Ever heard a highly tuned V8 on Flowmasters, or Dnyomax Mufflerss??? They do not sound the same as a clunker with a hole in it's muffler.

Have you ever heard the whine of a HP Supercharger, or the boosting of a Turbo? These are what us car lovers go after 90% of the time. Now I realize that not all people like HP cars... But there is respect to go around when you hear one of these highly tuned machines coming through.