[2SlowTA]

This is a great thread, I just read it from start to finish. I love seeing it get new life like this.

And it did help me too, I am pretty sure what mufflers NOT to buy now. Funny how the old flowmasters lasted 30 yrs and then new brand 700 miles. Though I guess to be more fair, the mileage may be about the same, since the 700 does equal about 2800 passes.

[b-man]

Originally Posted by MandevilleBird

great story...

thanks

Originally Posted by 2SlowTA

This is a great thread, I just read it from start to finish. I love seeing it get new life like this.

And it did help me too, I am pretty sure what mufflers NOT to buy now. Funny how the old flowmasters lasted 30 yrs and then new brand 700 miles. Though I guess to be more fair, the mileage may be about the same, since the 700 does equal about 2800 passes.

Thanks guys.

Overall I'm much happier with the new mufflers, the old Flowmasters were really a pain in the ear on the street but fine on the track where my car was quieter than anything with open headers. A buddy of mine had some new 3" aluminized Flowmasters on his bracket car, one of them failed almost right away from a loose baffle rattling away inside so it's a crapshoot.

If another Ultra-Flo muffler fails I'll return both for a refund and put some PYPES Race Pro mufflers on. I have a pair of the 3" Race Pros that I'll be trying out on my soon to be LS3-powered '64 Tempest before too long.

[b-man]

After a second muffler failure I returned both Ultra-Flo mufflers to Walker for a refund.

I finally got around to finding someone to TIG weld an extra 3" long section of tubing to the tailpipes so I could install some new 18" long case 3" Race Pro mufflers.

Mufflers, tailpipes, clamps and sealer ready to go.



The PYPES Race Pro mufflers are very compact compared to the old Ultra-Flo mufflers, about 5/8" thinner in profile so they offer a little more ground clearance. They're very lightweight too at only 12 pounds each.



I picked up this tube of tailpipe & muffler sealer from my local NAPA for about $10, I've already done several muffler installations and it's only about half used-up.



Installation complete and ready to fire up.



The stainless band clamps are a huge improvement over the old U-bolt clamps I was using previously. They clamp more uniformly and don't kink the joints, making it easier to take apart in the future.



Fired it up and listened to the new mellower exhaust note. Still plenty powerful-sounding, but a little less noise than the Ultra-Flo mufflers. Much better, exactly what I wanted.

Tomorrow I'll take it for a nice long test drive, later on I'll post a video.