Exhaust system planning, questions and pictures if available

[VooDoo]

Today I wrote HeartThrob regarding their largest/quietest HVS muffler and my application:

Getting ready to design an exhaust system for my 1968 International Harvester 4X4 Travelall that’s running a stock IH 392V8. The exhaust system will come off the OEM cast manifolds with 2 ¼” pipe and merge into a single 3” before the muffler. Considering your HeartThrob HVS 3” in/out 5 ½” x 11” oval 18” body with 23” overall length muffler (#58244) and one of your Universal 3” PU tail pipes that exists on the DRIVERS SIDE after the rear axle (#2270016) in order to make my own Muffler-Back Kit.

Is there any sound loudness comparison tests I can use to determine if the #58244 largest/quietest HVS muffler is going to be too loud for me? Or should I just go with your largest HPM Welded Turbo #2142 and consider myself safe for this all around Adventure 4X4 Rig with stock 392V8 engine?

What is your price for the 3” DRIVERS SIDE universal PU tail pipe (#2270016)?

His answer:

I would suggest for this application one of my 7” round welded truck mufflers, it is center in/out, #1963AL. It is designed more so for your application as opposed to the performance sound of the HVS/HPM mufflers. It will still have a little bit louder than stock sound, but I feel a much better choice for your application, $97.16 in stock.

#2270016 is $84.33

In reviewing their catalog section entitled Welded Truck Muffler it states:

"All mufflers are a free-flow design and fully-welded, center in/center out unless specified, with spirallouvered cores. Mufflers contain no packing and are reversible."

The #1963AL Welded Truck Muffler is a baffled and chambered 3” center-on-center aluminized 7” round by 24” long (30” overall length) with a 3” core size muffler.

Hummm… Maybe he has something there. I am now heavily leaning towards his suggestion. It generally pays to listen to the experts!

[VooDoo]

Found my local SoCal Magnaflow guys! Wow, their prices are great at: etrailers, JEGS and Summit. I can get Stainless Steel products for less than alumininzed metal in other brands.

The Magnaflow Stainless Steel ROUND 3" in/out XL Turbo muffler (#13742) in 7" diameter and 24" body (30" overall length) is only $65 and matches the OEM hanger mounts on my 72 Travelall frame perfectly. The Magnaflow Stainless Steel 3" universal Exhaust Tailpipe is only $54.

That is a complete muffler back STAINLESS STEEL setup for a fullsize IH for only $119!

That may just require me to go SS afterall...

The Magnaflow SS 2 1/4" in to 3" out Y-Pipe is $28, so I just need to find some SS down tubes.

Jeff - Thanks for the heads up on the muffler shops. Do you or anyone know where I can buy some SS down tubes that match the IH manifolds online?

[Jeff Jamison]

Call your local shop,they might deal with stainless,2 by me do,and they can do just what you want,or call circle S welding in fairmont West Virgina (IH shop that does exhust work)
Jeff

[VooDoo]

I drove to my local muffler shop to price some things out and see what they could do for me. Well, that was a waste of my time! The guy "thought" he could weld aluminizsed steel to stainless steel with his welder, then said maybe not He called his fab guy over to see what he thought it would take to just do the down tubes in 2 1/4" to a steel Flowmaster Y-Pipe that I would buy ($40) and provide. Estimated 3 hours at $200! That's just two steel pipes from the manifolds to the Y-Pipe at the stock location. Heck, I can just cut of the perfectly good stock drivers down pipe before the passenger side comes in and weld that to the Flowmaster Y-Pipe, then use my existing pipe pieces to fab the passenger side myself. A good cleaning, some silver 1500 degree paint and it's like new, IF I wanted to stick with steel...

That shop had no stainless pipe at all and I seriously question their abilities. There is one more muffler shop a few miles further that I know can do stainless and custom work, but I hear their prices are high. This was the cheap guy?!

So, this is where I am at, working from the rear forward:

$54 - Magnaflow #15032 SS 3" Universal Tailpipe
$65 - Magnaflow #13742 SS 3" in/out XL 7" Round 24" body Turbo Muffler
$35 - Summit #640130 SS 3" Exhaust Pipe 4' Length
$28 - Magnaflow #10778 SS Dual 2.5" in/3" out Y-Pipe

$182 - For a totally SS system from the Y-Pipe to the tailpipe (complete from the bellhosing cross member back) NOT BAD!

All that will be left to design is a pair of equal length SS down pipes in the future. I can use my existing steel pipe if I want for now by using clamps at the SS Y-Pipe.

Still waiting to hear back from the Magnaflow guys regarding my application and their recommendations...

Does anyone hear have any yea's or nay's? Don't be shy! I can take it.

