It's interesting to read posts like this where people are trying to figure out how to get the old muscle car sound. The best way to do it is the way we did it back then.......that way instead of replicating the sound you are actually making THE sound.
When we got my wife's 1966 Mustang it had a stock 289 in it. I rebuilt it into a 331 stroker with bigger heads (not too big for the street), a retro-fit roller cam with high lift, and headers. Oh, I guess I should say "long tube" headers. What is commonly referred to as long tube headers now is what "headers" had always been before Ford invented what is now refferred to as "shorty" headers on the 1982 (I believe) Mustang GT. They were a marketing ploy to be able to tout "Factory Headers". Better than exhaust manifolds, yes. Same performance as regular headers, no, but they were cheaper and easier to fit in the car on a production line, and as mentioned it was good marketing.
Anyways, when her engine was a stock 289 the exhaust sounded like crap. The mufflers on the car, a relatively new exhaust, were no-name turbo mufflers, at least they look that way. I figured we would get a new exhaust for the car after I finished building the engine, but when it was done and I fired it up that thing sounded like a race car with the same cheap, crappy mufflers. The reason for the difference in sound is because of the difference in power that the engine is making and also the headers. The exhaust is seperate all the way back, but an H pipe would help a little with torque and the old cars often times came with an H pipe from the factory.
Back in the day there weren't any Flowmasters. There weren't any X pipes or "shorty" headers. What was there was power and displacement and that is what made the sound. All the Mustangs, Camaros, Chevelles, Roadrunners, Torino GT's, and Chargers (built ones) had a better cam, some head work, headers, and whatever mufflers a person thought would sound cool, and they all sounded great because of the power of the engine and the headers as a basic common denominator.
Her engine is not huge, but even with cheap no-name mufflers it sounds awsome!
Steve
