exhaust advice

[andyrtmorgan]

Hi Chaps

I have a stainless steel free-flow exhaust fitted to my ghia's 1600tp engine. The exhaust is helluva loud and I get a lot of back-firing when decelerating. I had a look at the header and found that the pipes coming off the engine aren't the same length. The pipes off the front cylinders feed straight into the box without the added 'loop' that I've seen on other performance setups. Is it worth my while getting hold of a new header system? Also, is it possible to reduce the noise level while maintining optimum performance?

[Tony Z]

I think I know of the system you are talking about....
To make it quiter, you need a different silencer
To make it stop popping, you need to check your timing and double check that you dont have a spark plug thats busy winding its way out of the head (might have not been tightened properly).
A decent header system... for a stock car, might be worth it, might not.
I once switched from a cowley performance system with a straight thru silencer to an EMPI single quite pack with a "mondo" or "turbo" type silencer and found that the more restrictive (EMPI) system gave me better and smoother performance.