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2025 C2 of the Year ('64-'66) Finalist - Unmodified
2025 C5 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2023 C2 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2023 C5 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2022 C2 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2021 C5 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
St. Jude Donor '25
Sidepipe update
OK, to preface - Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder, or earholder in this case.
And no, I did not before and after dyno the car, nor did I take decibel readings. I'm not trying to advertise for a non supporting vendor, this is just my opinion. I had the 2-1/2" - 3-1/2" Vettepacks installed just before Christmas. My installer has owned his shop since the 70's, still uses oxy/acetylene, and he's as good as I've seen over the last 50 years of hot rodding. He was (as usual) a bit of a skeptic at first - "Just two glasspacks welded together". And of course he didn't care for having to cut the brackets off of the old pipes and weld them to the new ones. But he did his usual great job - and made new 2-1/2" head pipes as well. These Vettepacks are a tight fit under the covers, but they do fit. When he finished and I started it up he was good with them, and actually acted a bit surprised that it sounds this good. That's about as good as it gets for this guy. I like the growl just off idle - a bit louder than I expected, but like I said I like it. I've always enjoyed driving the old muscle cars around slowly - as well as quickly of course. Once the engine is over about 1800 RPMs it gets quieter, and out on the highway, they are not as loud as I expected. To me they are not as loud as my old pipes on the highway. My seat of the pants tells me the 365hp 327 really likes these things. To me it's noticeably more responsive when you step on it. Although Lars rebuilt the carb and I've reworked the distributor vacuum and mechanical curves per his papers, I thought this SHP 327 should be quicker than it was. I put a hopped up 327 in a Vega in '73, and that thing ran quick. Yes it was bit lighter than this Vette, but this Vette just seemed like it should have had more power. To me the sound of these at wide open throttle is much improved over my old sidepipe mufflers, which were aftermarket reproductions. I actually disliked the sound of the old pipes other than idling around, but the Vettepacks have a nice sound when I jump on it, a deeper, throaty sound that gets better with RPMs. With our rain and snow here over the last couple of weeks I've only had it out a couple of times, but I already like this change and wonder why I waited so long.
Gary - Congrats on having someone around who's open to doing some fab work, there are less of those places as time moves on. Refresh my old memory if you would please, what did you start with...aftermarket side pipes that just didn't do it for you or were they factory pipes? I know you had a thread going a while ago, just can't recall the details. And, if you'd rather not post the brand of glasspacks you went with, maybe you could PM me the info. Just curious, I still need to make a decision on whose aftermarket pipes I'll be buying for my NOM 65 L78 Roadster.
Mike T - Prescott AZ
2025 C2 of the Year ('64-'66) Finalist - Unmodified
2025 C5 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2023 C2 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2023 C5 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2022 C2 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2021 C5 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
St. Jude Donor '25
Originally Posted by Vet65te
Gary - Congrats on having someone around who's open to doing some fab work, there are less of those places as time moves on. Refresh my old memory if you would please, what did you start with...aftermarket side pipes that just didn't do it for you or were they factory pipes? I know you had a thread going a while ago, just can't recall the details. And, if you'd rather not post the brand of glasspacks you went with, maybe you could PM me the info. Just curious, I still need to make a decision on whose aftermarket pipes I'll be buying for my NOM 65 L78 Roadster.
Mike T - Prescott AZ
Mike,
Thanks, I know I'm lucky to have a real craftsman around who still enjoys working on these - even if he good naturedly tries to be a bit grumpy about it. Your installer will also need to cut the chrome tips off of the old ones and weld to the Vettepacks. My installer only charged $300 for the work, but he got a very nice tip.
My 65 had under car exhaust from the factory. At some point a previous owner converted it to sidepipes. They were mounted up well and appeared to be fairly new, I just did not like the sound under hard acceleration. I assume they were a reproduction sidepipe kit. Once they were off you could see the ID was pretty small, maybe 1-3/4" - maybe.
Classic Chambered Exhaust sells the Vettepacks. These are 40" long with the front 20" being chambered and the rear 20" a resonator. They make them to order, so you can divide the 40" up with more or less chambered or resonator per your liking. They took a couple of weeks to build them, but to me they were just what I was looking for.
It is very hard for me to "Pull the trigger on a Quieter Side Exhaust........Any direction that can be given for an actually quieter side exhaust for my 67 427 will be greatly appreciated. I do not want to waste $$$$ chasing this. All I can tell you is that in 1967, my Dad's 427/435 Convertible was quiet enough to hear the FM radio at speed.......NOT on my 67!!!!! No way! I'm not going away from the Side Exhaust....just need a little less noise!!!!
Actually, I'm not, at my age, that concerned about performance gains or losses. Sure, I would love to have performance and less noise.....but I'm leaning to less noise!
I have talked to Gardner and Ryan at Hi flo......... Anyone who has a seemingly quieter system, please give your thoughts......
…... I can tell you is that in 1967, my Dad's 427/435 Convertible was quiet enough to hear the FM radio at speed.......NOT on my 67!!!!! No way! I'm not going away from the Side Exhaust....just need a little less noise!!!!
I have talked to Gardner and Ryan at Hi flo......... Anyone who has a seemingly quieter system give your thoughts....……
Sounds like you found the original GM/Walker pipes acceptable sound wise, so, I think you’re talking to the right two guys, to see who can duplicate that configuration the closest, I would assume that if they also, in addition, wrapped the inner pipe with sound deadening packing, it would even be a bit quieter. Good luck, keep us informed. Mike
I had Ryan fill the chamber between the 2.5" inside tube and 3" outer tube with ceramic felt. I'm sure it damps sound some, but I went from stock pipes to 2.5" so really no way to tell what the felt did. 5th is the noise control. Larry
Sidepipe update
