WilberM3 wrote:
anybody have any experience with how the location of a muffler in a system would affect sound/performance? like if you ran a straight pipe with a muffler under the middle vs. right at the rear bumper?
closer to the front tends to mean that there is more unbaffled length of tailpipe in which more noise can be parasitically induced by the pulses in the pipe.
The school of thought is that the closer you put it to the outlet, the better for power and sound removal. The thought is that exhaust temps drop drastically as they pass through the tubing, therefore the density increases and the CFMs reduce proportionally. Therefore a muffler that restricts flow a little at the back would theoretically restrict flow a tad more up closer to the front.
What seems to make an all-around good compromise is the use of resonators. Use a high-flowing muffler up in the middle, then another high-flowing resonator in the back. The thought there is that you're splitting up the sound deadening over two free-flowing mufflers instead of one more restrictive piece.