Ferrari Mailing List: Re: 1981 308 muffler

[Grahame Reinthal (grahame]

Hi Michael,

 

Several considerations with mufflers - price, durability, sound, looks, performance, convenient availability - in combination these make up the value for money evaluation.

 

1. Mild steel and old - may have some rust holes now and will probably get more soon but you can always weld it to patch it up. I did this for years - patching up holes until I think the muffler was more weld than original metal.

2. Stainless and old - should last for more years yet, I'd guess

3. OEM and new - high price, average looks, the sound you know

4. Stainless and new - can be reasonably expensive but maybe no more than the OEM mild steel version but last for years and can be visually really cool and can sound great and might or might not get you a little extra performance, but no guarantees

5. Don't buy a muffler because you think it will significantly improve performance - you may be disappointed

 

My experience: I had an OEM mild steel muffler until I parked the car backwards into a wall off a racetrack - you know, I ran out of talent, adhesion and options all at the same time!  In the rebuild, it was much cheaper to fit a Mille Miglia stainless muffler than OEM mild steel, so it was a no-brainer and it sounded better too - though went no quicker.  Later, when I switched over the motor to the 328 I ran the same Mille Miglia muffler for a while but felt I needed better flow so changed this for a Larini muffler. This actually gave us a few more horses (we did back to back dyno tests) but this is not always the case - not guaranteed at all.  Also, the back of my 308/328gt4 does not have any grill over the muffler, so from the rear the muffler is on full display. The Mille Miglia looked ok but the Larini looks really terrific - it is a superior piece of engineering and looks like it, too, but it was expensive.  Overall, however, for me it was good value for money.

 

Anyway, that's my .02 cents worth.

 

Cheers,

 

Grahame

 

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From: Michel Savard [mailto:mysavard [at] videotron.ca]
Sent: Monday, 4 June 2012 4:25 AM
To: Grahame
Cc: The FerrariList
Subject: [Ferrari] 1981 308 muffler

 

I'm still looking for a muffler for my 1981 308 GTSi.

I saw that T.Rutlands has a used one for $600.

What do you think ? Being on a tight budget, with shipping and labor, this seem like a good price for me. If that thing last me 2-3 years I'll be happy.

Should I go for it ?

 

Michael Savard