Why do most American V8s sound terrible to me?

In reply to dropstep :

Isn't that great, though?  If everybody liked the same thing the world would be a boring place.

Ok Flowmaster is awful. But it won't take the honor of worst sounding setup. That prize is a tie between the SLP Loudmouth 1 and the Borla Atak. I know people with both on their Mustangs. 

The thing with Flowmasters, I guess, is that it's distinctive.  Like, you can pick out a car running them as easily as you hear your name being mentioned in a crowded room.  (Or, to be self deprecatory, the way you can pick out a rotary running in a sea of piston engines.  I'm not un-self-aware)

They also annoy me because I know from testing that they're power killers relative to something decent like Magnaflows.  They sound like that for no purpose, kind of like sticking a 5" exhaust tip on a stock D16 Honda.

In reply to Tom1200 :

While I think V8 swaps are kinda cool, I have yet to see one done in a Datsun where the ergonomics worked well. Unless it's a Z. There just isn't enough room in a 510 or 210. 
A nice 4 like the Toyota beams engine with its 6 speed manual would work better imo. 

I will admit LS stuff sounds best through a single large exhaust versus duals.

I also find a classic yank V8 with duals uninspiring and at times, especially with a lopey idle, annoying. A small block Ford with an X pipe is pretty nice sounding.  I actually quite like the warble of a modern Charger/Challenger. 

I do love 180 degree headers. I had the pleasure of backing the Dan Gurney "zoomer" out of a trailer. Little 260 V8 with 180's sounded absurdly good. 

I am always surprised by just how rowdy the Ferrari V8 in the 308 cars sounds at idle and low rpm. It might be the webers. Not sure I love it,  but it is cool and different.  

Most American V8s are just wimpy; mild cams, small exhaust ports, smog compliance, etc.

Where they start to sound good is when you get them up in the RPMs... both because they sound better at high RPMs and because of the cam/exhaust mods you have to do to get them there.

But I agree... a factory V8 with wimpy cams and a nice smooth idle just sound anemic.

Patrick said:

I will admit LS stuff sounds best through a single large exhaust versus duals.

+1. I prefer my truck v8's with single magnaflow exhaust. 

In reply to Knurled. :

Flowmasters in the right application can sound good and not be power killers.

I've had people ask me if I had a V8 in my 4 cyl. Colorado because the 70 series FM sounds so good. Relative, of course,  to something that doesn't sound good like a 4 cylinder truck with a straight through type muffler. I have no experience with them on V8's

I had a stock 289 with long tubes, 2.5" exhaust, flowmaster 40s and no crossover. To me it sounded perfect at 600rpm idle. I actually love the individual blatts. One of my favorite car sounds ever is this old Jeep I get to drive with an SBC that has glasspacks welded to the manifolds. 

Peabody said:

In reply to Knurled. :

Flowmasters in the right application can sound good and not be power killers.

I've had people ask me if I had a V8 in my 4 cyl. Colorado because the 70 series FM sounds so good. Relative, of course,  to something that doesn't sound good like a 4 cylinder truck with a straight through type muffler. I have no experience with them on V8's

I like the big FM 70.  It seems to give more of a “poof poof poof” sound you feel in your chest than your ear drums.  40’s are just obnoxious in my opinion 

@amg_rx7  I saw the BRE 510 with a V8 and it looked pretty good. If and when we get this done the firewall on my car will need to be almost completely remade. Luckily I have a really good fabricator.

I was at an autocross today and there was a Fox body Mustang with a 351 that sounded nice.

Curtis73 said:

Most American V8s are just wimpy; mild cams, small exhaust ports, smog compliance, etc.

Where they start to sound good is when you get them up in the RPMs... both because they sound better at high RPMs and because of the cam/exhaust mods you have to do to get them there.

But I agree... a factory V8 with wimpy cams and a nice smooth idle just sound anemic.

High compression and high lift long duration cams simply mask the weakness of V8's with a volume of noise. They still have the issue which causes second order harmonics. Namely the adjacent cylinder issue. When you cannot have adjacent cylinders firing at an even 90 degrees, you need to mask it with headers that force exhaust pulses out at an even rate. 
Six cylinders in a row or V12's. Are far more in harmony. 

Tom1200 said:

@amg_rx7  I saw the BRE 510 with a V8 and it looked pretty good. If and when we get this done the firewall on my car will need to be almost completely remade. Luckily I have a really good fabricator.

I was at an autocross today and there was a Fox body Mustang with a 351 that sounded nice.

