late model v8 sounds is it just me?

[Whitey-AMG]

High compression , solid High Lift cams , big exhaust valves , smaller mufflers ( no cats ) , bigger lobe separation and lower gearing with high stall converters on old skool cars makes the noise hard to beat...... Just driving off from a standstill they are revving at 3500 RPM - LOL.

My XE ESP Clevo V8 when it was standard with its compression / cams and exhaust sounded like rubbish - no character , no noise , lope or agro. It had no soul....... only after 10K+ of mods did it earn its stripes.

So with the newer V8's with less aggressive cam profiles and lower comp but faster ramp rates - the sound is smoothed out a lot quicker in the RPM range , they just don't scream as hard no matter what the exhaust.

IMHO - The sound of a modified Boss 5.4 at full song is as close as it gets to ( but will still never beat ) OLD SKOOL orchestral nirvana....

[Mercury Bullet]

Originally Posted by henry351

Miami's sound ok to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pp8h9H6edmM

They sure do.
I'm the first to admit though, with VCT there is no longer that idle sound. But who cares? I want that power when I bury the foot and it's power no old school motor can keep up with.

Check out Corey's car. lol sounds alright to me!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYJrXzCjHP8

[Whitey-AMG]

Originally Posted by Mercury Bullet

and it's power no old school motor can keep up with.

Really ?
Them's fightin words......

[Mercury Bullet]

Originally Posted by Bluey-GT

Really ?
Them's fightin words......

Not really it's just time moving on.

My stock 351 gave me 250hp.
My stock 5 litre gives me 500.

[Whitey-AMG]

Originally Posted by Mercury Bullet

Not really it's just time moving on.

My stock 351 gave me 250hp.
My stock 5 litre gives me 500.

Fair nuff
The circles I travel in - no one has a stock 351 Clevo.
Most of the ones I know sound like a cement mixer with too much gravel in the barrel and will do wheel stands and are street driven....... Not sure many late model V8's will keep up with them and to get back on topic - no late model V8 sounds as good either for reasons already mentioned.

[GO FURTHER]

A tuned FG barra turbo with 3 inch stainless steel catback with restrictor euro 4 ring removed (or high flow cat) sounds quite tough.... Not the same low rumble of an XR8, but sounds alright.

[XByoot]

Originally Posted by Mercury Bullet

Check out Corey's car. lol sounds alright to me!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYJrXzCjHP8

What's the red Mopar running?

[Mercury Bullet]

Originally Posted by XByoot

What's the red Mopar running?

No idea sorry.

He goes by the username XR8Menace if you want to pm him.

[marty351]

Still...
Nothing beats a mild 351 @300 HP doing it work at 4000 rpm.
Beats turbo lag any day, and when your supers fade out the old school choir keep on singing.

[XByoot]

Originally Posted by Mercury Bullet

No idea sorry.

He goes by the username XR8Menace if you want to pm him.

Naaaa,it's OK,probably just one of those old Skool engines that can't keep up with the modern stuff lol.
That ute does look the part,he's done a great job on it

[Rodp]

For me, the old school V8's do sound better - much lumpier with more character. You could also get away with a lot more back then due to harsher EPA regulations today. The simple vacuum mod on the current XR8 and I'm pretty happy with the note.

I'm sure I could make people think the world was coming to an end with my XR8 but I'd be pulled over in an instant by plod and defected before I could say, hello Occifer.

[XByoot]

It's been a good yarn regarding new vs old V8's and their sounds. I'm unashamed to say I'm old Skool and like the classics,why see a cover band when you can hear the real thing?

The new stuff is cool, it's the great thing about this hobby,something for everyone. I'm sure with the VCT and some ingenious electronically inclined individuals,you could tighten up the lobe sep at idle to get the cammed sound,not very user friendly for pollution however . At the end of the day time moves on,if we all still drove Clevos and other non pollution cars we'd be in a pretty bad place environmentally. This is what it is and it ain't a bad compromise. I'd still hate to do major work on these modern engines...then again I wish that we still had Aussie production and did local assembly of Mustangs and we did a Barra version to show the US our take on a performance car...dream on I know,but it would have been cool.

[fordomatic]

Yep the Miami sure aint a nice thing to listen to, but you only hear it for a bit when it flies past you.

[Bent8]

Originally Posted by fordomatic

Yep the Miami sure aint a nice thing to listen to, but you only hear it for a bit when it flies past you.

Coyote/Miami 5.0 has a different firing order to the 5.4 modular motors which is why they sound 'different' with an exhaust...

But having owned a BF XR8 with full 2.5 exhaust, I can say my GT with it's factory 2.5" system sounds better with just the centre muffler replaced with a resonator.

[Fordman1]

Originally Posted by fordomatic

Yep the Miami sure aint a nice thing to listen to, but you only hear it for a bit when it flies past you.

Drive by noise regulations have a lot to do with Miami, Coyote exhaust notes.

A Mustang with a AM exhaust sounds glorious.

[Tokyo Geoff]

I liked my 5.4 FG Boss
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZfmuEgDFfQ
Even on start up in car parks it would set off car alarms. It took several attempts to get it right however until I got the KPM.
Geoff

[Beastie]

I haven't heard a V8 that sounds bad...

Love my Boss too...

[b2tf]

Originally Posted by Boza

is it just me or do other people dislike the way v8's sound now day's
What I mean is the raspy popping sounds not the deep old school v8 sound like the old clevo;s and even the ls's used to sound good now they also have that raspy exhaust note.

I heard a 4.6 powered mustang the other day and it sounded great had that deep old school note then saw a late model mustang and it had that annoying new sound.

is it just me?

