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Anyone notice a power difference with them out? I have a story to tell, but let me start with the short of it first:
Full removal of baffles caused a reduction in low and mid range torque(!).
My story is like this:
The first Boss I drove was a brand new 2013 straight off the Ford lot. This was when I was shopping around for cars, and the Boss was high on my list.
The car drove wonderfully, and I noticed the meat in the mid range. Fast forward to a week later, I test drove a 2012 Boss with baffles out. The sound was glorious. Intoxicating. Very much a Trans-am sound. However, when I test drove this car, I noticed a lack of power in the middle. I thought it must've been my imagination, since it's been a week since I drove the brand new 2013. Didn't think anything of it and ended up purchasing the 2012.
Only about a week ago, I got plates in the mail thanks to Rick. I ordered some 3/4 baffles.
I put them in only to experiment with the sound. Audibles aside, I noticed a marked increase in mid range torque. The car really moved in a rev band in which it wasn't so response before. Furthermore, my 6th gear was actually useful on the highway--that is, if I'm crusing at 120kph and want to slowly increase speed to make a pass, I can easily do so. Previously, with all baffles out, 6th gear was useless. I would use it to maintain speed, but if I needed to make any changes in velocity, I *had to* downshift--I'm absolutely fine with that, but even if I only wanted to move the needle 10kph, it was painful to do in 6th gear. It was like the car was dragging an anchor.
With the baffles back in (3/4 size), I got my torque back. It totally reminds me of the 2013 I drove back at Ford. The car behaves different--the power curve feels different. It's substantial enough that you can tell by the seat of your pants (no placebo here--as the exhaust volume is decreased...I wasn't even looking for a power difference, but it was very apparent). Power was apparent enough that my passenger noted the same change.
I searched around google for a bit to see if others experienced the same thing, and there are a couple members in the thread below which notes the same observations:
http://www.boss302forum.com/topic/14265-exhaust-with-restrictor-plates-removed/page-2
Just putting this out there. I love the sound of full open side pipes, but absolutely not at the cost of mid range power. So I put the 3/4 back in and I'm happy.
I ended up thinking of it this way:
The side pipes are very much like an exhaust leak. I wonder if the divergence of exhaust gas flow is affecting power delivery. It may affect scavenging, or general velocity of the gas in the pipes. Either way, having a leak upstream of the exhaust is not always ideal. I understand that Ford put the side pipes in there purely for sound (and I admit that I enjoy it very much), but it seems that opening them up excessively definitely costs something.
Full removal of baffles caused a reduction in low and mid range torque(!).
My story is like this:
The first Boss I drove was a brand new 2013 straight off the Ford lot. This was when I was shopping around for cars, and the Boss was high on my list.
The car drove wonderfully, and I noticed the meat in the mid range. Fast forward to a week later, I test drove a 2012 Boss with baffles out. The sound was glorious. Intoxicating. Very much a Trans-am sound. However, when I test drove this car, I noticed a lack of power in the middle. I thought it must've been my imagination, since it's been a week since I drove the brand new 2013. Didn't think anything of it and ended up purchasing the 2012.
Only about a week ago, I got plates in the mail thanks to Rick. I ordered some 3/4 baffles.
I put them in only to experiment with the sound. Audibles aside, I noticed a marked increase in mid range torque. The car really moved in a rev band in which it wasn't so response before. Furthermore, my 6th gear was actually useful on the highway--that is, if I'm crusing at 120kph and want to slowly increase speed to make a pass, I can easily do so. Previously, with all baffles out, 6th gear was useless. I would use it to maintain speed, but if I needed to make any changes in velocity, I *had to* downshift--I'm absolutely fine with that, but even if I only wanted to move the needle 10kph, it was painful to do in 6th gear. It was like the car was dragging an anchor.
With the baffles back in (3/4 size), I got my torque back. It totally reminds me of the 2013 I drove back at Ford. The car behaves different--the power curve feels different. It's substantial enough that you can tell by the seat of your pants (no placebo here--as the exhaust volume is decreased...I wasn't even looking for a power difference, but it was very apparent). Power was apparent enough that my passenger noted the same change.
I searched around google for a bit to see if others experienced the same thing, and there are a couple members in the thread below which notes the same observations:
http://www.boss302forum.com/topic/14265-exhaust-with-restrictor-plates-removed/page-2
Just putting this out there. I love the sound of full open side pipes, but absolutely not at the cost of mid range power. So I put the 3/4 back in and I'm happy.
I ended up thinking of it this way:
The side pipes are very much like an exhaust leak. I wonder if the divergence of exhaust gas flow is affecting power delivery. It may affect scavenging, or general velocity of the gas in the pipes. Either way, having a leak upstream of the exhaust is not always ideal. I understand that Ford put the side pipes in there purely for sound (and I admit that I enjoy it very much), but it seems that opening them up excessively definitely costs something.