I have no doubt that a Ford 5.0 V8 would make your car faster. It would sort of be a sedan version of a Cobra.  But it will also bring out other weakness's you haven't needed to deal with yet.  Is there a newer Nissan   inline six cylinder  that is light?  You'll get more power and a sweet sound.  Plus if you keep the front of the engine where it is now you'll gain weight over the rear tires that A V8 won't 

Makes me want to revisit the helmholtz resonator idea for my LS.

Another issue with domestic V8's is use of oversized exhaust pipes adding to the blat blat sound. 

Tom1200 said:

Meanwhile other V8s; Ferrari, Aston and BMW sound pretty good to me.

Basically most of the V8s I hear in traffic sound awful to me.

@frenchyd all of the Nissan L6s are heavier than a 5.0 Ford V8 with aluminum heads & manifold. Most of the twin cam 4s are within 40lbs of the V8. I've done the homework. My car currently has monster brakes on it so that's not an issue but  I will have to put in a new rear end (car is already leaf spring) for which I will fit a custom unit, upgrade the cooling system, custom drive shaft, sway bars, spring rates etc. It will also change the character of the car from "carry monster corner entry speed" to more point and squirt, so yeah I'm aware of the changes.

There was also a 17 GT350 running and it sounded OK; not great but OK.

At least know I know a little bit of why some sound better to me than others.

If you don't like the sound of V8s then put a VQ35 in that Datsun with straight pipes and let everyone in a 3 mile radius know you're driving the worlds loudest trombone. 

An RB26 would be much cooler on that note. 

Whether or not you like the sound of a particular car ir engine is a highly individual thing, so when I say that I agree with th OP about not liking most American V8 exhaust notes, it is just my opinions and not a shot at American cars and their owners.  I have had some American V8s that I did rather like the sound of, particularly big block Chryslers (I've owned four cars, none American, that used those engines and grew to enjoy them).

My personal hierarchy of goodness in exhaust sounds are:

V12 - nothing else seems to touch this. The one car I have owned with such an engine was bar none the best sound I have experienced. Always thought it was a shame that none of the guys I know that owned Jags with the V12 ever put a decent exhaust system on them except for one guy with a series 3 XKE that did, and it sounded glorious. The average XJS could have had a turbine engine in it for all that you could tell from the exhaust sound. Boring

Straight 6 - these have excellent exhaust notes. A friend raced a vintage Alfa with one and a couple ran Jags. My modern high compression BMW  6 reminds me of theirs (needless to say I fitted it with a less restricted exhaust).

V6 - mixed bag. Some sound nothing near as good as a straight 6, and others are pretty nice

V8 - a lot of these blatting around out there with cheap and noisy exhaust systems on them.  Agree with the guys that said they like the current Mustang sound though, as well as the old Lotus flat plane V8.

4 cylinder - ironically, given that these are the engines that have involved me the most for all of my racing life, these generally don't sound very good. There are a few exceptions - an Alfa in full cry sounds quite nice as does one of the rare MG DOHC engines like I used in one of my race cars, but generally they are sonically lacking.

In reply to wspohn :

I completely agree with everything you just said.  Especially about the XJS.  In order for great sound to come out it has to come out the back.  Side pipes just don't have it, even Group 44's. 
V12 E types work  because they have rear exit pipes. Side  pipes,  even my own Race car just sound silly 

V8s make so much sense; parts availibilty, price, power, reliabilty etc. but they've never been my thing. Well after starting down the path of "I have an open wheeler so lets turn the Datsun into a hooligan track day car" I finally realized why V8s make sense.

Naturally any application is a compromise, in this case it's the exhaust note. Further if money were no option a Ferrari V12 or a Cosworth V8 would be the go to choices but at the end of the day even if I hated the exhaust note I'd still install the best bang for the buck.

Maybe there's a reason no one has mentioned it, but why not a Toyota/Lexus 1UZ with an adapter plate? Aftermarket isn't anywhere near as insane as the bowtie/oval gang but I've opened mine up a good bit (down from 3 cats and 4 mufflers to 0 and 2) and it sounds delightful.

But then again I like V8 sounds pretty much generally across the board, because I'm a giant five year old.

I agree with Patrick about the LS.  My Yukon sounds pretty nice to me with the stock exhaust.   
 

i also agree with Curtis about higher RPMs.  I wrap up the 351 Cleveland in my Cougar probably more than is prudent but Borla (not ATAK) and 5000 RPM make me smile.

In reply to Tom1200 :

Bang for the buck is a good goal,  I just wonder about the unknowns.  Face it, you will be exploring the unknown grounds and even if you get a good one installed for a reasonable amount, what else will attack your pocket book?