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Sounding good


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I was at a light yesterday evening sitting beside a honey in a Foxbody convertible. The car was a bit rough but that 5.0 sounded real sweet when the light went green.

I had almost forgotten that sound, brought back some memories.

What "does it" for you?

G

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1952 BRM V-16 Around 600 bhp from 1.5 liters (1500 cc)

The sound is from Nick Mason's "In the Red". Nick Mason's car was driven around a circuit with the microphone stationary in the paddock so the exhaust note rises and falls and sometimes disappears as the car navigates the circuit.

Edited by mikevillena
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Yeah, sweet sounds. I remember back when I had my '59 Dodge. I had it converted to dual exhausts with a pair of Cherry Bombs. It only had a 326 cu. in. engine but those glass packs gave it a real sweet sound. I used to be able to tell how fast I was going without looking at the speedo by the sound of the exhaust. Those were fun days. My friend Tom had a '67 Pontiac LeMans that had a beautiful rap..rap...rap sound when he let off the gas.

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I had a '73 Challenger, 318 2-bbl with a "Lynx" air cleaner, with Cyclone headers and turbo mufflers- no crossover pipe- and the exhaust ended just after the rear pan with custom-bent stainless steel tips. The car sounded nice while I drove it, but I never heard it above idle outside the car(besides tuning) until the new owner drove it away... I do miss that car.

I was able to control the turbo whistle in my Spirit by manipulating the gas pedal just the right amount. Pretty neat, especially driving alongside a median divider. Didn't have much of an exhaust note, though.

But the big one that floats my boat is the exhaust note of the ("old") Sprint Cup car in which I drove ten laps at Charlotte. Soooooo cool, sooooo loud, even with the helmet. Well worth the price of admission :D

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I love the sound of a 5.0 Mustang too, that's why I've had 6 of'em!

But when I was a teen ager, the guy down the street had a '74 Chevy pickup with a 350 and what he called "kackle pipes", man that thing sounded good! Especially after he nailed it' then let off the gas, that's when it kackled..............Sweet!

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What sounds good to me? Any V8, gas or diesel, with true, dual exhaust... not the small diameter pipes, I'm talking 2 1/2 to 3" pipes, from the manifolds back with about 2 feet of 4" "cans" bringing up the rear. No cross over pipe. I did this with a '97 F-150 with a little 4.6L V8... Darn thing sounded like a big-block... Now, how did I get away with it? The first year that Ford built that style truck (technically, mine was a '96 1/2), they used small converters on each side and then wyed into a single muffler . Being that Indiana considers catalytic converters 'sound dampening chambers', we were legally able to run 2 1/2" pipe from the downstream O2 sensors, all the way back, with the 4" cans, with no mufflers... A little 4.6 with that exhaust put out a lovely, rich tone... until you put yer foot in it... Then it roared at you... :) Oh, that exhaust mod also improved my fuel mileage by 10% and increased my HP by 15-20 ponies...

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... The car was a bit rough but that 5.0 sounded real sweet when the light went green...

I have to agree that the little Ford pushrod V8 is one of the sweetest sounding engines out there. The Porsche 928 V8 has an aural similarity. I love the sound of a Ford flathead through open pipes too, which is unique in all the world. Heavily-cammed drag-racing V8s staging and launching still make my pulse race, and the air-cooled, flat-six Porsche 911 engine still does it too.

Big-inch 4-cylinder bike engines that rev like formula one cars do it, hot-rod 4-cylinder air-cooled Porsche and VW engines with light flywheels and 4-into-1 pipes, and just about anything with a V-12..

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How could I possibly forget...radial aircraft engines lighting off, or cruising overhead late at night.

When I was small and all of commercial aviation was radial-powered, I used to lie in bed at night and wonder where all the airplanes were going, imagining the softly-lit cabins and the beautifully dressed and perfumed women, when flying was still an adventure and an event.

I've usually lived close to airports, often military bases, and I really miss the sounds of the big old round engines. I worked at a small airfield in Az. a few years back, and the neighboring hangar was the off-season home of a fleet of Canadair 215 firebombers, each powered by a pair of war-surplus Pratt & Whitney R-2800s. The high point of my week was often hearing the start and runup of those engines after overhaul or maintenance.

Edited by Ace-Garageguy
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