Mid-mount muffler setups-how's the drone?

06 T-RED S/C GT

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Are you running the Thrush 24" mid mounted glasspacks and O/R H as an axle back delete or also with axle back mufflers added ? From the video you posted, it appears you still have the Roush extreme mid mounts installed :shrug:
 

sc517hp

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Actually I'd be more worried about driveshaft clearance with such a setup. It might be possible, there's just not a ton of room to work with back there.

I think it would actually work better if you could get it right behind the H pipe, but you'd have to have the muffler inlet spacing dead on for that to work, and again, not a lot of room.
Mine had a two in two out single chamber 8" long generic muffler for about 3 months. I replaced the h-pipe with it like a MAC ProChamber, and there were no clearance issues on my lowered S197 - in the end I never found axle backs that sounded the way I wanted with that setup so I went back to the x pipe. Now I'm back with an h pipe to get rid of that last little bit of raspy edge in the tone.
 

sc517hp

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Are you running the Thrush 24" mid mounted glasspacks and O/R H as an axle back delete or also with axle back mufflers added ? From the video you posted, it appears you still have the Roush extreme mid mounts installed :shrug:
I still have the axle back muffler deletes from the Roush mid kit, but mid mounts are Thrush.
 

07 Boss

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Ok I just looked at this today and only scanned through the posts, but here is my experience- I have changed my exhaust so much on my S197 that I had to retap my stripped out hanger threads... I had the Roush Extreme mid mounts. They were very loud and the drone was more than I wanted. I replaced my x pipe with a custom made two in two out chambered exhaust with different axle backs (straight pipe, MBRP cans, etc)- straight pipes were loud raspy and loud drone, everything else was too quiet with different tones. The BEST sound I found for my S197 was mid mounted 24" Thrush glasspacks after an offroad H pipe. Almost zero drone, and not raspy at all. Great tone and not too loud. Here is a link to a vid of my car with offroad x and mid mounted 18" Flowtechs. The other specs of my build are posted with the video:



The main problem with getting our exhaust to have that old school muscle car rumble is the location of the mufflers in relation to the tips. They are right on top of each other. When you mid mount mufflers/resonators it gives you a lot of distance to the tip. That is why our cars can get that raspy raw sounding exhaust. I suggest mid mounted to anyone who ever asks, "How do I get that old school rumble?" I thought I even seen someone mid mount staggered stingers and it sounded awesome.
 

06 T-RED S/C GT

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I still have the axle back muffler deletes from the Roush mid kit, but mid mounts are Thrush.

I should've realized you swapped out the Roush mid mounted resonators in favor of your Thrush glasspacks while keeping the Roush delete tips.. My only concern with glasspacks is IIRC the packing material used will eventually burn up and may cause obstruction issues down the road.. Also from my understanding resonators/mid mounted mufflers will only dampen, reduce drone but don't cancel out the frequencies that produce drone.. What I like about the Solo performance design, is they use "resonance chambers" aka helmholtz resonator/J-pipes that not only reduce drone, but also cancel out the sound frequencies which produce drone altogether.. Best of all, they eliminate drone with the existing mufflers in the factory locations without the need for having to upgrade to a mid mounted exhaust setup.. Therefore I'm seriously considering the Solo performance system as a possible alternative option for that reason..

The main problem with getting our exhaust to have that old school muscle car rumble is the location of the mufflers in relation to the tips. They are right on top of each other. When you mid mount mufflers/resonators it gives you a lot of distance to the tip. That is why our cars can get that raspy raw sounding exhaust. I suggest mid mounted to anyone who ever asks, "How do I get that old school rumble?" I thought I even seen someone mid mount staggered stingers and it sounded awesome.