No, it's not just you. My FG XR8 with the 5.4 was possiby the most disappointing V8 I've ever owned in terms of sound and character. Felt like I was driving a hospital instead of a cranky V8 and even with a Herrods exhaust on it it still didnt sound anywhere near as good as my previous Windsor XR8's.

They are all like that now though, C63's sound great and the 5.0 Coyotes do sound good but you have to get stuck into them to get any note.

[bdave351]

Obviously the current regulations make things hard, but I also think people are comparing to much modern stock to old modified.

Had some wheezy sounding old v8s over the years till they got massaged.

I had trouble getting my 335 to sound 'mean' enough till I went very minimal on the exhuast system (Was told it was the loudest car in the entire suburb by the time I got it to where I was happy with it, but it still didnt have the same depth as mentioned by the other posters due to the cams/compression)

The modern ones can sound incredible as well though in a different way.
Was lucky enough to punt one of these and a few of its cousins around eastern creek recently and it totally changed my world!

Pump up the volume and unzip your pants



If the embed doesnt work -
https://youtu.be/nJ3OQgev5DI?t=1m39s

[98TLS]

Originally Posted by XByoot

sort of like a stock Harley with an aftermarket pipe on it,to me it sounds like a fart in a wind tunnel or an old tractor with the muffler off,others get all juiced up....to each their own I guess....now a bevel or old Desmo 900 Ducati on the other hand....audio artwork.

Never understood anyone getting fizzed up over the sound of a Harley myself,got plenty of mates that ride em but oem or aftermarket tubes its still "potato potato" to me,Bevel drive with Contis is about as good as it gets not mentioned much these days as sadly most wouldnt have a clue what your on about let alone ever heard one,fwiw a TL1000 with a decent set up is a noise worth listening to.Back on topic having owned a lot of old Falcons i doubted anything could compare sound wise when it came to the newer ones and a few years back when considering buying my old BA GTP the bloke on the other end of the phone told me he reckoned it was the best sounding BA or any Falcon he had ever heard i thought "yea whatever" but did end up travelling and buying the car,he was pretty close the thing sounds wonderful either at idle or under the pump,exhaust was done by the owner prior to him(dealer) who was in the trade and a wonderful job he did.Love the sounds of old Ford stuff Clevo/Windsor couldnt care less there both awesome but fact is anything old or new with a V8 can be made to sound if the bloke bending the pipes has an ear for just the right result.

[XByoot]

Man those TL1000's sound the part Contis,wow how good were they. The Italians really knew how to make "the" sound. Different sound but the old SOHC 750/4 with a set of yoshi 4 into 1's could make a jellyfish go hard too! Glad I grew up drooling over all that gear.

[Whitey-AMG]

Originally Posted by b2tf

No, it's not just you. My FG XR8 with the 5.4 was possiby the most disappointing V8 I've ever owned in terms of sound and character. Felt like I was driving a hospital instead of a cranky V8 and even with a Herrods exhaust on it it still didnt sound anywhere near as good as my previous Windsor XR8's.

They are all like that now though, C63's sound great and the 5.0 Coyotes do sound good but you have to get stuck into them to get any note.

A Herrod exhaust is not the best sound option......far from it. An injustice almost. No wonder you weren't impressed. It's actually not far from stock sound.
I'm not sure I've heard any late model weezer that sounded even half as good as a modular ? Heard plenty of modded EL XR8s in my time to be sure of that.

[b2tf]

Originally Posted by Bluey-GT

I'm not sure I've heard any late model weezer that sounded even half as good as a modular ?

I think you've got that the wrong way around?!

[FG50T]

I loved the noise of a 3v BA a friend had for an modified but unopened modern engine.

A mild old school the 308 tops it for me in for pre-injected motors. Anything old school sounds tough with 11:1+ comp and a solid cam though.

[Whitey-AMG]

Originally Posted by b2tf

I think you've got that the wrong way around?!

No sir , exactly as written and heard many many times .
They don't call em weezers for nothing.
As far as old skool , it's the Clevo
New skool , it's the Boss.

I do love em all , but it's like a good brew. They all get you pi$$ed but some just taste so much better then others whilst you're partaking.

[johv]

It's not just the V8s, back in the 70's a good exhaust would make any motor sound magic. big Jap fours, Triumphs and Ducatis used to sound fantastic, today they are crap, I still don't know why. Anyways I used to put my foot down in the old eights to listen to the motor sing. Now I've got a boss 5.4 with the loud intake and exhaust, when I put the foot down it screams ! rev limiter!!

[damo6]

I reckon the holden 308 with a bigger zorst is one of the best sounding motors. On the other hand i was sitting next to a vf ssv ser2 redline that had the ****ingshaw treatment at the lights the other day,i was in my trusty old camry,it had a nice idle note but when it took off it sounded like a loud cats fart. Made me cringe. My old 6lt in my ve ss ute had twin 3" pipes and shat all over this thing for sound.Agreed though that mobs like ****ingshaw have to comply with emissions regs which is why this thing sounded terrible,would have been better off with a custom or more free'er breathing system.

[SensationFG8]

Originally Posted by damo6

but when it took off it sounded like a loud cats fart. Made me cringe.

I've always found them to sound like an old man farting, a cat has a bit to small of an ******* to make a sound that terrible...

[fordomatic]

The Boss engine with Herrod cams and the right exhaust is the best sounding modern day V8 for me. They almost sound proper old school, just a shame it costs so much to make them sound good

[Wretched]

I don't have a problem with the sound of modern V8s.
Standouts have to be the AMG donks (6.2 NA and 4.0 Turbo), the 5.0 Coyote and any Audi.