How to change what your car sounds like?

I'm building project car/sports buggy with my dad, dad's mate and his son and I was wondering what parts make a car sounds like what it does.

I want it to sound like a Chevy camaro or ford mustang gt500 where it's got a really bad *** intense wobble wobble wobble wobble.

I'm sure the engine makes noise. I've read online that the exhaust can be changed to make a different sound too. Not sure if its true though. Not really experienced at this stuff.

Hi sound may not be the issue when it has to pass so many tests to be allowed on the highway now. So it would have to pass so many stringent tests here in the united kingdom that the sound of the exhaust would be such a minor issue.

Really - everything creates the sound: displacement, bore/stroke ratio, compression ratio, valve sizes, valve timing (cam design), exhaust manifold/header design, size of exhaust… Then the mufflers. Generally, the fewer number of cylinders serviced by a muffler, the noisier: ie a impulse sounds from cylinders tend to cancel each other out so a 4 cylinder with true dual exhausts can be noisier than one with single exhaust or even a V8 with true duals.

But as "DR" said, all these elements have been impacted by emission concerns, mileage concerns, variable valve timing etc… But probably most by use of catalytic converters which in effect also function as mufflers. A lot of new cars have nasty looking dual exhuast OUTLETS, but all cylinders feed into one converter. The ones with a nice sound you refer to generally have dual converters then low-restriction mufflers.

The now defunct American brand, Studebaker, was noted for the sound of it's V8 engine: they gurgled like speedboats! But they were small engines 224/232/259/289 ci, most had very low compression ratios, most tuned for economy… But they had oversized valves and exhaust pipes and mufflers with fewer baffles. - - their engineers claimed that the "sound" was inadvertent - but everyone recognized that they sounded cool!

If you want it to sound like a Camaro, you need to get a Camaro engine and exhaust. The sound is a combination of the engine and exhaust system. Typically larger diameter exhaust ports on the heads and larger diameter piping makes deeper sounding noise. The cylinder diameter and piston stroke have a lot to do with it too. You can't make a little J ap engine sound like an American large displacement engine.

The burbling sound you mention is not something you would want in a sport buggy. It is the result of a "hot" cam - one with lots of overlap. That increases high end power at the expense of low end behavior. It is also seriously obsolete, replaced by much more effective variable valve timing. Genuine racing cars still use fixed high overlap cams but vehicles that are made for getting around don't unless they are trying to impress people who don't know any better.

You didn't say specifically what engine you have in the buggy, but if I assume for a moment it is probably a VW air cooled like 1835 or 2180, the best exhaust sound will come from a 4 into 2 into 1 exhaust, it WILL NOT sound exactly like a camaro or GT500, those are V8s, you can't make a 4 cyl sound like a V8, I'm just saying for 4 cyls, a 4 into 2 into 1 will give the best harmonic. Aka tri-Y.