4 cylinder exhaust

[da-chief]

So we have concluded that a 2.5 is going to sound like a 2.5, and that is that. I also do not cherish the mad bumble bee sound of the rice burners either, so I will live with what I have. HOWEVER: my wife brought up a question the other day..a V-8 can sound really good, a V-6 can sound okay.. but a 4 cyl in line does not. How then can a 2 cylinder Harley Davidson sound so good and low..? Good question! One or more of you who understand the physics, please explain that to me.

 

[Uncle Gump]

To me... not much beats the sound of a finely tuned large displacement horizontally opposed VW engine. The mazda rotary is pretty sweet in it's own right. The V8 engine is a league of their own.

I'm not a fan of the harley engine sound... the louder the worse it gets.

 

[RonD]

No muffler and larger diameter short pipe length

 

[fastpakr]

Harley's also have an unusual sound because the cylinders fire 45* apart, then there's a long pause before the first cylinder fires again.

 

[Dirtman]

Harley's have big lopey cams and very low idle which helps with the racecar sound as well as the extremely short exhaust compared to a car. That and the use of barely functional mufflers. But I tend to agree that Harley's sound like crap...

A 2.5 can sound decent though, not setup where it would be in any way legal or rational to drive on the street though. Limas are still used in dirt track racing and they can sound mean.