Exhaust Rumble

[november2022]

I am looking for suggestions. I  purchased a 1998 Firebird Firehawk clone for my beautiful wife. It only has a 3.8 - 3800 V6 power train.

Any recommendations on how to juice up the exhaust. It currently has standard exhaust which  sounds weak. The exhaust system is just a couple years old. Previous owner was one owner of 25 years and is in really good shape. Wondering if I can get away with just changing the muffler.

Thanks.
Mark Szakara

[firebirdclub]

A 3800 V6 can be made to sound quite nice and aggressive. Sure it'll never have the V8 rumble.

My Buick turbo with 3.8 V6 has a mean rumble to it at idle that rivals my LT1 V8. And when I step on it, it's just as intimidating as any other performance engine. It's basically the same engine as the 3800, except the 3800 has an added balance shaft and on-center pistons.

Some mufflers can do wonders. Borla makes decent mufflers that fit in the stock application and add a nice bit of bass and rumble without being obnoxious. I used to run a full Borla system on my 1999 Grand Prix GTP (with the supercharged 3800), and it sounded great. It was basically a stock-sized system but with more efficient bends and nicer mufflers.

Frank Gore