Wanting Louder Backdraft Exhaust

[Bucknut56]

Hey all,
I am wanting to make my exhaust louder and wanted to see what/if anyone has used for the process. I do not want to do straight pipes and I dont think cutouts will work.
I have chassis #368 and it looks to be the original side pipes. The sound is nice at the higher rpms, but pretty quiet at idle...or at least quieter than I would like. I read a few older post that talked about the restrictive side pipes on the older cobras.
Just did not know if someone has already had work done to the older Backdrafts and could lead me in the right direction, or give me some ideas.
Trying to get ready for the driving season.

[bobcowan]

Put in a bigger engine. Or install a Thumper cam.

[Dwight]

three inch Classic Cobra pack mufflers. We have used them on three or four Cobras. Worth every penny we paid!


Classic Chambered Exhaust Inc. - Sights & Sounds

[Dwight]

You did not tell us anything about your motor.

Bob is correct.

Maybe you need to change the cam. Or motor.

Changing the side pipes is the cheapest and easies to do. Then if you want more, then do the mods to the motor.

[Bucknut56]

Motor is a 302.
I may be one of the unusual cobra drivers as I am not looking for speed at all. I do not drive fast. I mainly drive in a suburban area with speeds around 35-50.
It actually sounds great at idle with a very nice deep "lope" to it. I would just like it to be louder. I dont really think its the cam I just think the pipes are very restricted,and that seems to be what I read from some older post.
The pipes would be the easiest thing to change.
When I get a bigger motor it will be surrounded by a newer backdraft.
I always tell my wife that this is not "the" cobra, just "the" 1st cobra.
Then I will just have a newer cobra with a bigger motor to drive slow in LOL

[FredG]

I have car 1209 with a Roush 427r - 550 hp and it is plenty loud...so loud you could never put a radio in it or talk on a bluetooth phone. Its near impossible to carry on a conversation when cruising over 40mph.

Fred

[Varmit]

Contact Ron Roberts at Firefly he can accommodate you
I have an aluminum FE bored and stroked to 490 with a healthy solid roller in it
You can hear it over a group of Cobras running a pack!!!

[Dwight]

My first Cobra had a 302 with 2 3/4" I.D. mufflers, 24" long with the louver turned backward so they would not scoop the air into the fiberglass packing. They were not mufflers as installed. More like straight pipes.
Very loud.

I left a friend house one evening and when I got onto the main hiway I walked it through three gears before easing off. When I got home he called me and said "Man, you sounded great on the hiway." I asked how far his house was from the hiway, he replied "one and a half miles." I asked how did you hear me that far with trees and houses between us. He told me he waited in the driveway because he knew I would get on it when I hit the main road.
My pipes were loud.
And then there is a story about a cop who heard me in 1st gear from three blocks away. I've got pictures.
And there was a time at the London Cobra show when they were dyno'ing my car and we shut down the tent activities for several minutes.
Oh, the time at London on Main st when they were dyno-ing my car, well you get the idea. It was very loud!

Later I bought a pair of the Classic pipes, four inches longer with 3" inside and turned the louvers so they would scoop the air as designed. They had a good rumble but at 60 - 70 mph we could carry on a conversation.

[Ozzie Goat]

Check the sponsor Gas-n
At least they fit to a BDR.

My 302 rumbles, I've been asked many times if it's large displacement.
The FlowMasters I used have been discontinued.

[DC COBRA]

I used some straight pipes from DR Gas and welded in a vortech cone, not completely straight pipe and it had a very healthy sound. Loved setting off car alarms and waking up the dead when I buzzed her to 7500 rpm's. LOL It wasn't very expensive and really looked good when having them chromed. Picked up almost 100 horsepower since removing "restriction" out of exhaust.

[spdbrake]

This article on 50 free horsepower is still one of my favorites.

50 Free HP

[DC COBRA]

Yes that article is hilarious. Early backdrafts like mine had some seriously restricted sidepipe mufflers. chassis dynoed it with the spunky 427 produced only about 360 horses. Installed my idea of sidepipe and then dynoed 457 horses after a little tuning. The sound although was amazing, no longer sounded like it was wheezing. At the time you could buy some nice sidepipes with nice mufflers that wasn't very restricted but they cost about 1600. Wasn't for me.

[spdbrake]

Yes, your spot on about the BDR mufflers being restrictive. Mine had two 7/8" dia tubes thru the center. I switched to Flowmaster stainless mufflers and am very happy with the results.

[DC COBRA]

Yep the early ones were pathethically restrictive, doesn't sound like they improved any either. The dyno doesn't lie, open them babies up and let her sing. I was envious with the Harley crowd, they couldn't compete with the sweet sound. LOL

[bobcowan]

A while back I installed a set of Classic Chambered Exhaust Cobra mufflers on a 427W. Made a huge improvement in sound quality. The FFR mufflers were harsh and "blatty". And very loud. The new mufflers had a much smoother sound, more mellow, like an old 60's muscle car. Huge improvement.

They looked a lot better, too.

Not sure if it made more power though, as I made other changes at the same time.