I have a rebuilt 1976 B21F engine in my pristine 1980 265 wagon body and, thanks in no small part to help from this group, all is going well with the project. So now I'm curious about things that used not to matter. Such as, this is a noisy car. It was when I got it, before the second engine rebuild, and I had Midas stick a replacement muffler on it (for which they charged me so much money that I'm ashamed to admit it). Shortly after that, the engine blew the head gasket and then the oil pump, so it's only now that things are running well that I notice that the engine is just about as noisy as it was before I had Midas replace the 10-year-old muffler.

I believe that Midas put on new parts because everything is shiny downstream of the exhaust manifold. But this car sounds like a Harley (well, maybe a Honda). So I looked underneath a little more carefully and I see that the front muffler (or resonator...which is the correct term?) appears to be installed backwards. The lettering on the device clearly indicates that "INLET ->" is pointing towards the back of the car.

Is my reasonably-well-tuned B21F supposed to be noisy? Or is it possible that this reversed front muffler is contributing to the noise?

I don't plan on visiting Midas again, at least not to give them money. But is it just the reversed front muffler or are these older engines a bit noiser?

Anyone else detest Midas?