When I realized that I had not taken note of the orientation of my distributor when I removed it, I was short on patience and decided I would just guess and use trial and error. It would have been far easier to find TDC and do it right, but in the heat of the moment, I made my choice. It took several tries to get even a hickup out of her; the next try, all that gas was lit by an ill-timed spark and my muffler blew up. I have never heard anything so loud, so close.
Fortunately, it seems as though the muffler was the only casualty of my laziness.
I have a single pipe, all the way to the bumper, 2" in outside diameter. I had a 2' long, 3" deep stock style muffler that was essentially silent. The engine was far more audible itself than the exhaust.
A local shop, the only one I have checked with, had two options that I would consider: a stock replacement or a 3' long glasspack. They also indicated that a resonator could be added to tone down the glasspack a bit. I am also toying with the idea of ponying up for dual exhaust, which I would prefer to be 2" and no crossover, possibly with the long glasspacks.
I drove the car a bit since blowing the muffler up and it isn't too loud under light throttle, but while it sounds mean with no muffler it's too loud and I wouldn't want to live with that kind of volume. I haven't found anyone yet on here with 3' packs to know whether they would be much better. I am under the impression that the short packs would still be very loud.
I appreciated the refinement of the quiet muffler but would really like to hear that y-block music in a way that is non-intrusive to everyone else and my own eardrums (especially cruising). I always go for quality of sound over quantity. The glasspack sound at a reasonable volume would be ideal. If there is little to be gained sound-wise by going to dual exhaust then I think I'd rather save my money for now and stick with the single.
What do you suggest?
1954 Crestline Victoria 312 4-bbl, 3-speed overdrive