Perhaps it's just me, but since adding the O/R pro chamber, I don't notice any rasp or raw sounding exhaust with the stingers in the factory locations.. My main concern is interior resonance drone and despite the fact that moving the location of the mufflers may reduce/dampen drone, it doesn't cancel out the sound frequencies that produce it.. From my understanding other than the Solo performance exhaust system I've mentioned in this thread, the Corsa performance exhaust and FR500S mufflers are the only others specifically designed and engineered to cancel out the sound frequencies for producing interior resonance drone.. Therefore my reasons as stated above is my purpose for considering the Solo performance option as a possible alternative..
 

sc517hp

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I should've realized you swapped out the Roush mid mounted resonators in favor of your Thrush glasspacks while keeping the Roush delete tips.. My only concern with glasspacks is IIRC the packing material used will eventually burn up and may cause obstruction issues down the road..


Totally agree that glasspacks are not the long lasting solution- never heard of them plugging up but I know for a fact they get louder with age as the packing wears out. Also, they are painted mild steel and will rust out before the packing wears out- the 93 octane 10% ethanol pump gas I use creates a ton of water as it burns. I'm sure there's a puddle just sitting in them every time I take a short drive that doesn't heat up the exhaust enough. No worries though, I have a solution- I'll just change my exhaust.... again....
 

06 T-RED S/C GT

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Totally agree that glasspacks are not the long lasting solution- never heard of them plugging up but I know for a fact they get louder with age as the packing wears out. Also, they are painted mild steel and will rust out before the packing wears out- the 93 octane 10% ethanol pump gas I use creates a ton of water as it burns. I'm sure there's a puddle just sitting in them every time I take a short drive that doesn't heat up the exhaust enough. No worries though, I have a solution- I'll just change my exhaust.... again....

I did manage to locate some Thrush 25" glasspacks in stainless steel from Summit Racing for $104.00 each.. Just a bit out of my price range, but perhaps you might be interested when the time comes to replace your current glasspacks.. Anyhow I went ahead and provided both a link and image..

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/wlk-24240/overview/

wlk-24240_it_xl.jpg
 

sc517hp

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Thanks for the info. I have researched SS glasspacks and came to the same conclusion- a bit pricey. Right now the ones I have are mounted with band clamps. I sawzall'ed 4 kerfs 2" deep on each side and clamped them to my SS exhaust pipes so the band clamps would cinch up. Don't see or hear any signs of exhaust leaks, and it allows me to adjust my axle back tip alignment better. When they wear out I'll just unclamp them and buy another pair for $22 a piece at my local autoparts store. I can change them three more times for the price of SS glasspacks :)
 

Pentalab

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FRPP FRS-500 mufflers, no drone. Then added JBA ceramic coated LT's and mating JBA high flow catted H. Was way too loud and bad drone at 1900-2000 rpm. At 70 mph in OD, it's 2100 rpm with a 3.31 rear gear. Had SS M80's welded in, just before the rear axle. We cut the slotted portion off of each end of both M80's, prior to welding them 360 degs. Down to an acceptable sound level, and drone is 90% gone, but still a bit at 2 krpm. The sound is a lot deeper, lower pitched. Hold an empty large cardboard box by the tip of one flap, and the box vibrates. It's almost like it has a sub sonic component to it.. that can be heard inside the house, with car idling across the street.

Buddy had cherry bombs, on the ends of his LT's. Burnt the red paint off, then burnt the insides out. Cherry bombs use alumininzed steel alloy. It's not the best material to use for a simple resonator. The SS resonator's, welded in, hold up well. The FRS-500 mufflers on my 2010 have tips that are 1" longer than the FRS-500's used on the 05-09 cars.
 

pebkac

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Burnout video
Significance. How loud a that distance example only
This setup was American racing 1 3/4 headers catted h pipe and SLP loud mouths. Very loud when accelerating hard. At 70mph it was virtually silent. No drone.

Same setup as above coldish start.

Same setup as above with the addition of the pypes mid muffler system. No drone.

I am lowered 1inch. I have only have issues with ground rub in the most extreme of situations. Very steep drives and or steep overly tall speed bumps which I hit too fast.

NO driveshaft rub either.
 

