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63 Avanti muffler and fan noise


Guest Larry Delazzer

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Guest Larry Delazzer

Just recently purchased a 63 Avanti and the loud mufflers are LOUD, way too much resonance in the car. How much quieter are the quiet mufflers they sell. Also what are you folks doing about the extremely loud fan noise (clutch is working fine). I'm used to nosier cars, I own two C-1 Corvettes but the Avanti has them beat on being too loud to be a cruiser on the highway. I love the styling as does my wife but I really need to quiet this thing down to enjoy driving it. I really prefer to stay away from electric fans in an effort to retain the stock look under the hood. Anyway any input appreciated.

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Years ago, a girl I knew was checking out a Studebaker Avanti which I had just purchased. I started the engine up and she said "Yes, that SOUNDS like a real Avanti allright'....and she was hearing and talking about the fan noise...Studebaker Avantis have a lot of 'fan roar', and with the thin insulation and fiberglass firewall, there isn't a whole lot you can do about it!

PS....Don't purchase the replacement six blade fan our vendors sell....It DOES lower engine temp...but it's REALLY loud!!!

And the quiet mufflers are considerably quieter than the 'straight through' glasspack types....which are probably on your Avanti now.

Hope you enjoy your new ride!!

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I'm partial to Magnafow mufflers...not nearly as loud as the straight through mufflers but give you a nice, throaty burble at idle and open up more at speed. That's what I have on my '70 and am very happy with them.

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Guest Larry Delazzer

Thanks for the input guys, appreciate it. I see there is an outfit in Canada, Silvertone Exhaust Systems, that offers Stainless Steel Avanti mufflers in quiet, medium or loud tone. Anyone had experience with this business and their

mufflers? I am going to the International Meet in St. Louis, this year and would imagine I'll get to hear many

different muffler sounds there, really just interested in stock type mufflers.

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While I've never used them, Silverstone has an excellent reputation within the Studebaker and Avanti community. The quality is supposed to be top notch and properly made and bent for a no-issue installation. I've not heard one bad thing about them.

I agree with the comment on the fan clutch. A bad or incorrect fan clutch can cause the roar. If the clutch is bad, you'll probably find the car overheating so it could be an incorrect clutch if the clutch is the culprit.

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I purchased the entire system from "Silvertone" back in '08. I have nothing but praise for them (him). The quality is exceptional & was a perfect fit too !

I bought the "medium tone" :) & the Studebaker 289 makes a lovely authoritative tone. He'll be at the York, PA meet next week.as always. My car vin #5255 has the original fan & de-clutch mechanism and is never noisy !!

Avanti Fred

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I just put a silvertone 2 1/2" exhaust on a customers car, and he opted for the loud. Needless to say, it was too loud also. He contacted them and they offered to trade mufflers, with an exchange at a later date. You cant beat his service bar none.

In my opinion, the medium was still too loud for my liking.

If I were to go with a performance muffler I would seriously consider Flowmaster HushPower II mufflers, and ALSO their HushPower Resonators just ahead of the tail pipe.

On the fan, the original, with the thermostatic coil that engaged the clutch, was very noisy, and never seemed to disengage. The replacement viscous type seem to be a little quieter

Edited by brad
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I've also never heard stainless makes for louder sound but I prefer aluminized pipes as they're less expensive and last nearly as long...probably as long or longer than any of us will own our cars. Stainless is also harder to work with but since Silvertone systems come already cut and bent that's really a non-issue.

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There's nothing to be done to quiet the stock engine driven fan once the clutch engages. When I'm cruising and it cuts in, my first thought is a Stuka is coming in on a dive-bombing run.

An electric fan, preferably two-speed if you have AC, is the real answer. The low speed would be set to come on whenever the AC is operating and the high speed comes on when the coolant goes over 200 degrees.

FWIW, I'm using the Dodge Viper fan in two of my Studes.

jack vines

PS - time spent sealing all the myriad holes in the firewall, then a layer of sound deadening mat is the real answer to heat and noise. If the engine is out, buy the combination heat rejection/sound absorbing and put it in the engine compartment side.

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I was thoroughly annoyed by the noise in my Avanti with the after market 7 blade (Olds Cutlass?) fan that came with the car. I replaced it with the 5 staggered blade "standard" OEM Studebaker supplied fan and a new fan-clutch and am now pleased that I can finally hear the sound of the R-1 289 through glass pack mufflers burbling at speed - Avanti heaven! And the running temp hasn't changed one bit.

Edited by AnAvantiR1for Bob
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Derale makes an electronic fan speed controller that varies the fan speed according to engine temperature. Not cheap, but worth it.

It's called a PWM which is short for pulse width modulation. The hotter the temp the longer the voltage pulses to the electric fan, and the faster it turns.

This way it's not just off or on.

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Derale makes an electronic fan speed controller that varies the fan speed according to engine temperature. Not cheap, but worth it.

It's called a PWM which is short for pulse width modulation. The hotter the temp the longer the voltage pulses to the electric fan, and the faster it turns.

This way it's not just off or on.

Wow!.....isn't technology wonderful??

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Just my 2 cents, re the exhaust system on OEM 63 Avantis. There was a "quiet" system that was optional and required for NY sold Avantis. It had a cross over ( H pipe) and two resonators. It was as quiet as any other 60s car. It seams the current aftermarket only makes the straight through system, but I'm sure Silverstone might be able to add this to their pipes before shipping, and add a small resonator area to the rearmost pipes.

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I'm partial to Magnafow mufflers...not nearly as loud as the straight through mufflers but give you a nice, throaty burble at idle and open up more at speed. That's what I have on my '70 and am very happy with them.

A little off topic, but just curious if you remember exactly which mufflers you are using (length, housing dimensions, etc)? Do they resonate a lot on the highway. I've recently replaced my system with a true dual and a crossoverpipe and it seems to resonate a lot at around 2000 rpm (highway speed) with the OEM style turbo mufflers.

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  • 1 month later...
Guest Larry Delazzer

I found some 14" aluminized glass packs to use as resonators and installed them just before the axle and they made a world of difference, still sounds authoritative but the resonance has really diminished considerably at highway speeds and much more enjoyable to drive. Hey, I can hear the fan much better - I guess that's the next project.

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THE HIGH REAR END GEARS IN YOUR AVANTI PROBABLY HAVE MORE TO DO WITH THE INTERIOR NOISE THAN THE ENGINE. THE 3.73 GEARS THAT ARE COMMON WILL HAVE THE ENGINE SCREAMING AT ANYTHING OVER 60MPH.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I had the pipes on my '63 Avanti built at a custom shop and they made them as close to the "Quiet Tone" system as they could. I told them NOT to install the crossover pipe until after I got the tranny and clutch worked on. The sound is subdued but on WOT it does come alive. Primaries and resonators are turbo style mufflers.

The crossover pipe I had on my '66 Cruiser with the 325? hp 350 Chevy made a 7mph difference in my top speed. I know this from direct experience as I had to block it off to do some other work under the car and when I hit the same section of raceway it would only top out at 129, which was a lot less than the 135 it would run the week previous. So I WILL be installing that crossover at a later time.

BTW, my custom install was not cheap!

Edited by StudeNorm
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