hey i have a mild built 289 now in my 67 but i want a little more sound. like a real ground pounder can it be done? i think its .30 over with stock heads

 

the right cam and ignition will give you a powerful sound.

 

Get a bigger cam, headers, and a good exhaust set up.

 

Without going all out for another monster motor, an exhaust system would work for the sound. A good set of headers into a Y single 2 1/2 to 3" exhaust and a flowmaster muffler would be good for torque and sound. Otherwise a true duel exhaust with flowmasters would be the next best thing with either a X or H pipe and no bigger than a 2 1/2 inch piping. The exact specs for exhaust size and design would depend on where you want the power band, and how much HP your generating. Either of these would give you a pretty good ground thumping sound.

 

thanks to everyone i was hoping to change the cam the heads and ignition i have the headers flows and h pipe. would a set of bulit 302 heads work on the 289 and not hurt it?

 

Im not real sure about the 302 heads working, but I'm positive you would not hear any difference with them. The cam would change the sound you have but I dont think it would actually make it more "thunderous" unless you really went with a radical cam but at that point your are changing it into a racing motor and would need to rebuild the entire motor to take advantage of it. It will also kill its street manors.

Basically the cam will change the "note" you hear from the exhaust, but the exhaust will control how "thunderous" it sounds and feels with out a complete motor change.

 

I recommend straight through mufflers over chambered. If you want it to be heard, why not get electric cutouts? That way you can have it louder when you want it to be and mild the rest of the time. I was thinking about doing this to my car.

I wouldn't suggest a large cam with stock heads etc. The power band will be screwed up and the driveability will suffer. I wouldn't even suggest a cam like that for a street car even with better heads. The powerband will move higher in the RPMs and you will loose low end torque.

 

Is this a serious post or tongue in cheek?

 

Well, other than maybe a little large on the exhaust pipe, I thought I was on track...

Am I missing something? Please be nice, I was just repeating what Ive been told by some exhaust guys, and so far the advice they gave me worked out.

Generally Im a chevy guy, and built my exhaust around a 300HP small block and used those specs. Many of the exhaust guys I talked to suggested those things so I thought it would apply.

Just re-read my first reply, and "ground thumping sound" is off... I should have said a nice sound, probably not much different from what he already described from his original description. Whoops, and the power band comment, that is more a function of the cam and engine design.

Im just working off of his request for suggestions on changing the sound without being so radical it does more harm to his performance, not so much on helping with HP or actual usefulness.

 

Before I go further I must tell you that I'm 60 years old. When I was a teenager and a young car guy, the last thing that ANYONE would want for a good sounding exhaust would be a single exhaust of ANY DESCRIPTION! That's why I wondered if you were making a joke in recommending a single exhaust.

Times change I suppose, so I suppose that to some of my younger car guy brothers, a large, open single exhaust sounds best.

It's all a matter of taste and what you've been around I suppose.

When I read the original post, my first thought was that he wanted a loud exhaust. In the sixties, there weren't really any alternatives except for dual exhaust and glass packs. Once into the very late sixties and early seventies, the Turbo mufflers from the original turbo corvair came into vogue because they would outflow a glass pack. They sounded a little quieter and more mellow.

Later on, of course, Flowmasters and X Pipes came along that changed the sound even more. Since a dual exhaust with an X pipe blends together both banks to make it sound more like a single exhaust, I guess that's where the transformation came that just led to a big single exhaust and be done with it.

From a practical standpoint a large single exhaust will provide performance, but for my 60 year old ears it won't provide the right sound.

It's all a taste thing. For me, number one priority is the best flowing exhaust I can have and number two is for it to sound good. The taste part comes into the sound thing. Just like everyone has a different favorite color, then everyone has different tastes in sound too.

For the OP, do some googling and listen to some Youtubes of various exhaust systems to find what suits YOUR taste.