Catback installed VFII SSV

[RevNev]

Have you experimented with no merge at all?

Does it get too “thong clappy”?

Yes, with big rear mufflers they don't thong clap at all. Long unmuffled tail pipes tend to maximise thong clap.

 

[The91kwbeast]

Yes, with big rear mufflers they don't thong clap at all. Long unmuffled tail pipes tend to maximise thong clap.

I noticed Sureflo offer a true dual 3" which whilst fairly quiet sounds quite good

 

[RevNev]

I noticed Sureflo offer a true dual 3" which whilst fairly quiet sounds quite good

That does sound good in the video, and very much "old school" V8 thump.

One I did years ago full dual was a VX Maloo that had tailpipe exits on each side of the rear bumper. It had Pacemaker tri-y's piped cats and 2.5" exhaust with 4 Lukey mufflers. Midpipe mufflers were 14" oval centre offset straight through on the rear were 16" x 6" round resonators that Lukey used on their VL V8 2.5" bolt on systems. That Ute sounded mint like an old 350 Chev note and proved at the time the LS engine can sound "old school" with right exhaust and muffler combo.

The X-pipe fad that began at LS engine release gave the impression that an LS engine didn't sound as good as the old V8's did. Balance pipes were pretty rare in the old days and only used to reduce thong clap particularly with 253's and hot dogs and under muffled (loud) 308's. Myself predominantly using large enough Lukey mufflers, I often blocked off balance pipes (H-pipes) to improve the note in the day.

 

[The91kwbeast]

That does sound good in the video, and very much "old school" V8 thump.

One I did years ago full dual was a VX Maloo that had tailpipe exits on each side of the rear bumper. It had Pacemaker tri-y's piped cats and 2.5" exhaust with 4 Lukey mufflers. Midpipe mufflers were 14" oval centre offset straight through on the rear were 16" x 6" round resonators that Lukey used on their VL V8 2.5" bolt on systems. That Ute sounded mint like an old 350 Chev note and proved at the time the LS engine can sound "old school" with right exhaust and muffler combo.

The X-pipe fad that began at LS engine release gave the impression that an LS engine didn't sound as good as the old V8's did. Balance pipes were pretty rare in the old days and only used to reduce thong clap particularly with 253's and hot dogs and under muffled (loud) 308's. Myself predominantly using large enough Lukey mufflers, I often blocked off balance pipes (H-pipes) to improve the note in the day.

Great perspective. I also have noticed the X pipe is the default balance pipe of choice with I think only Manta doing H pipes on their quiet system.

I am running the increasingly rare E2 GTS 2.5" centre pipe on my Calais which is as far as I can see the only HSV system that used a H instead of X pipe.

Combined with the VF2 mufflers and HSV headers & cats I think it sounds quite good, and gets close to sounding like a C63 with the old 6.2L I reckon.

I recall reading Holden tried to mimic the C63 sound on the VF2 LS3s, you can hear that in the rear mufflers - all midrange and a bit raspy which I guess was the point. Although not for everyone.

 

[RevNev]

Great perspective. I also have noticed the X pipe is the default balance pipe of choice with I think only Manta doing H pipes on their quiet system.

I am running the increasingly rare E2 GTS 2.5" centre pipe on my Calais which is as far as I can see the only HSV system that used a H instead of X pipe.

Combined with the VF2 mufflers and HSV headers & cats I think it sounds quite good, and gets close to sounding like a C63 with the old 6.2L I reckon.

I recall reading Holden tried to mimic the C63 sound on the VF2 LS3s, you can hear that in the rear mufflers - all midrange and a bit raspy which I guess was the point. Although not for everyone.

Technically, X-pipes can provide a scavenging effect and can work at certain RPM with race car exhausts but ultimately, it'll quieten an exhaust down particularly with a race car exhaust trying to pass noise level requirements. X-pipe is like the cutting edge of exhaust technology, but most aren't fabricated properly in road car aftermarket exhausts and many as I mentioned in a previous post, are too restrictive and sacrifices exhaust flow.

That won't cause a power loss with 3" exhausts that are way too big for stock or a mildly modified LS3 anyway. I've never seen a power increase with any balance systems X or H-pipe on a chassis dyno with a well fabricated and properly sized exhaust, and it's ultimately about the note you like best. H-pipes don't make much difference to sound down low and mid-range, it's upper RPM they'll be a bit quieter and higher pitched. Sounds like the engine is revving a bit harder than it is with a full dual.

Another one we used to block off the H-pipes was the HSV VR/VS GTS/Senator 5.7litre exhaust. It was a full dual with two H-pipes and sounded like a VL 6-cylinder stock. With piped cats and the H-pipes blocked off, they sounded pretty good for an otherwise a stock HSV exhaust!

I originally had the VF 340 headers, piped cats with the X-pipe Maloo midpipe and stock SSV bimodal mufflers and the note was lousy, raspy, not too bad in the car, but when my wife took the Ute for a squirt up the road on a drive-by, "that's sh*t" was my immediate impression and led me to modify it. The X-pipe had a lot of pipe ring, a tinny noise almost sounds like an exhaust leak under load, it's bit of pressed junk really!

I wanted to retain the stock look under the car with a much better exhaust note and pretty well achieved that!