reducing the exhaust note

[Oliver Closehauf]

I've been on a kind of mission to "civilize" my Ram's noise levels. When I bought the truck, it had been tricked out by the previous owners and the guy I bought it from even commented he expected some kid to buy it.

Last on my list is the exhaust. I think it sounds great, except any time I climb above 70. Then it really starts singing. I've dulled the pipe itself, so the ring is gone but at 70 + it's like the Bugs Bunny cartoon where he is directing the Tenor and the Tenor holds the note until the amphitheater falls apart around them.

I was thinking about making an insert for the 8 inch exhaust tip.


So looking straight in it would look like this.



Do you think it will affect the sound at all? I have plenty of aluminum flashing and tin snips so it should only take me 20 minutes. It would just be a sort of spring fit. It's not meant to impeade flow, just reduce the sound and break resonance.

 

[Oliver Closehauf]

Did a little prototyping over this morning's coffee. Had to modify the design a little due to the size of the piece of sheet metal I had.


After a little fitting and bending to add stiffness I had this ready to install.




And this is what it looks like inside


I can already tell that I am going to have a problem. It needs legs bent in the other direction for support to help keep it centered. I can add those with leftovers and a sheet metal screw once I have a chance to listen to it, but it's still too early to be firing up Big Blue for exhaust tuning.

If it does work and I were doing it again I would just cut it with extra legs and bend them in the other direction. Having some thicker stock wouldn't hurt but this was what I had laying around. It's galvanized steel from Home Depot.

I'll let you know if it works or not.

 

[turkeybird56]

Are the resonators still on the truck? If not, adding would dull a lil, but if the previous owner tricked it out, got extra loud cravens, flows or something, your only option may be to either if appropriate put resonators back on or go back to stock exhaust, or at least a lower flavor sounding muffler. But each to their own, my system stays stock except for 5 " outlet pipes I will get sometime, lol.

OP: My other thought would be some type of baffle like used to go on MC pipes, that PPL would remove 3 screws and take out of their MC pipes, and just put back in for inspection, just not sure if anything like that is on market, though kinda looks like what you R trying to do.

 

[mtnrider]

Add a resonator and problem solved.

.

 

[Oliver Closehauf]

@turkeybird56 I had the same idea, I have a set of what you are talking about for my bike that are on the shelf. Right now I'm playing around with what I can do for free. I'm finding different kinds of inserts online, but I'm not ready to spend money.

@mtnrider , it has a resonator. Like I said up until 70 MPH (I'll have to get the exact RPM) everything is good, but at 70 and above (I think I've only had it up to about 80), I think it's the resonator that's actually causing the issue, or is overpowered. At 70 the exhaust resonates like a musical instrument and sound volume increases dramatically, like opening Lake pipes. I'm trying to come up with a de-resonator. I don't want to make it too quiet, just take the edge off.

I ran the engine for a minute at noon, I didn't notice any change at idle or revving it a little in the driveway, and that's good, but under a load on the interstate is where it needs to work, if it works at all. Going to make a run to Bass Pro later and see if it makes a difference.

 

[Dean2]

I would go find a top notch performance muffler shop and talk it over with them. They do this every day, should be able to tell you pretty quick what the cheap, mid price and expensive fixes are..

 

[turkeybird56]

@turkeybird56 I had the same idea, I have a set of what you are talking about for my bike that are on the shelf. Right now I'm playing around with what I can do for free. I'm finding different kinds of inserts online, but I'm not ready to spend money.

@mtnrider , it has a resonator. Like I said up until 70 MPH (I'll have to get the exact RPM) everything is good, but at 70 and above (I think I've only had it up to about 80), I think it's the resonator that's actually causing the issue, or is overpowered. At 70 the exhaust resonates like a musical instrument and sound volume increases dramatically, like opening Lake pipes. I'm trying to come up with a de-resonator. I don't want to make it too quiet, just take the edge off.

I ran the engine for a minute at noon, I didn't notice any change at idle or revving it a little in the driveway, and that's good, but under a load on the interstate is where it needs to work, if it works at all. Going to make a run to Bass Pro later and see if it makes a difference.

I have dual exhaust on MY '06 Honda Wing Trike. If I pull and change system, I could not even sit on the bike and ride, let alone listen to the radio, Sirius, U know, all dat stuff. Definitely be beyond the threshold considering that MC engine is a 6 cylinder.

 

[Wanted33]

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If you have one of these in your area they may have a complete stock system to fit your truck. Just a thought.

 

[Oliver Closehauf]

My exhaust is pretty much brand new, I don't want to replace it. It's a 5 inch diamond eye turbo back stainless system with a resonator and 7 inch tip (not 8).

But anyway, I did a road test today and I'm calling it a win. Exactly 2k RPM is the resonance point. That's 70 on the speedo. It still gets louder, but it no longer doubles in amplitude like it was. I can listen to my audio without having to crank it up to painful levels and I was even noticing some buffeting wind noise coming from my wind visors I need to address.

This is all subjective of course, I didn't have a decimeter or whatever you use to measure sound levels, but I do think there is a difference.

 

[1 MEAN66]

Two suggestions. As you nor none of us can tell what make a "baffle" will do long or short term. 1) a FlowMaster 50 series muffler comes in many sizes and you might be able to add into what ever system is on there now. It was designed by designers to flow and be relatively quite (and no drone). 2) Or a complete new system. MBRP makes a single tail pipe stainless system - S5142409- it's only $490 from summit/jegs. Stainless - no rust thru. It is listed on their site as moderate sound level, also no drone.

 

[mtnrider]

Two suggestions. As you nor none of us can tell what make a "baffle" will do long or short term. 1) a FlowMaster 50 series muffler comes in many sizes and you might be able to add into what ever system is on there now. It was designed by designers to flow and be relatively quite (and no drone). 2) Or a complete new system. MBRP makes a single tail pipe stainless system - S5142409- it's only $490 from summit/jegs. Stainless - no rust thru. It is listed on their site as moderate sound level, also no drone.

We are talking a HD diesel here..... Not a 1500 hemi.

 

[1 MEAN66]

OPPS !!!!

 

[Oliver Closehauf]

My baffle is working great. It knocks the edge off without being any more restrictive (probably less) than a stock exhaust. Not as quiet as stock by any means, but keeps the 2k+ RPM resonance I was experiencing from vibrating the hell out of the cab.