How loud are these things really?

[Art Burtt]

I short shift in the Neighborhood, and once in 5th gear the sound is a mild purr. Nail it however and HOLY S***!

[casaleenie]

Anchor,


What is a good car to pick your nose in?????

[maxrpm]

Originally posted by Dan Stryffeler



http://www.lhh.org/noise/decibel.htm

Well according to Dans Db meter your car will be about as loud as a baby crying

[valpodoc]

Yes we know it well, one of the most fabled sports cars in history. Created in 1965, at that time it was considered to powerful, to loud, and all together impractical. Since that time people have tried to iron out these flaws and come up with a more streetable beast (witness the dodge viper).

WRONG! the heart of the beast is its in yourface total impracticality. For those who get it louder is better, and yes there is no top, locks radio, heat, AC ,air bags, glove box, navigation system or cigarette lighter, cause real cars don't need 'em

Roland

[Zoom This]

I must admit, my Cobra is the loudest car I have owned. Noise gets louder as horsepower increases with the cam profile. My 418 stroker in my SPF is loud. Now, by loud I mean you cannot get away with an occasional WOT blast without creating attention, hoping it is not the local police. My neighbor across the street says her window in the back bathroom vibrates when I drive by her house.

When I had the smog referee sniff the exhaust for my Calif exemption, he put a decibel meter 24 inches from the sidepipe at the 2500 rpm idle. It measured 110 db. He said he didn't care, but that maximum allowed by law was 92 db. Needless to say, both myself and my wife wear ear plugs for any drive longer than 20-30 minutes. Your head will be a buzz after hours in the saddle without them on a sidepipe high hp Cobra.

Every Saturday morning our Cobra club gets together for breakfast at 7 am. In order to keep peace with the neighbors, when the car fires up at 5:45 am for my drive to the restaurant, I roll the car back out of the garage and let it coast down our hill for a hundred yards or so, pump the gas pedal, turn on the key and pop the clutch. Seems to keep the neighbors happy.

[Hal Copple]

my car, with over 75K miles on it, just gets louder and louder, i just pegged a meter at 114 dB at about 15 feet at a 1500 rpm launch the other day.

The sound is intoxicating. I also try to show some reasonable respect for my neighbors, roll it out and down the hill if it is really early.

[Tommy]

My favorite part of the Cobra experience is the sound. The only thing better than the normal sound of the engine is when I take the car to the track and replace the baffled pipes with straight pipes. Yeah, its loud. But if my neighbors complained, I'd look for ways to buy their silence before I'd change the sound of my car.

[excelguru]

Josh - Should I assume you snagged BigEasy's car? I hope so, as it's a nice one.

I live at the top of a ridge in my neighborhood (as much of a ridge as you can get in this flat part of SC, anyway) so I don't have the luxury of quietly coasting downhill to my home. Because of this, I try to avoid early morning and late night travels. Mine IS loud. Very loud. Then again, my pipes are practically open. I can use a small mirror and flashlight at the end of the pipe and see the four collector tubes at the other end. It is MUCH louder to others than it is to the driver/passenger.

Try this: drive along a bridge that's under construction, where they have the concrete barrier wall about 3 feet away from you on each side. The sound is awesome. Full throttle (which you should never do in a construction zone anyway) is painful... I mean is probably painful. THAT'S how loud your car is to other people.

[jjtarnow]

Guys, when I was younger I rebuilt a '78 CJ-7. I had a 360 bored 40 over with a whole mess of good stuff on the inside (the cam lop was fantastic). I had it dyno'ed out at 397hp (keep in mind it was pretty light (although not mid-2000's like the Cobra). I had aluminacoated headers running into a couple of Thrush glass packs and both exited right in front of the rear wheels. That truck was a total sleeper. It was totally stock on the outside (still had the stock steel wheels) and when someone in the know came up next to me they would look up with this quixotic look...I took out Vettes, SuperBee's, 911's, you name it and I pretty much took it out (0-60...after that you were risking life and limb with that kind of power in a vehicle with such a high center of gravity..go try an emergency move at 80 mph in a jeep with a 4 inch lift (actually please don't))). My point for bringing this up (aside from getting a kick out thinking about again) is because that Jeep was loud and when opened up you could hear me from a mile away. Although glass packs do muffle more than straight baffles (mostly) it was loud but my folks had to take the heat from my neighbors not me!! I am sure I will be fine (although I don't live on a hill so rolling in and/or out is not an option) and if they have a problem so be it! All these responses have been great (and yes Keith..I did buy Charlie's (BigEasy) car..very excited) and I look forward to being able to throw my two cents in when some other neocobraphyte comes to post!

Thanks to all,

Josh

[dalola]

Josh,
As others have clearly pointed out, most all Cobras are loud, some more than others. Most noticable, those with higher compression ratio's, say 12:1 and up. They really "pop".

Any way, my main point was to reinforce what a few others have touched on. Be respectful to your neighbors, especially those who may have an infant baby( I speak of experience here...). Like racing, there is a time and a place for being "loud".

Enjoy, and drive safe!
~Dave

[Back in Black]

You will literally suffer hearing loss. I drove mine for a few miles with open pipes and my ears rang for 24 hours!

However, if you want a low-to-no-maintainence system that is not too loud and not too quiet, try a NASCAR auger insert. This is what I have and I love it.

[DoubleR]

I like to wait until a couple of my neighbors start their Harleys and let them idle in the driveway to warm up. Every Sat there are 3-4. Then I roll out the Cobra, fire up the Cleveland, and watch those guys just put their bikes away.

[DonC]

Valpodoc:
I've attached a recommended T Shirt for Cobra owners that I stole from someone's gallery. Don't remember who but I owe them for comming up with it.
DonC

[Joe Prochazka]

The layout of our house is such that our kids bedroom are upstairs above the garage.
One Saturday morning when I first got the Cobra together, I had the car running and was doing some minor tuning.
My 12 year old boy come running out of the house and says "Dad, the pennies on my desk are jumping around!"
Priceless.

[Thompson]

Every year the Mile Hi Cobra Club plans at least one trip through The Eisenhower Memorial Tunnel. It is the highest vehicular tunnel in the world, located at an elevation of 11,013 feet at the East Portal and 11,158 feet at the West Portal. The Tunnel traverses under the Continental Divide at an average elevation of 11,112 feet. The length of the westbound (north) tunnel is 1.693 miles, and the length of the eastbound (south) tunnel is 1.697 miles.

It is so cool to hear 15 or so Cobra's all inside the tunnel at once. I really do not think that anyone who has been in the tunnel with us, will ever forget it.

If you want to try this out, check out our site at www.milehicobraclub.com and see the information on our Cruise Colorado for July. We will go through the tunnel at least one time. We will also pass over Independence Pass over the Continental Divide at over 12,000 feet. You will have fun.

Dick Thompson

[bdriver]

Back in Black


Where can I find information on the "NASCAR auger insert?"