Just a quick note from the King of lurkers. I have been running with a Magnaflow muffler for about a year now and have been rather pleased with the sound. I always wanted more however. Not ricey but just more of a truck like sound. Recently I began to read about a few other members having installed a glasspack muffler and enjoying the sound.

My big fear in changing to a glasspack was losing the low end torque that the x desperately needs to get moving. Well I made the change today and I will say this:

The sound is a rather significant improvement. Part of this is do to the fact that the muffler shop ran 3" pipe from the cherry bomb to the tip. Adding a chrome tip looks great as well although it did nothing to improve the sound. It has a very deep rumble and during acceleration sounds fantastic. It is not for someone looking to make their X sound better outside but not inside however. It is rather loud inside the cabin as well. Not overbearing but much more pronounced than the Maganflow. At idle I am thrilled with the sound. Deep and throaty. Reminds me of my former 5.0 Mustang and the sound the dual flowmasters made. It really sounds more like a v8 now.

As far as performance and my fear of losing torque I cannot tell a difference at all. There seems to be a little more power in the upper rpm range say from 3500-5000 but the torque curve seems by the seat of my pants to have seen no change at all.

For all those debating and who do not mind a little noise, go for it. Great sound, not ricey at all, and seemingly no real loss of low end grunt.

Post away with any ?'s and I will try to answer them as best as I can. May try to post some sound bites but that is a long shot.

I've never heard of glasspack mufflers...is that a company or a type?

Glasspacks are too loud for me and they just get louder as time goes by.

Tom

I was not happy with Magnaflow. Both the one on my X and the one on my Dodge rusted around the collar completely. You could spin the muffler on the tubing. Crappy weld and design.

Jesus,

Can you let me know which glasspack you had installed? Any pics?

Sounds to me like a great mod!

Thanks,

John

could you post some sound clips if possible?

Glasspacks as a whole come in many generic forms. There really is nothing to them at all. My model is called a cherry bomb. They used to be painted red in the 50-70's but can be bare metal as mine is. Sound clips will be a tough one but i may try this weekend if time permits. I think the 3" pipe from the muffler to the rear is really making a big difference on the deeper tone as well but I have never heard a 2.5" exit pipe from a glasspack on the X so take that for what it is worth.

Friends with muscle cars used to run "blown" glasspacks/cherry bombs. Appearantly, with enough oomph under the hood, a good stomping of the gas pedal will somehow "shatter" the insides of the exhausts and create a much more rumbly sound. Very cool sound and said to have no negative effect on performance. Anyone else know about that?

Jesus Freak can you find somewhere online the kind of glasspack you got? I'd like to learn some more about them since you seem to like yours so much.

Won't take that long though for the "glass" to burn up and make it sound like you are running no muffler at all....Might as well run no muffler after this happens

Are these what you're talking about?

Cherry Bomb Glasspacks

Thats the one. You can get them unfinished in bare steel. The old schoolers used to fill them with water and the glass would break away and shoot out the pipe. The same thing will happen over the course of a couple months regular driving. Having heard glasspacks as opposed to straight exhaust on several dif hotrods I can tell you there is a def difference. The glasspack makes the car first of all legal and second does provide some muffling. Not alot but there is no mistaking a straight offroad exhaust with no muffler.

Remember that the glasspack is not for someone looking to add a little rumble to their truck. It is loud. Not ricey but loud. Don't pm me later and say this is way too loud for me. How could you reccomend this. Anyone switching from the stock muffler to a glasspack will be rather shocked at first. But the sound is nasty!! Not overbearing but deep and nasty. I love it.

Well on my old integra, i had a straight through muffler and i couldn't even pass DEQ for sound. I just can't see how a glasspack is gonna get it done, unless it supplements a muffler. The muffler shop told me that if i didn't like the sound of my original 40 that a solution would be to later add a glassback before the muffler

Glass packs may be leagal in TX, but they are not legal for on road use in WI. It is a noise issue and they are too loud to pass the test.

Tom

The straight through design of a glass pack does give you the least back pressure in your exhaust system, how loud it is, is of course determined by how long it is. We do have room for a long muffler under the X, so you should get a good low rumbling sound but not too loud if you use a long one.

I had a '65 Malibu when I was a kid, with a 327 and headers and cherrybombs. It used to set off some car alarms just idling thru the parking lot.And when I had the chance to stand on it,which was quite often, MY GOD WAS IT LOUD! I loved that car.

Yea i have had my Magnaflow for awhile, I have had the same problem though with noise and want somethin louder. KEEP in mind the Xterra does not have a V8 and you are not going to get that Real deep and throaty sound of a big powerful truck most likely, But i have never heard of Glasspack and i might take a look at them. OO yea U could just run STRAIGHT PIPES and take the catalytic converter off but that is a illegal, but it makes your car extremely loud, a buddy of mine has it and it is really loud. But do u wat u want, in reality, it is all your opinion and wat u want.