Here's the latest photo I've done of my 60 sedan. W/ me, the wife, and the lil one Had a question reguarding exhaust. I know for sure I need new connectors and down pipes from my manifolds, as the old steel is rotted and holy(and loud.. but I like loud). So.. I'm thinking to have an exhaust shop do the down tubes, and the part that goes back behind the front wheel openings. But from there on out, I plan to do the rest myself. I also plan on using 2 inch aluminized pipe. No mufflers of course. As is now, see the attached crappy photo from microsoft paint. My questions is..... how it would look and or sound with the pipes exiting in one of several different locations. Also.. how cool it will be... as most hambers know what traditionally looks good!!! Idea number one, the easiest and probably the loudest, is to have the pipes exit right behind the front wheel wells. Not sure how cheezy that will look, but should draw noise violations. Idea number two... which is actually my favorite, is to run the pipes back towards the rear of the car, and have them exit right in front of the rear wheel wells. Rather 1980's nascar-ish I think.. but I think it'd fit the car pretty well. Idea number 3... functioning side pipes Idea number 4... which will be the most difficult, due to curved pipes going over the rear axle again, and having to route around the huge mess of a trailer hitch that I had welded on, is to run the pipes all the way back to the back bumper. Will have the most "factory" appearance, and longest pipes, but is it worth it? Ok.. I'm outta ideas. What should I do?
I like the idea of full length pipes exiting the rear bumper.with pencil tips would be the best. 22" glasspacks would sound the best,although with full pipes.straight pipes would sound ok too. Short,straight pipes are the loudest,but get old real quick,especially for your 'little one'Sparky
All your ideas are good ones that I've considered for my cars. I've always liked the "NASCAR" pipes out front of tyhe rear wheels but the Law doen't always appreciate it. I know in NC there are inspections so if your car will pass with these pipes, go for it! If not, I prefer the pipes straight out from the rear bumper as we did that back in the early 60's as a carryover from the '50's. Pipes straight out the rear are always "traditional" looking. As for mufflers, everyone has an opinion as to what sounds best, so I won't go there. If you can run straight (i.e. mufflerless) pipes without paying the magistrates over and over, more power to you! (Although, I've been told that mufflers like some of the Flowmasters actually scavenge exhaust more so than straight pippes.) Some others here may have some even better ideas.
go with straight pipes all the way to the back, it will be plenty loud, with the benefit of being fairly quiet IN the car! so you piss everybody else off, and ride in relative comfort! and FWIW i would just have the exhaust shop do the whole works. i'm a cheap bastid, but that's one thing i'm not afraid to have farmed out. it's generally not a problem to have a shop do straight pipes, they can't remove cats or alter emissions related things, but mufflers aren't emissions related. hell, as far as that goes, if you ARE going to replace a cat converter, when you have the shop bend the pipe for you, TELL them you are replacing a cat! they can make the pipe, they just can't install it for you. of course there are exceptions in certain locales.
Hmm.... good responses. Made me think a lil bit. Perhaps full pipes, meaning all the way to the rear bumper would be good. As for cats.. doesn't and didn't have em. as for inspections... it's too old here. They don't inspect anything. But... I do have to watch out for officer friendly and noise violations. Haven't heard of anybody getting one lately though... we have tons of old trucks runnin round with headers
Probably not too useful information for your car... but... I was running straight out of split headers on my 235 for the past few months. I never had any trouble with cops. I finally made some 2" pipes that dumped behind the front wheels and I was going to put 18" cherry bombs on it. Without the mufflers, it sounded like it had been neutered. With the mufflers, it was even worse. I guess I got used to the sound and I was disappointed. So I hacked the pipes right where they drop below the frame but still point to the sides of the car. It's quieter than open headers, but it has a nice rumble at idle and sounds like a prop plane at speed.
I remember being in West Virginia as a young lad in the 60's and the craze was run the straight tight pipe out the back w/o mufflers or just glass packs. They had the coolest cackle to them esp. when you let off the gas for a curve (there are many). By tight pipe I am talkin 1 3/4". Just my .02 worth nothing better than a big sixties sled with tight pipe.
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