06 T-RED S/C GT

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FRPP FRS-500 mufflers, no drone. Then added JBA ceramic coated LT's and mating JBA high flow catted H. Was way too loud and bad drone at 1900-2000 rpm. At 70 mph in OD, it's 2100 rpm with a 3.31 rear gear. Had SS M80's welded in, just before the rear axle. We cut the slotted portion off of each end of both M80's, prior to welding them 360 degs. Down to an acceptable sound level, and drone is 90% gone, but still a bit at 2 krpm. The sound is a lot deeper, lower pitched. Hold an empty large cardboard box by the tip of one flap, and the box vibrates. It's almost like it has a sub sonic component to it.. that can be heard inside the house, with car idling across the street.

Buddy had cherry bombs, on the ends of his LT's. Burnt the red paint off, then burnt the insides out. Cherry bombs use alumininzed steel alloy. It's not the best material to use for a simple resonator. The SS resonator's, welded in, hold up well. The FRS-500 mufflers on my 2010 have tips that are 1" longer than the FRS-500's used on the 05-09 cars.

So if your FR500S mufflers didn't drone until after adding the JBA LT's and high flow catted H.. Which in your opinion is causing the drone, the JBA LT's, high flow catted H or both :shrug:
 

sc517hp

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Do you have any pics from when you had this set up? And are your glasspacks currently dumped?

I'm the worst when it comes to taking pics and documenting, but here's what I did: I took an offroad h-pipe I bought on Craigslist for $30 and cut the pipes before the H. It slipped right on my Magnaflow high flow cats. I loosened both pipes at the header flange (JBA shorties) and moved them until I could slip the 2in 2out single chamber muffler on. At that point I supported the setup and got it where I wanted for height and side to side, then tightened up the pipes at the header flanges and clamped the chambered muffler with normal u-bolts (planned to weld it up when it was fine tuned, but it is in my basement now with the u-bolts on it). BTW, none of my setups ever made it to getting welded. Mid pipes where my stock mids cut to length so they would slide in the muffler and have the correct length and angle for the axle backs. It had great tone with delete axle backs but WAY too loud and drone was awful. Like Flowmaster American Thunders on steroids. Tried several axle back mufflers with it, never got the tone just right.

My glass packs are on the old Roush Extreme mid pipes after I cut off the original resonators. I basically replaced the originals with Thrush glaspacks- not dumped, but over the axle and with the Roush muffler deletes.

....I really need to quit screwing with my exhaust...
 

Pentalab

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So if your FR500S mufflers didn't drone until after adding the JBA LT's and high flow catted H.. Which in your opinion is causing the drone, the JBA LT's, high flow catted H or both :shrug:

The research I did indicated the extra overall ( excess) loudness came from the high flow catted H..and not the JBA LT's. As far as the drone, my guess is the combo of the LT's + high flow catted H.

The FRS-500S are guaranteed drone free.... provided the rest of the exhaust is oem.
 

Bingo

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The FRS-500S are guaranteed drone free.... provided the rest of the exhaust is oem.
Ehhhh. I get a little bit, but only at very specific RPMs and under load. It rarely happens, so it's a nonissue, but it still occurs.
 

Pentalab

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Ehhhh. I get a little bit, but only at very specific RPMs and under load. It rarely happens, so it's a nonissue, but it still occurs.

If you do get some drone, it might be at 1900-2100 rpm, and going up an incline, hill, or steep hill. That would really put a good load on the eng. It's a good muffler, albeit expensive.
 

46addict

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So if your FR500S mufflers didn't drone until after adding the JBA LT's and high flow catted H.. Which in your opinion is causing the drone, the JBA LT's, high flow catted H or both :shrug:

Changing midpipes can greatly affect tone and volume so I would think most of the drone is coming from the high flow H pipe.

Burnout video
This setup was American racing 1 3/4 headers catted h pipe and SLP loud mouths. Very loud when accelerating hard. At 70mph it was virtually silent. No drone.

This is one of the better sounding setups. Made me think about switching to an H.
 

Pentalab

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My problem with an X is... they typ sound too raspy. The H sounds better imo, and slightly more tq down low. The X provides more tq / hp at the upper end. Use whatever combo you want, but you have to live with it. One thing tooling around town, or on the hwy for short trips. But on a longer trip, the exhaust can sound tedious. Folks will typ speed up..or slow down a bit, to keep the rpm out of the drone.... 'rpm window'.
 

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