make my 390 sound like a 351w

[68monster]

If your looking to spend some $ to do it try some 2.5'' diameter pipe and some flowmaster mufflers.

i have been looking at flowmasters, i have heard that the 50's series is the ones i want for the "classic tone" there is a company called force mufflers that make the same muffler for about 30.00 each i used one on my jeep cherokee once and it sounded pretty good and the thing was built like a tank!

[DuckRyder]

It is your truck, but:

I have come to HATE the sound of flowmasters, they drone and ehco too much for me. Something like Dyno Max sounds much better to me.

With the low compression these trucks come with, nothing sounds really good without engine modifications, it just sounds like a loud weak engine.

[72_Shorty]

The FE engines sounds great if you set them up correctly. I currently have a 72 F100 with a stock 390, it has the GT heads and GT intake, dual exhaust with dynamax mufflers, even with stock exhaust manifolds it sounds pretty strong, but not obnoxious.

Back in high school I had a 1970 f-100 that had a 68 390GT, it had the GT heads(ported and polished), and GT intake, a high profile cam, headers, 2.5 pipes with cherry bombs. That truck would set off alarms just idling through a parking lot. When you hit the throttle it sounded like it belonged on a drag strip, needless to say my neighbors weren't happy went I left early in the morning. I prefer Magnaflow or dynamax mufflers now, cherry bombs are kind of obnoxious, and flowmasters sound kind of hollow.

Just an example, you can make that 390 sound pretty darn mean. Just headers, good pipes and high flow mufflers should get you the sound your after. It won't sound like a 351, different firing order, and the 390 is a big block, the 351 is a small block. In my opinion, and I know a lot of people who agree, the FE sounds better with similar exhaust.

[cdeal28078]

I also don't like the Flow masters anymore. Seems like every truck I hear sounds the same. I have Hooker Aero-Chambers on mine and like them a lot. They supposedly Flow much better than the Flow masters also according to a couple of tests I have seen. A friend, he might be on here not sure, has a 65 shortbed stepside with a pretty nice 390. It has an RPM intake and a pretty nice Comp cam with headers. He has only 2 1/4" pipes out the back but it is about the best sounding truck because of the hit of the cam. I also think the small pipes give a little more punch to the exhaust though it hurts his performance.
clint