ANSA Mufflers

I recently cut open a set of GTS mufflers. No steel wool or washers are present inside the muffler can. Instead, the mufflers contain a perforated pipe that enters from the header side and runs the length of the muffler can. This pipe terminates into an end plug which is located between the two internal outlet pipe extensions (also perforated). There are also two perforated bulkheads that are perpendicular to the perforated pipe that further deaden the sound that escapes from the perforated inlet pipe.

The steel used in the muffler can is extremely thick (~ 1/16") and difficult to cut through with a die grinder. I would think that rust-through would be not normally be an issue on GTS mufflers. In spite of these being 30 yr old mufflers when I cut them open, they had zero rust inside.


Dave Bell

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Originally posted by ron norman:
There are no more original ANSA Mufflers available anywhere. Hall Pantera does not have any Group 17 Number 26 available. You can only purchase ANSA GTS Mufflers.

You can protect your original ANSA Mufflers by doing this very simple maintenance procedure. At the lowest point on the ANSA Muffler Cannisters is a pee hole. This hole allows candensate water and rain water to drain from the muffler cannister. If this little hole is plugged, you can count on your mufflers eventually rusting through, and you will not be able to replace them with original equipment. You can drill a small hole at the lowest part of the muffler cannister if the original hole is plugged and you cannot find it.

The original ANSA Mufflers have a design that has a very coarse type of steel wool at the inlet end that acts as a spark arrestor. The rest of the cannister is empty except for the perforated one inlet tube and two perforated outlet tubes.

The two perforated outlet tubes have a cap on them that has often been modified for more of a GTS sound by putting a long thin pipe into the tips and hammering to bend this 'washer' to one side. It is a delicate procedure because if the cap/washer comes loose, there is a permanent rattle in the muffler.

My ANSA Mufflers are currently undergoing open heart surgery for a different reason, which I will not mention. I am replacing the 'coarse steel wool' with metal shavings from a machine shop, because Brillo pads are made of copper and would fail in short order and steel wool is too restrictive.

The four (4) Exhaust Tips on the factory original ANSA Mufflers have a perforated tube which retains a packing material of fiberglass, for sound deadening. These factory original tips are still available from Pantera vendors.

Question:
Does anyone know what the inside of a GTS ANSA Muffler looks like? Or how it differs from the inside of an original ANSA Muffler?

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Ron,
You want new exhaust? Maybe someone out there with a better memory than mine can help you.
A few months back, someone was looking into running a new batch of actual ANSA exhaust. I do not remember if it was on this bulletin board or on the deTomaso list. I think it may have been Marino Perna at Pantera East that was looking into it.
Does anyone know more about this? Did it happen? Was it for stock or GTS exhaust? I think there needed to be a comitment for a number of units in order to have it happen.
I did not check into it since I have a good set of Jet-Hot coated GTS exhaust plus a set of stainless straight pipes with Supertrapp disc diffusers fitted on the ends.

I tend to agree with Dave- my cut-apart 1972 mufflers had very thick cases, no weep-holes nor rust, and no packing in either the tips nor the cases. IMHO, the only differences in OEM 1972 std mufflers and slightly later 'GTS' mufflers was, the washer-cap on each outlet pipe (present in std, absent in GTS), and a thick circular shim welded in the case intake (std), which if cut away, allows a 2" inlet pipe to be inserted with no other changes.Std was 1-3/4", GTS inlets were 2-1/4" I think, and GTS used an additional triangular sheet brace/bracket from inlet pipe to case, presumably to reinforce for the 'severe duty' such pipes would be expected to get in service. Note that these are as-received 1972 mufflers; later made units may indeed have had all kinds of other additions.

Just in case you're curious, there are a few pictures of gutted GTS mufflers on www.spacecitypanteras.com in the Pantera Technical Information section under 2003 Summer Tech Session.

Dave Bell

Thanks for the replies guys. Cozman (Coz) came out to visit me in Albuquerque from Phoenix, Arizona with his GT5 to help with some final details to complete my 5 week project that was gonna get done in 3 days. So the first thing I did was get a pen-light flash light and look into the tips of his GT5 GTS ANSA Mufflers. Looking in, first thing I noted was there was no cap, or washer tack welded at the end of the tip. (The tip goes into the cannister and then has perforations on the tube once inside the cannister.)

Second thing I noticed with a GTS ANSA Muffler was the middle baffle plate which has the 1/4" holes in a circular pattern had no coarse steel wool, or lathe turnings inside of them. His GTS ANSA Mufflers differed from my 1973 'L' ANSA Mufflers in two (2) respects (3 way now that I understand that the GTS Inlet has a larger diameter). One (1): no washer/cap at the end of the tip looking from the outside in. Two (2): no 'steel wool' 'spark arrestor' behind the middle baffle plate.

So while I was at the welder's shop, I had the delightful experience to see my welder fix a cracked side pipe mounting bracket on a $65,000 '1965 A/C Cobra 427' with 4" side pipes. This guy's intake had a hi-rise manifold, a block of wood between the manifold and carb and a Holley 1250 CFM Dominator carb with an NOX computerized induction set-up. So, when he was leaving, I got to hear what a 427, bored and stroked to some 500+ c.i. sounded like with 4" diameter side pipes with glass packs.

Then I heard Cozman's GT5 with the ANSA GTS Mufflers. Just a shade quiter than the A/C Cobra, so I made the decision to go this route: I'm having the welder keep the caps/washers on the outlet tips where they are perforated, and I'm going to have him weld a bead instead of a tack weld to a section of the cap/washer, so I can always change my mind and put a narrow pipe in the tip and bang the washer outward to give a louder, throatier sound. I have also instructed my welder that I wish to have no 'spark arrestor/steel wool' and just leave that section behind the middle baffle vacant. This will give the cat a little more of a throatier sound, and more of an Italian sound, while allowing me to 'tune the sound' later. Always nice to keep options open!

I thought I had a corrosion issue with a tiny hole in one of the ANSA Mufflers, but not the other. The welder said there is no corrosion and showed me. The shell of the ANSA is quite thick, as you guys said, but he said the tiny hole is to allow water to drain. I can imagine washing a Pantera and putting it back in the garage and having water in the muffler sit for quite a while, and repeating this cycle over a period of years will lead to corrosion, unless these things are made of Stainless Steel (and I'm gonna ask him what he thinks they are made of). This means that I am going to put two (2) tiny drain holes on either side of each muffler.

When I asked Bev at Hall Pantera about purchasing a new set of original ANSA's she said they're gonna rust through sooner or later, and I believe that, so I'm gonna take precautionary measures. I'm not certain if I'll want to be putting some replacement, unoriginal mufflers on within the next 30 years.

Bev and Hall Pantera have the GTS muffler assemblies for sale, but that means replacing the entire header/muffler/exhaust system. $1,500 including shipping and handling. I've got about 300 H.P, and that's not gonna give a great increase in HP for my cash outlay.

Thanks again for your responses.

In my latest ANSA brochure, it lists, under DeTomaso, Pantera parts. I checked their website, and it's there too:
http://www.ansaautomotive.com/ansasport/listings/de_tomaso.html