Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

I mentioned in another post that the left side exhaust system on my '55 was blocked. Not any more, I shudder to think that the car did this but yesterday when I was parking it in the carport so I could get under to track down the blockage the exhaust pressure blew a hole in the muffler. I knew there had been a weak spot but now it's rather more than that. At least I don't have to worry about back pressure anymore and boy, the raw sound the Packard V8 puts out is deep - even by LB V8 standards.

No, I'm not going to drive it around like that. I plan on putting new mufflers on tomorrow.

jim,

those v8s sound great! with straight pipes,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

They sure do, Riki! Viewing the evidence recently provided, I'm pretty sure these mufflers were "glass pacs" or some variation. They certainly have what appears to be fiberglass inside and now, outside, as well. The teenager in me is still strong enough to rather enjoy the sound it's been making every since I woke it up from it's 30 year nap. And acturally, during the diagnosis phase of my ownership, it was rather helpfull to ear each detonation as it let me know that everything was more or less ballanced out and even firing was obvious. Glass-paks are one thing, no muffler is another. And even in "Keep-Portland-Weird" Portland, it is illegal - so something has to be done. Part of me says that the car should evidence the dignified silence that the Grand Avenue Boys intended. And as I said before, the young punk in me says "Let it ROAR". Decisions, Decidions. I guess we'll see what these new mufflers sound like.

There's some teenager left in all of us!

My friend Paul in Las Vegas has electrically controlled exhaust cutouts installed in the head pipes on his restored 1956 Executive. His 374 2x4 engine has a hotter than stock reground mechanical flat tappet cam, so it sounds pretty cool/loud when he opens the cutouts and the throttle.

I may do the same thing on my Panther. The main difference between Paul's Exec and my Panther is that my cam is bigger and it will have headers, not just the stock exhaust manifolds. My Panther should be louder. Hee Hee, Rock & Roll!

Craig

Man I gotta get some of those!

Jim,

You can also "break in" your new mufflers to get a nicer sound.

After installing new mufflers get the car up to road speed on a back road, switch off ignition and pump the gas pedal several times and then turn ignition switch to on. You should get a good backfire to loosen the muffler baffles a bit. Repeat until you get the sound you want.

Word of caution, you will lose PS and PB while switch is off so do it on back road. Also, make sure there isn't a lot of leaking fluids on underside of car to catch fire. My brother lost a 72 Dodge that way, couldn't get it going fast enough in time to put the flames out.

David Grubbs Quote:

Here ya go!

http://www.pypesexhaust.com/accessories.html#01

Craig

You think that's HOT!?!? TRY THIS! Drill a sparkplug size hole in each exhaust pipe outlet about 5" in from the end. Get a cheap coil and wire that downstream from a button under the dash thats wired to an ACC outlet. Fashion a pigtail for each exhaust (unnecessary in single exhaust cars - put a sparkplug in each pre-drilled tail pipe and hook'em up. For extra effect, rich up your carb mixture and watch eyes pop in the cars behind you when you goose the gas & push the button!
If you do this right you'll get about an 8" flame shooting out of each pipe.

jim,

in the early 70s starting a 56 clipper ,, to see if it would fire, only had ex manifolds on ,,,, whata sound,,, only did it for few minutes cause you can burn a valve.,,

heard of the flame throwers,

i always wondered how it was done, i thought they had bad valves..

that's good for tailgaters ..................

Quote:

YEAH!

Can be kinda bad for Cops though.....