This is my first post, and I just bought my first truck — '88 F 150, long bed with towing/camper packages, EFI and 5sp tranny. Engine is a 302 with only 80,000 miles. Prev. owner installed header pipes and glasspaks. And the pipes end barely under the bed.

It comes from West Virginia, so first I must pass the Calif. emissions test.

I wonder about the noise. Is it from the headers, the glasspaks, the oil bath air cleaner? Facing some 13 hour drives up and down the state, I'd like it quieter.
The local speed shop tells me that this exhaust is giving me better low end torque/power and better mileage. They advise — "Do Nothing."

Will be used in some serious mountains and for gold mining with substantial loads.

Will different mufflers, longer pipes, insulation under the hood help?

Gary Curtis
Los Angeles

 

Welcome ! Congratulations on getting your first truck. You need different mufflers. You can buy quiet mufflers that offer similar performance. The glasspack is a straight-through design. So are others, but with larger cases to hold more packing; example Borla.

 

I just put a Flowmaster 50 series on my 98 f-150 and love it. There is good noicse outside the truck with that real dual sound. However, you can hardly hear it inside the truck! Definitely worth the money and a lot cheaper than the glass packs that your prev. owner put on. My friend has glass packs on his 95 silverado and they are much louder in the cab. I drive about an hour a day and have never missed a conversation or had to really turn the radio up for my 50 series. Some people hate flowmasters, but I love them! Good luck

 

I have the 40 series si/do flowmasters and i love them. It has a deep throttle sound outside, tahts starting to rumble a little more, and a the cab noide isn't bad at all. For you i would go with the 50 series as it seems to be better for you situation. Shouldn;t cost too much and wil still have a great deep sound.

 

you could extend the pipes out the back, you said they end under the bed, so that is going to make alot of noise in the cab. but pretty much anywhere you put ithe exit the glass packs are going to be loud, if you dont like alot of noise but want performance go for a flowmaster, they are relativly quiet (compared to cherry bombs and straight pipes) the 40 series is probably the most widely used, but the 50's are a good choice, not as loud but about the same thing.

and the muffler should bolt right inplace of the glass packs without too much fuss, maybe a little extra pipe bolted on, cause glsaapacks are generally longer than mufflers
engine noise shouldnt be that loud at all. insulation wont do much


nice choice on the year by the way, froma fellow 88 owner