1969 Camaro Chambered Exhaust Experts
 

I have a 69 Z/28 with a 302 (factory solid cam,11:1 compression and headers) a M22, 4:10 or 4:88 (TBD) gears, 15" Polyglas tires and no factory floor insulation. I would like to hear from some experienced members what it will be like running a chambered exhaust system on the car. The pipes are a factory 2 1/4" system and unfortunately I do not know the exhaust system brand.

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being quiet and 10 being insane), how loud will the interior be with the chambered system without any floor insulation, just a factory carpet? Will I need a bucket of aspirins after driving 20 minutes at 50 mph?
2. I suspect installing the factory heavy sound deadener will reduce the interior noise a bit. If so, to what percentage if you were to guess?
3. Would installing after market sound insulation on the complete interior floor area reduce the interior sound substantially? And if so, to what percentage?
4. If installing after market insulation helps a lot, who makes the best insulation kit for this purpose? Keep in mind I only would put the insulation on the interior floor compartment and not on the interior of the doors, quarter panels or trunk area.
5. Would I be safe to say that trying to listened to my favorite VH album with any form of insulation in the Camaro will be a pipe dream..... haha.

Paul

My 1968 Z/28 left the factory with 4.56 tail gears. I've always had 1-3/4" primary headers with the stock deep tone exhaust system using an original GM muffler. Even driving that car & trying to listen to your favorite tunes isn't so great. My car came with deluxe interior, so it has the extra sound deadening. Some people like the chambered exhaust...some don't. I hear some people say it sound better on a Chevelle. It's a matter of choice...Joe

Chambered is a noisy system, not a performance system. Probably cost 30-40 hp.

IMHO, the 67-68 Deep-Tone system had a much better sound.

Thanks and yes I am aware of the loss of performance with a chambered system. I am not installing it for performance reasons.

I have had several 69 Z/28's with the cross flow system and it is probably the best factory set up.

I just need some insight into what's in store for me (noise wise) when I drive the car with a chambered system.


Paul

I have a ‘69 Z, factory setup 302, M20, 4.56, deluxe interior, 15” radials, and chambered exhaust. I’d probably say it’s a 5 out of 10 at 55-65 mph (though with these gears I don’t do a lot of long freeway cruising). It’s only at WOT / high RPM that it gets wake-the-neighbors / alert-the-authorities loud (9/10?). Not sure to your other questions.

I continue to be surprised how civil it is if you are civil with the loud pedal. It’s downright delightful at idle (even at 950 for the 302), and totally livable at cruise RPMs with windows down. At least to my younger ears I can’t imagine running a quieter system. I can barely hear the other Zs at cars & coffees, when standing next to them! :wink: So +1 for chambered here. I think Eddie would be heard with the right sound system (maybe even through the single under-dash speaker) :beers:

not to change the subject but with reguards to h/p loss what about the exhaust system with the resonators and cross flow muffler i think the system with just the crossflow muffler sounds the best

I installed a complete Gardner system on a customer's Z28 several years ago and hated it. It was obnoxiously loud. I would rather have open headers as that is what you expect to hear with headers, not with an exhaust system. It was very loud out back as well as in the cab. I have since talked a few people out of chambered exhaust since that time including the Chevelle owners.

I put Gardner 69 Chevelle chambered on my 70 Monte that has 496 5 speed. Factory manifolds and it sounds awesome. I matted the floor with noise insulation so interior noise is not a problem.

I would not install chambered on a 69 Z28 as been stated you lose HP and it sounds like crap. One of my Z's has it listed on the WS so what's on the car is a Gardner system.

I sold a 69 Z years ago and the new owner insisted that I install a standard cross flow system prior to purchasing.

Big block don't sound as obnoxious as small blocks!!

As you can see, the general consensus is that the aftermarket systems sound like crap. I am not surprised as a few SB systems I heard years ago were just like you fella's described......hideous. I was hoping that the current aftermarket systems sounded better. Although I can tolerate a chambered system on a BB.

The kicker is I had a complete NOS SB chambered system approx. 6 years ago that I sold, figuring that I would never have a need for one. How does that saying go......."never say never".....haha.

I may be interested in a used GM SB system if anyone happens to have one available. I have all my parts shipped to Port Huron Michigan so shipping is not an issue.

I really do appreciate everybody's input and the knowledge within this group.

