|
Episode I: Attack of the Clones
The stock exhaust is clearly not meant to be a hot rodder's system of choice.
Just for starters, it doesn't *sound* right. Fact is the Hemi is a badass motor, but straight out of the factory it sounds all warm and fuzzy. When you stomp on it you should hear a burbling roar that is the automotive equivalent of lions and tigers. Instead you get a wheezy, high-pitched and subdued sound I have compared to angry squirrels.
The fact that the Magnum doesn't have a performance exhaust (despite what you hear in that first, famous Magnum television ad) really shouldn't be that much of a shock. After all, they have to sell this car to people with all sorts of different tastes, and not everyone wants to hear a roaring engine.
And they actually thought the process through fairly well from an everyman perspective. This link outlines the process by which a third-party exhaust system designer was brought in to develop the "Magnum sound". Ick.
Me, I bought myself a hot rod. And I wanted it to sound like one. I found the sound emanating from the tailpipes to be a flat-out embarrassment, and less than 24 hours after the car was brought home I had replaced the stock intake and modified the exhaust.
NEXT... Episode II: A New Hope
|
Personal BS
