Hi everyone...I'm new to the board...my name's Patrick and I just got a '29 Model A hot rod a few weeks ago. It's actually a sport coupe with the roof hacked off. Has a '65 327 w/tri-power, 3/4 racing cam, all 40's juice brakes/axles,etc. and is in, well, pretty rough condition. It's an, um, winter project at the very least... My problem is this: here in Vancouver, BC, Canada all cars must pass a yearly AirCare test for exhaust emissions (yes, even a 1929 car). It's a pain in the ass, I tell 'ya. My car has open lake-style headers (I got it from a guy in MO) and I've been told the test centers will refuse to test it as such (as a result I won't be able to insure the vehicle). The law will also be on me in no time, I'm sure (it's damn loud!), so mufflers will be needed. So, I'm just wondering what options I have...I hate to go to an undercar exhaust system but it looks like I'll have to. I've been going through this forum and have a lot of good info...have also been pouring through my copies of Rolls & Pleats and Mag-neto for ideas. I could go with dump tubes and caps but it's expensive and I have a problem with clearance....the cones are quite close to the body and caps may not fit. One option I've seen is simply welding steel-pack muffers to lake headers...this just might work for me. Has anyone done that? Any complications/advice? I'm also toying with the idea of coming up with some sort of temporary pipes bolted on to this idea of header cone w/steel-packs, running them down the sides of the body and coming out just before the rear tires...ugly but I would use just them for the bloody AirCare test and then remove them later. Believe me, I'd rather run with open headers if I could, but evidently the AirCare technicians need to get their testing probe into the exhaust system a few inches and lake headers won't cut it(strange but true...others have tried...I guess they won't test an exhaust system w/o mufflers either). I'm attaching pics so you can see what the headers I have look like and the clearance(the driver's side one is way too close to the body and needs to come out an inch or so). Thanks in advance for any tips!
Welcome to the board.There lately was an excellent tech post on here in which "somebody" showed step-by-step instructions to build some homemade mufflers which go into the header to keep that look and to keep it quiet.Maybe somebody knows how to link this post...
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43062&page=1&highlight=homemade+baffles Here's this thread...really cool idea for baffles, but I'm not sure that would work for what you are wanting. There was a post about running part of a glass pack in a lake type header as well.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69483&page=1&highlight=lake+pipe This thread might help some too.
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