I wanted to see what you guys think the best sounding exhaust system for an El Camino would be-I'm shopping for one. thanks for your help!

You will get a lot of different answers on this one. It also depends on the year and motor you have. Also your budget. A stainless steel exhaust system will cost a lot more, and they are out there if you want one.

A well built motor with any system you pick will sound different on a stock motor. Some drive their Elky's daily so they might not be able to handle a system to noisy. Are you looking for maxium performance or just a nice system that meets your all around driving needs?

I have a Flowmaster American Thunder system on my '70 ZZ4 with the 3" stainless steel tips. I love it. Not saying my Flowmaster system is for you as others here love and swear by their different brand names. I have heard great things from members here about Dynomax systems. For sure there are choices to be made....have fun.

I'm running 2 1/2" pipes and 3 chamber Flowmasters with the pipes exiting behind the rear wheels. I've had this system on the car with both a small block and big block, it sounds great to me. When it was a small block everybody thought it was a big block! 8)

I've not had any problems with resonation type noise and inside the cab is not noisy at all. When you stand on it then it gets pretty noisy behind it, at an idle it just has a nice Lunati rumble.

It's like asking what woman will make the best wife. I would listen to the exhaust sounds of different cars and ask the owner's what systems they have.

Open Headers. :-P

Open Headers. :-P

I like it. All you need to do is add a flame throwing kit. 8)

Ceramic Coated headers, 2 1/2" duals going into Turbo Mufflers exiting behind rear wheels.

Would love to change out to Flowmasters, but that will be later.

Plans also include going to add some cutouts right behind the headers so I can uncap them when I just want to run open headers. Probally going with an electronic cutout.

Have been also considering 3" side pipes. Very old school, but I like the look. 8)

It's hard to beat the rumble of headers and glasspacks. 8) 'Course...your neighbors might not agree. :lol:

what about headers into flowmaster 40 series -I heard it has a deep exhaust tone.

Nice sounding but kinda loud and resonant. Not accepatable if you spend a lot of time behind the wheel.

Yea I have the 40 series flowmasters on mine. It was right on the line between manly and too loud, but now that I've had to have to engine bored and all the other work it is WAY too loud for me. lol Need to change out my mufflers now.

I have an 82 El Camino with an 88TPI and I first installed the flowmaster 40 series and I found it to be too loud and resonate too much for me so I installed the Dynomax and found that to be a little better. I am still not happy with the sound.

The suggestion that you listen to other cars and then try to duplicate is probably a good idea if it is the same engine with similar mods and headers etc.

So far I like my Dynamax headers , 2 1/2 duals with super turbo mufflers. When I installed my headers I had to drive 4 to 5 miles from the house to get to the muffler shop. The resonance was so BAD that I thought my head was going to explode! Never again :)

go with spintech mufflers. i had a set of dual spintechs on my malibu and i'd have to say their one of the best sounding muffler on the market today. quiet at idle, around cruising speed they have a real nice deep tone, and when you get on it it's pretty loud. after my malibu this is the only muffler i'll run on any of my cars. so far my camaro has a cat back my elky is getting a pair and so is my charger. you will be more than happy with this muffler.

here is a web site my friend showed me and i fell in love with the slp loud mouths and my elky is actually in the shop as we speek geting them put on...you can check out all the sounding muflers here hope it helps

oops sorry...it might help if i gave you the website huh?

http://www.exhaustsoundclips.com/gm.html

that site looks handy :thumbsup:

Ceramic Headers 3" collectors, 2 1/2' stainless system with x pipe by pypes, turbo mufflers with electric cutouts. I like it alot!!

Wow! I run Turbo mufflers and resonators. A loud exhaust does not make up for not enough horsepower. I want to hear the tires begging for mercy, not the exhaust making enough noise constantly to make every cop in the county spill his coffee, put down his doughnuts and following the noise.........

I run ceramic headers going to 2.5 inch pipes with Cherry Bomb pro series mufflers. You can hear how it sounds in the link below, going to try and get a better video of the Elco when I can (weird resolution thanks to my iPad...). Yes that is the stock 305.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgYwqNKwDGI

I went with Hooker Competition headers reduced to 2 1/2" going into an X-pipe. Then, I found a good deal (2-for-1) on Hooker Aero Chamber mufflers. I used turndowns at the back wheels. I get A LOT of attention when I'm coming down the block. :nanawrench: It sounds perfect to me!

