Stelth or a little rumble?

[sb47]

I have always enjoyed my truck being stelthy and quiet but the other day I noticed it started a little rumble coming from the exhaust and sure enough the weld on the tail pipe where it goes into the muffler has rusted through. So all the exhaust is coming from the muffler and the tail pipe is just hanging there. It actually sounds pretty good with a nice deep tone. When I bought the truck new in 1994 it had a nice rumble but that muffler rusted through and I had to replace it. Back then I chose a quiet muffler to be stelthy.
I'm sure the catalytic converter is trash after 27 years and 200K miles. I'm torn between going back quiet or put a quiet little rumble in it. Nothing loud, just a quiet rumble.

How about a poll.
A. quiet
B. rumble

 

[Goinwheelin]

dynomax super turbo. Not to quiet not too loud

 

[esshup]

If just for daily short drives, a mild rumble. If long trips are in the future, the rumble might be annoying for long periods of time. I'd definitely remove/replace the cat.

 

[Huntaholic]

It all depends on the vehicle. Ive got a couple Camaro Super Sports and you can dang sure hear them coming. The other side of that is Ive got a tuned and deleted Duramax that will slip up on you and take your lunch money lol.
I had an 03 2500HD 6.0 gas burner that I had replaced the factory exhaust with a newer Corvette exhaust that had been removed, it sounded good, but it was all noise and no go. IF I had kept it I would have went back to a stock exhaust.

 

[sb47]

I'm going to take it tomorrow and go back with a quiet stealth muffler. It's been nice to have a little rumble but for the long haul and everyday driving I like it quiet as a mouse.

 

[FlyingDutchman]

Turbo it, that's a muffler.

 

[toadman]

I like mine as quiet and fast as possible

 

[SweetMK]

True story,,
My BIL (who was 16 years older than me,,) gave me "WHAT FOR" when I put a loud muffler on my '62 Impala , back in 1967.
He told me how important it was to not attract attention to yourself,, that life was easier without the attention,,

Well, he died when he was 52 years old,,

I am still "kicking" at age 72,, and now I drive this,, ANYTHING BUT lack of attention!!

 

[grizz55chev]

True story,,
My BIL (who was 16 years older than me,,) gave me "WHAT FOR" when I put a loud muffler on my '62 Impala , back in 1967.
He told me how important it was to not attract attention to yourself,, that life was easier without the attention,,

Well, he died when he was 52 years old,,

I am still "kicking" at age 72,, and now I drive this,, ANYTHING BUT lack of attention!!

Loud and proud, grey power!

 

[SweetMK]

Loud and proud, grey power!

I GOTTA remember that!!

 

[sb47]

I have been by the muffler shop twice in the past week and they were to busy so I'm still waiting. They quoted me $160 to replace just the muffler with a stock quiet one. I'm going to keep it quiet so I can sneak around and be stealthy. I could probably cut the old one out and replace it myself but I don't have any way to weld it up, and I would have to clamp it and I have learned the hard way that clamps don't hold up.

 

[sb47]

I got tired of waiting on that shop so I went to another one and had it done for $180 with a lifetime warranty. It is supper quiet now and can barely hear it running, even when I step on the gas. Stopped by the DMV and also got my license renewed. Don't have to do that again till 2030. In July I will have to get it inspected. No more dyno test just a simple inspection. Last year it took all of about 5 min from the time I pulled in till I drove out and only cost me $7
This 1994 chevy has been the best truck I have ever owned. It has the 5.7 350 4 speed automatic and still gets 16MPG even with running 31'' mud tires. No it's not the most powerful truck I could drive but she will light up those 31's for a good 100 yards if I step on it. At 70MPH the tach reads 1,500 RPM at idle it reads 200 RPM.
I have 208,000 showing and she still runs like a top. No smoke, no burning any oil. I have only had to replace the normal wear and tear items that you would on any truck. No rust anywhere ether. She's been a great truck. Single cab short wheel base stepside with the 350 is a great little runner. She still has plenty of get up and go left in her.

 

[sb47]

Nearly 300,000 and straight piped

That sounds like crap. As a 30 year truck driving veteran I know the value of being able to hear the sounds of the tires on the road and the sounds of the mechanics of a truck as a safety issue. Any noise that distracts from that is a safety hazard. As a truck driver I can't tell you how many times the sound of a tire going bad might have saved me time, money and my life. Who else has ever had a blow out at speed driving anything including just the average passenger car? A blow out can happen without any warring what so ever, not even any sound changes. But I personally have been able to hear a noise and was able to pull over only to find a sever safety hazard that may have saved my life. A weekend hobby car/truck is one thing, but a daily driver is another.
I have even been sitting somewhere eating lunch and hear an explosion and come to find out my truck blew a tire while just sitting in the parking lot. Blowing a tandem on an axle is one thing, but blowing a steering tire is quite another.
Witch brings me to another safety issue. Tires! My old boss use to buy cheap retreads for all his tree trucks and we all were constantly having blow outs, lost treads or flats. Costing both time and money sitting on the side of the road waiting on a tire man. I convinced him to put a brand new set on my truck and I almost never had another flat or blow out. From then on he put new tires on every truck we had.
Then I got offered a job as foreman over another tree company and they to under the old foreman were running retreads and having tire issues all the time. I suggested to the owner to stop trying to save money by running retreads and switch to new tires. The money we saved in down time and tire repairs changed dramatically. I said, see that's why you hired a veteran driver over someone with no actual driving experience. There profits increased ten fold as well as production. Knowledge and experience can go a long way if you pay attention to it.