I'm thinking about making a new silencer for my exhaust. I was wondering what makes the normal silencers really work because I'm considering something slightly different.

With a conventional silencer, it sits at the end of the exhaust after the muffler (in the tip). Does it silence the noise by creating a smaller hole for the exhaust to flow through, or does it work by keeping exhaust in the muffler longer?

The reason I ask, is because I'm considering making a silencer that goes before the muffler so no one will see it. Will it still work if the restriction created by the silencer is before the muffler towards the midpipe?

 

It will work, but not as well. The silencer basically plugs the exhaust, reducing the intensity of the pressure waves that can escape (and killing flow), having the muffler in front of the silencer like a conventional one with the higher density exhaust allows the mass in the muffler to absorb more energy so you would be loosing that.

 

Thanks, that's what I was thinking, just want to make sure I'm not way off base.