I'm with Kerno on the noise situation. Cops will stop cars with noisy exhaust, but not motorcycles & trucks. Making noise without some power up front to back it up, isn't my thing I guess ......:smileyb:

This thread is real old !! Hahaha I've got hooker comp headers reduced to 2.5" pipes to some flowmaster 44s, I love it! It has a nice distinctive bark to it at higher rpms

im looking at getting 2 1/2 inch magnaflow stainless with x pipe any one have any comments. its going on a big block 69ss

As far as those pipes and the x pipe, it will sound great. I forgot to mention in my prior post I do have an x pipe on my 87. Some people will talk about an H pipe, but talking with the guru that did my job, he said the H pipe was for tone only, there was no real performance gain. The x-pipe will give you a better tone and increase performance.

As far as the muffler, I have not heard a magnaflow, but I would hit youtube and search for big block exhaust and see what mufflers they are running. I am biased to my Cherry Bomb Pro series I got, I was going to go with Flowmasters, but after hearing them in comparison, I was sold.

Good luck!

Wow this thread is old lol. But ill put in my opinion. I got some Thrush glasspacks on mine turned out after the front tire. When I first put them on, they were kinda quiet and sounded odd. Now that theyve got a couple hundred miles on them, they sound 100x better! I love it! It is loud but not so loud that it rattles the cab

Dynomax ultra welded muffs are aggressive without the drone that a slowmaster has. Magnaflows have a mellow sound but still have great flow. any straight through design will work. search youtube and you will find a sound that suits you.

I have Doug Thorley Headers with a 2-1/2" (Pipes = Junk) that exit behind the rear wheels.
I first ran Flow Master's 50 series, but they were way too loud.
Have Magnaflows on it now, and I really like them!

Thanks,
Dave

would it be too redneck to run pipes out of the tailbed near the backglass into a smokestack :secret:

Might be OK if you are hauling corn to the still....:smileyb:

I dont have any kind of special exhust system. i just have true duals with 2 1/4 inch pipes with Glasspacks and it sounds GREAT! it all depends on what you want to spend pretty much. Personally i like glasspacks over flowmaster. i know im wierd!:You_Rock:

Ive got myself a custom true dual exhaust straight back under the bumper, and stock mufflers. I like the idea of those electric cutouts could i get some more info on those?

EXHUAST CUTOUTS?
Yeah, some come with with leak-proof warrenty's ranging from 12-24 months, some warrenty's may not cover leaks but you could call and ask, for the most part I've heard the mechanism used is leak proof, the only leaks can occur from loose clamps or crap welding.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/BadlanzHPE-Electric-Exhaust-Cutout-Cutouts-3-0-INCH-C-/180740378669?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item2a14f7502d
VERY exspensive, 150-200 bucks for each, I saw a used pair while back for 185, but I wouldn't expect those deals to come along often. IF you really want one and can justify the price(I'm a college kid so it's in my wild dreams lol) I'd recomend doing the same thing jlcustom did, he installed a single cutout face plate to the back of his x-pipe, this way you still only need one, keeping the cost down...but also get to use the TRUE dual exhuast setup. You wouldn't even need an inline y-styled pipe and you can find just the plate with the typical 10 feet of wiring and such.
Though there is the option of instaling it on a 2-into-1 exhuast system, like run a single 3 inch pipe and uses two adaptors somwhere up front. I would personaly do dumps with a pair, or if you do a single faceplate mount on the x-pipe, either way a dump to me sounds awesome as it bounces the sound under your car and inside the cab it's amazingly LOUD. Like I've only got 260 HP but when I use dumps, I sound like I have a 6-7 hundreed HP big block, though outside the cab, like for pedestrains, it's not that impressive. But my girl loves the sound sitting in the middle by me. I have a flange on the back of my 40 series and run turn down dumps on the weekends to have a lil fun, but run out from under the bumper during the week. Hope I helped.