I have a strange topic question for you guys to attack.

I am in the process of returning my 96Z28 "race car" to the street. With this in mind, the car has solid bushings and rod ends everywhere including lowered panhard and racing Bilsteins. It has 425hp to the wheels with headers and for lack of a long description, a 3" exhaust all the way back through a single Flowmaster muffler with a single rear exit. 315 rears, 275 fronts. Rear seats are removed, but carpet remains. Six point roll bar and subframe connectors; it is stiff. I just raised the front back up about 3/4 inch to keep from hitting every single pebble in the road. Stock dash and controls. A/C still works.

The car is ridiculously loud in every way you can imagine. So here is the question.

I don't want to spend any significant amount of money on the car, but I want to quiet it as best I can. I'd like to be able to hear the stereo at something below 100db.

If you had a budget of $500, Where would you start?

Some ideas I have:

New muffler
Replace lower control arms-back to non rod end units. Stock style shocks.
Dynamat

my 98 is gutted, no rubber in the suspension any where it makes about 400 rwhp has headers to a 3in to 4in y-pipe into a borla muffler to turn down it hits 92decibls@ 50ft. I think the cheap way is a new muffler, I don't think youwould ever here the radio with out some hearing loss.

I'd say muffler too, replace it with a Magnaflow if you can get one in the proper dimensions.

Can you hear the rod ends?

I'll answer in a roundabout way. I hear a lot of rattles and shakes, mainly on leaving a stoplight. I am slowly tracking these down. I found one of them today, the bushing on the top mount of the right hand rear shock is completely missing....got chewed up somehow. The rod ends themselves seem fairly tight based on my unscientific inspection and moving them by hand.

I also found (remembered) that I have adjustable rear spring jacks, and without the rubber spring top bushings they meet the body metal to metal. that can't help.

I spent this past weekend killing exhaust rattles. The system was hitting the car in a couple places and transmitting exhaust noise into the cabin.

Found another one today...the Carbotech brake pads on the C5 fronts squeak like crazy. Planning a pad change there. Maybe hubs, I have a buch of them so I'l just use the best set.

I was thinking muffler too. Is the group in agreement on Magnaflow?

Well, DUH! You're driving a GM F-body!!! :-D

Don't forget to double-check the front and rear swaybar links. They are notorious for blowing out the bushings and making all kinds of noises.

How about a set of sound-cancelling headphones?

I'll speak from my experience on the exhaust. I'm sure there are several options, but I have the magnaflow catback with qtp headers, ory and I make 450rwhp. Its loud when you punch it, but pretty calm below 2500rpm. Hooker aerochamber is also a good choice, slightly quieter than magnaflow, and a little cheaper. A friend of mine had hooker on a heads cam ls1, seems good for a driver car, not loud inside the car at all.

Michael

If you can get a magnaflow with a large enough case, it will quiet your car down a lot. The key is getting a good sized muffler case. I have 2 little magnaflow bullets on my car and it's loud as hell LOL.

I also think some dynamat would be a good idea. Leave the suspension hardcore. Just my $.02

UPDATE

I took the car to my local "we'll do anything for a buck" exhaust shop today. My intent was to just discuss options. I was gonna order this and that and change all kinds of stuff. I even told him My budget was north of $300.

So the guy pulls out something he calls a "TURBO TUBE". Which is basically a 3 inch bullet muffler (not a glass pack).

What do you think of this upstream of your existing muffler but after the y-pipe?, he says.

I say, I don't have any freaking idea. He says, "I guarantee it will cut your sound 50% or more for only a buck-50 installed."

So we put it in right there on the spot. Wow what a difference. And the car runs much smoother too..no kidding. It works like a pre-muffler or resonator on the newer cars.

BTW, I had them install it with flanges so I can go back to Loud and Proud mode if I want to. They made me a "Test Pipe" that goes in place of the Turbo Tube.

On the down side, I now hear all the other freaky noises the car makes.....

Sweet!