Thanks once again,

Paul

Is there any way to tell if your car had chambered installed from the factory other than the frame rail hangers? My 01B car has it now and the 2nd owner said it was on it with the spoilers when new. I am pretty sure the spoilers were added so not sure on the exhaust. What I have doesnt fit right also but it does have some age on it.
The car had no factory hangers and I will say, the set I got from heartbeat where horrible. 2 of the clamps I believe shoud have threads and did not and the ones for the frame rails are impossible to form to a round pipe. They had square angles to them. The Gardner hangers do look round and have a long bolt to pull them together
One of the frame rail hangers was put together the wrong direction also and looked like I had 2 for the same side

Paul and all, this thread inspired me to do more digging on the system on my car. One tube says IMCO 2.75… so I am guessing that my setup was built by a shop using IMCO chambered tubes. So I can’t comment on the sound of the Gardner system or GM NOS but I can tell you that this system built from IMCO components sounds fantastic. My car had a major restoration from 2000-2010 in the Chicago area (the owner of Foreign & Domestic Auto Body in Libertyville) so I’m guessing this system was built around then :beers:

Thanks for you info. Matt (and everybody else) and your interest and sparking a desire to do some more research myself.

The best I can tell is that IMCO did produce chambered exhaust pipes for automotive purposes many years ago (possibly as far back as the late 70's as per FB). Matt has them on his 69 Z/28 and there are other Corvette FB forms referencing the IMCO brand as well. It appears that IMCO is just manufacturing exhaust manifolds for off shore boats, best I can tell.

As I referenced along with many site members, the SB chambered system that you typically buy from all the regular Camaro parts suppliers sounds terrible. They have a terrible crackle sound and really do the original factory installed systems no justice and that is a problem for me and alot of others it seems.

So I did some digging and found a company called Highflo Performance located in Michigan that manufactures a complete manifold back 2.5" (NOT a 2.25" system) chambered system with all the hardware for first gens. They also produce a less expensive system for a header back system. After talking to the owner, Ryan Westdorp who honed is exhaust building skill sets from Mike Cederstorm's who some of us are familiar with as the owner of Sweet Thunder. If you are a early Corvette owner, you definitely are aware of the great respect/reviews regarding the Sweet Thunder chambered systems to deliver that correct non-crackling sound. Ryan assured me that his chambered system is manufactured quite differently from the regular run of the mill systems, producing quite a different sound from the other manufacturers, which is exactly what we all need if you want a properly sounding chambered system on your car.

The only negative aspect to his system that I see is that the crimping of the two rear wheel well chambered sections are not spaced out the same as a factory system. For me, if the system sounds as good as it seems, it is a small price to pay to enjoy a chambered set up.


https://highfloperformance.com/pages/about-us

https://highfloperformance.com/colle...mbered-exhaust


As far as a substantial loss in HP/TORQ running the typical chambered system that is currently supplied through the regular Camaro part suppliers, I have heard/read about this many times. Here is a link to another aftermarket chambered pipe manufacturing company called Classic Chambered Exhaust that has customer comparisons with their systems. I cannot say that the Highflo Performance chambered systems delivers this type of similar HP/TORQ numbers as the Classic Chambered Exhaust system, but Ryan assured me he has never had a complaint regarding any engine power loss. And as he put it, "after selling thousands of systems, somebody would have said something by now."

https://www.classicchambered.com/

https://www.classicchambered.com/cla...rformance.html


I am a VERY happy dude now knowing I can install a much more correctly sounding system on my car for next spring....YIPPEE. And once installed, i will see if I can upload a video.


Paul

Paul, we just completed the restoration of my 69 Chevelle and we installed the Gardiner system on the car. It's a 375 hrs with a M22 and rubber floor mat with no insulation. Is it loud; it most certainly is, especially at idle. I'm 77 and still appreciate a loud exhaust. Everyone that has heard the exhaust so far really likes the sound, or they are just being respectful. I doubt most people drive their muscle cars more than a few hundred miles a year, at least in our climate, so some noise to me is acceptable. One of the disappointments when I purchased my new big block cars back in the late 60's was that they were not loud enough. At driving speeds in my original copo I could hear the M22 over the exhaust and this one is similiar. The Gardiner system is somewhat expensive however, relative to the cost of a restoration, it is not that bad. I also must add that they were great to deal with and this system does fit. We used all of their brackets and kept the originals, which will go with the car someday.

Just for clarification Paul, the best reproduction system available is Gardner hands down. Fit and finish are exact and excellent. The original chambered system has always been loud and obnoxious which has nothing to do Gardner just the original design especially on a solid lifter small block. My orange white stripe Z has a window sticker which list chambered exhaust and with a milder hydraulic cam and sounds better. I thought your intention was to get a system as close to factory, but that seems to change with your last post.

Hope you are satisfied with the system.

I have 2 69's with orig. chambered and neither seem very loud to me. a 69 SS 396, 350 hp and Warren Malkin's Z28. But then I am deaf in one ear....

and can't hear out of the other..........:naughty:

Agreed that Garnder fits very nice and sounds great on my L78 pace car!

Everyone has an opinion about exhaust noise. I have always liked the chambered sound. The hp loss (at whatever rpm that occurs) is irrelevant if you like the noise.