[Jeff Jamison]

Wow my local shop just did my daugters scout80,complete exhaust including new muffler for $150
Jeff

[VooDoo]

Originally Posted by Jeff Jamison

Wow my local shop just did my daugters scout80,complete exhaust including new muffler for $150
Jeff

Yeah, I hear you... This is SoCal... The guy reminded me of Earl At least he wasn't standing there squeezing a hose triger with no water coming out and a blank look on his face... There's no way I would let that place touch my car at any price! Used to be "the" place to get a great job for a great price; likely many owners ago...

Made my drivers side down pipe with one saws-all cut.



Oddly the drivers side down pipe is about 1/4" larger than the passenger side on this 2 into 1 that came off the 68 Travelall 304V8. Not sure why? The other two down pipes are from the 72 Travelall 392V8's 2 1/4" dual system. One of those will become the beginnings of the passenger down pipe. When I'm done I'll have a nice clean 2 1/4" 2 into 1 setup that I will post here when I get around to making one out of SS to match the rest of the new exhaust system. That will surely make someone elses 2 into 1 project a snap.

[John Donnelly]

Lee,

I am not sure what I can offer here but I will offer this. For an adventure rid the lack of sound is better than a bunch of sound. I have found as I get older the racket of rumbly exhaust is just that ... racket.

I like quiet so I can hear the engine or my radio. The engine is more important to hear than the bark of boy-racer pipes. Granted, I like to remind folks that IH power is present, but in the end, you have to live with this beastie, and the quieter the better. I would put whatever large inlet and outlet single muffler I could on this thing and while sticking to your 2-1/4 duals into whatever size single outlet design go for it.

Flowmaster makes near to bullet-proof mufflers that will allow you to pass the spark arrester requirements and still not have to deal with loud noise if you shop it right.

Looks like a lot of your research with thest Heartland guys would give you the same thing, and I would consider it.

As far as the cat thing, I think the smell of gas is far better than the rotten rat-poop smell of a stinky Catalytic converter any day.

-John

[VooDoo]

Originally Posted by John Donnelly

As far as the cat thing, I think the smell of gas is far better than the rotten rat-poop smell of a stinky Catalytic converter any day.

Lol... Thanks for sounding in John. I didn't realize that Cat's caused a unique smell of their own. I've scraped the CAT idea for now and will address any gas smell issues after the engine is jetted/tuned properly. If it's still an issue EFI with oxygen sensor will likely be tried first.

My thoughts are similar; quiet with a nice tone and no serious annoying drone at freeway speed. There's the tire thread thing to overcome too. I'd rather hear a perfectly tuned engine than any tire noise I have ever heard. I'm hoping a complete "equal length" merged system will provide that nice tone due to its' design.

I'm unclear on the large and long Magnaflow XL 24"L/7" Round Trubo sound? My guess is that the size will make it much quieter than shorter lengths and my forum research indicates that Magnaflows in general are a mellower deeper tone than Flowmasters pinginess. The large Big Block II 70 series Flowmaster is still a consideration, as well as, the recommended HeartThrod (I believe a similar design to the XL), but price is a consideration too. For $65 it seems like a worth while G-Pig adventure. I sent this to Mganaflow:

Dear Magnaflow:

Getting ready to design an exhaust system for my 1968 International Harvester 4X4 Travelall that is running a stock International 392V8 truck engine attached to a T-35 5spd manual transmission. The exhaust system will come off the OEM cast manifolds with 2 ¼” pipe and merge into a single 3” before the muffler. Considering your Magnaflow XL 3” in/out, 7” round 24” long (30” Overall Length), muffler (#13742) and your Magnaflow universal 3” tailpipe (#15032), in order to piece together my own Muffler-Back 3” SS exhaust system.

My 4x4 Adventure Rig is being designed for all–around on and off-road use, and towing. A nice sounding truck is great, but I don’t want anything too loud and prefer something quiet at freeway speeds.

1) Is there a sound comparison chart, video or MP3 for your XL mufflers that I can gauge how loud this muffler will be?
2) Does this muffler appear to be a good fit for my application? If not, what would you recommend?
3) Is the #15032 universal exhaust tailpipe two-piece, with a reversible tip for use on the drivers side as well?

Thank you,

We'll see what they come back with...

[tanof]

If you are going for quiet, get Dynomax's Super Hemi Turbo muffler. The larger one is 2 1/2" in diameter. I am told it is a copy of the Chrysler Imperial muffler and they advertise it for RVs and large trucks. If you get two, you can put them side by side and use the offset to move the pipe upward to reduce the angle of the pipe that goes over the rear axle. Also for quiet, set the pipes out the rear passenger side, aimed slightly downward, as far away from the driver as possible.

[VooDoo]

Originally Posted by John Donnelly

Flowmaster makes near to bullet-proof mufflers that will allow you to pass the spark arrester requirements and still not have to deal with loud noise if you shop it right.

What are the spark arrester requirements for autos? Do you have a link for that? Does someone rate different mufflers in this regard? Is that unique to certain trails or states?

So many questions here. I've never heard of spark arrestor requirements for autos, but I've been away from the off-road scene since the early 80's.

Additional information on this will be very helpful. Thanks.