Chief Pounderhard

I've just bought my first Corvette, a '69 convertible that was originally a side pipe car. Someone years ago has pieced together a mickey mouse full length exhaust. It does the job, but is wrong and damn ugly. Luckily no one cut out the rear fascia.

My question is, how hard is it to put side pipes back on and what are the best pipes or kit to use?

Thanks in advance.
Kevin

Easy Mike

The 69 assembly instruction manual (AIM) shows the installation of the factory pipes.

Finding a set of original pipes and covers will be your problem and likely to be expensive.

You may want to consider a reproduction set.

Good luck.

Roma

Go with the original version, as Mike already wrote, not the cheapest version, but for me the best. They are more or less easy to install !

Some Infos :

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-g...pipecover.html

Cheers
Frank

Alan 71

Hi Kevin,
As Mike and Roma mentioned there are several manufacturers of the pipes themselves, but I believe all the insulators and chrome covers are made by Paragon Reproductions in Michigan and sold by them, and through other vendors.
An original side-pipe car is quite a nice find since relatively few cars had the option.
Regards,
Alan

Solid LT1

Your just $2500 away from achieving your wish

CA-Legal-Vette

Agree with all of the above. Not hard but not cheap.

There is an interesting repo on ebay. The covers look good but I'm not sure about the insulators. I'm not aware of anyone that repos the insulators and the stock ones really do work better.

avalonjohn

i can maybe get you started?? I have one NOS GM pipe in the garage...??

don't know how in the world I'd get it to you though.

Roma

Should not be a big problem (only money ) , I got mine (complete set with exhaust, covers and insulation) from Canada to Germany

0Willcox Corvette

You'll find the side exhaust pages from the AIM here with some additional notes: http://willcoxcorvette.com/repairand...lp.php?hID=199

The covers are listed in the forum price section of the site here: http://willcoxcorvette.com/product_i...ducts_id=27222

And available for the 10 percent off from the current sale...

Happy Holiday's,

Willcox Inc.

MyRed69

If you make it down to FL (or have a fellow Canadian that spends their winters down here) I have a set of semi-original side pipes and some headers but no covers. I say "semi" because the P/O of the pipes welded in a connector between the two pipes. I'm keeping the covers since I plan on running custom pipes under them.

Chief Pounderhard

Thanks a lot to everyone on here. If any of you have, or know someone with exhaust for sale, can you pm me with what u have and how much. That would be great. I have a US address in Niagara Falls NY to ship to so there will be no border issues.

Thanks again to everyone. Forums like this are invaluable to new owner like me. Appreciate it all.

Crahm

Did the rear valence have no cuts on factory delivered side pipe cars or did the factory build covers for the cutouts and glass them over?

c69vete

Factory N-14 optioned cars (side pipe) had different lower rear fenders that did not have the exhaust tip cutout. The rear valance was also different, without the other half of the cutout. There was no filling of holes for this at the factory.

Roma

Here you find the original look and the "aftermarkedsolutions"

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-t...sidepipes.html

Alan 71

Hi Roma,
I looked at your link again!
The question came up about "going back". I never thought I'd do it when I wrote that!
A bit of work but not too bad. Not as much as "going TO" side-pipes.
I miss them, but the under-car exhaust brought back some pleasant memories too.
Are you enjoying yours?
Regards,
Alan

Easy Mike

MalibuVLX

I have a question regarding the connecting pipe. I am about to install new pipes from Allen's and have never seen the cross pipe in between like that. Does this act like and "H" pipe or "X" pipe for cavitation? How does it effect the flow and sound? If I did it, I may make a removable section w/ flanges so I could still remove the oil pan w/out taking off the exhaust.

Roma

Hi Alan,

I tried to answer this question and there are pics of the original look.

And I love my sidepipes
Cheers

Frank

revupL78

can someone explain this to me with photos

69FASTFUN

This my 69 with factory installed side pipes. You can see that the rear quarter panels are differant and have no cut out for rear exhaust.