440 Exhaust options

[rikubot]

Hi dudes
I have a '69 charger with a stock 440, and I'm looking to get a LITTLE more power out of it. The pipes on it are beat to hell, and stock 2 1/4. I figure it would be a decent place to start. I would like to do a pair of headers as well. Nothing too crazy, as I don't plan to make the motor into a hellish beast. What would you recommend as far as mufflers, headers, pipe size? I'd like to finish the system off with a pair of R/T tips as well. As always any advice or shared experiences are welcome and appreciated. Oh, and I'm working with a conservative budget.
Thanks,
Mike

 

[Ron Ward]

Mike, I just put Dynomax Ultra Flo mufflers on my Road Runner with a set of Hooker Super Competition headers. I'm running 3" pipes and I absolutely LOVE this setup.

There are surely folks on here who will twist your arm to go with the TTI setup (with good reason: it's top quality stuff) but, if you are like me and want the best bang for the buck, It's tough to beat what I did.

 

[Bigal75]

Yep... TTI has a complete set up for your car.

 

[Rocketman]

Mike,

Hedman elites ceramic coated headers, 2.5" pipes through Flowmaster 40's with the stock looking tips:

[video=youtube;PViFpRVLzWU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PViFpRVLzWU[/video]

 

[lewtot184]

if the engine is stock or near stock i'd just do the hipo exhaust manifold and a full 2 1/2" exhaust with your choice of mufflers. i think if i ever do it again i'll do the tti shorty set-up. i've used there headers and complete exhaust systems twice and am really sold on the product.

 

[Car Nut]

if the engine is stock or near stock i'd just do the hipo exhaust manifold and a full 2 1/2" exhaust with your choice of mufflers. i think if i ever do it again i'll do the tti shorty set-up. i've used there headers and complete exhaust systems twice and am really sold on the product.

:yes:

 

[B-bodyFan]

if the engine is stock or near stock i'd just do the hipo exhaust manifold and a full 2 1/2" exhaust with your choice of mufflers. i think if i ever do it again i'll do the tti shorty set-up. i've used there headers and complete exhaust systems twice and am really sold on the product.

I completely agree about using hi-po exhaust manifolds and 2 1/2 pipes. I saw a dyno test once on a 440 that lost horsepower with headers: 440's are low rev high torque beasts.

 

[Bigal75]

Manifolds for old school zero power...headers with x pipe with free flowing mufflers to move into the 21st century and for more power.

 

[rikubot]

You are all very helpful! Thanks for the video! Now I am on the fence as both sides say two different things. Tell me what you guys think of this: Maybe starting with just mufflers and pipes from the header back, and then waiting on the header decision til a bit later. It would save me a little money for now at least. would it breathe any better with 2.5 in pipes and stock header? or am I *** backwards? As of right now, my system is a rust-covered pipe (2.25in) with a hole in driver side muffler and an accordian-lookin passenger side muffler XD.

 

[65-440]

Headers will make a big difference over stock manifolds, but can be a pain in the *** sometimes. My Swinger has a full TTI setup all the way back to accurate LTD tips. I dumped the crappy super turbo mufflers in favor of the dynomax ultra-flos, Much better sound ! My coronet will be a bit different, im not playing the header game anymore, going to keep the factory hi-po manifolds and run 2.5" pipes with the ultra-flos. I'm not sure if the price and headache that can come with headers are worth it on a street car !