ldollar

Okay so here is the deal. My car sounds really good to most people. Including myself. It is loud, throaty and probably drives my neighbors up the wall. I have a Flowmaster American Thunder dual exhaust system, with no tailpipes. The problem is this: I have a baby that rides in the back seat of the car regularly. Not daily, but almost.

I am concerned about damaging her hearing.

I bought a noise level meter (yeah, lame I know...) at Radio Shack and measured the decibel levels while driving. In driving around town, the range was from 78-80 dB at idle and 85 at low rpms (around 1200-2000) while a few peaks of 88 (heavy acceleration and about 900-1200 rpms).

According to info I read online, decibel levels above 85 are in the "dangerous" range. Personally I already suffer from a hereditary minor hearing loss so I should be concerned about doing further damage to my own hearing. But my real concern lies with my daughter who has been fortunate enough to have very good hearing. She is less than 2 years old and I do not want to be responsible for any hearing damage in her young ears.


I know a lot of guys are trying to make their cars louder and I wish I could leave things as they are. And I dont want to drastically change the sound of my ride but is there any little things I can do to make my car just a *little* quieter and bring those dB levels out of the danger zone? Hopefully I dont have to install a new exhaust system and I am afraid any tail pipes I add would make the noise levels higher. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Thanks for your help on this, all of you. Have a great weekend!
-Luke

dodgestang

If by no tail pipes you mean you have dumps in front of the axle....add tail pipes, this will quiet the inside of the car CONSIDERABLY.

Mr. Classic EFI

Get rid of the Flowmasters, and use the moderately quiter Magnaflows(you'll still have an authoritive exhaust the more the R's come up), or use Dynomaxes tht are more mellow till ya get to WOT. As far a loss of performance, either Magnas or Dynos are marginally better than Flows.
Or heck, just go ahead, and dull the kid's hearing now. As they will likely, ruin their own hearing, as a teen listening to some noise, that sounds to you, as horrible as Rap Hopsounds to me. Hehheh

RobbieG.

Tail pipes will make a BIG differance.

SS4LUNCH

Tailpipes. The other muffler suggestions are good also.

ldollar

Well, I didn't realize the tailpipes would make that big of a difference. I think that since I am not really ready to spend the $$$ to install a whole new exhaust (I am trying to clear the funds for a front disc brake conversion among many other projects...) that the tail pipes would be the way to go.

I have been looking at exhaust system components in all the catalogs. CJ, NPD, YearOne, and I dont know S*** about it... Do I need to get a tail pipe that is specifically Flowmaster to match the system that is already there? Would I benefit from gettting a bigger opening, two openings on each, or other performance benefits from the tail pipes?

I could just go to a muffler shop locally and see what they can do... Would that be a good option or would that just assure me that I pay a premium? Either way, I will have to have the tailpipe installed by a pro or someone who knows what they are doing since I don't weld.

Thanks for all the suggestions. You guys rock.

zuluracerx

I just ordered two sets of headphones. Mine sounds like a NASCAR. I will take some vids this weekend and post up and you will see what I mean. Short answer, yes you will damage your hearing over time. What?

RobbieG.

Oh, just to add....I run mufflers on my race car too....just to damn loud with out them, even with a helmet on.

Rorin67

+1

PO had dumps, then I added the rest to have the system come out under the rear valance cutouts. Made a big difference in interior, and even exterior, DBs. I would do this first, since it's a good idea anyway. You don't want exhaust fumes from the dumps somehow creeping into the cabin - then you'd have a dangerously loud car AND a dangerously fumed car!

To get the tailpipes and everything installed, I just took the 67 to a custom exhust shop. All they need to do is match the pipe diameter of the rest of the system (you don't want to sufficate your nice exhaust by going smaller, and going bigger adds you nothing) and then you pick out a nice shiny chrome tailpipe to come out the back. Simple and easy, and only about $200 total. Small price for the peace of mind.

TexasAxMan

Just go to any muffler shop and get them to fab up the tailpipes, you should be good to go.