Addisonc3

Me and my Dad has bought a 1975 C3 350 smallblock in the UK and doing a pretty big project of restoring the whole thing for our personal toy and we are coming up to looking into purchasing some lovely chrome side pipes and would really appreciate any input for make and muffler size ect to make it sound it and look at its best but only one thing we don't want outrageously loud just a mid to high volume
Thankyou!

Vette5311

Easy Mike

"Sound best" would be a matter of personal choice for you.

mobird

The side pipes themselves are all the same in volume (assuming you are talking about the Hookers/Doug's/OBX style with the 4-1 header design). It is the insert that makes the difference.

How much does power matter to you? There is a pretty direct corelation between flow and volume. So the more exhaust flow you have (less restriction) the more power you have, but also more volume. The more restrictive inserts are quieter, but restrict power.

I am rocking the STS (Spiral Turbo Baffles) in Doug's Headers and side pipes and really like them. I ended up welding on a threaded pipe section in the baffle so I can cap or uncap the straight-thru portion when I want to. With it capped, the sound is manageable and you can drive it around the neighborhood without annoying anyone. Uncapped.... you gotta be careful with the gas pedal till you are out of town.

stingr69

Mobird gave you good "sound" advice. (yes I did say that)

Just a side comment - We should all take a moment to visualize this....an American Badazz Corvette..... with roaring chrome side pipes.... in the UK..... driving around and blowing everyones mind....... representing the USA!!!!!!!

-THANK YOU!!!!

Duke94

I had the STS spiral baffles in my 78' Loved the sound.

Sayfoo

I recently replace my old rusted out Hooker side pipe headers with Doug'. Much better quality, thicker tubes, etc. Overall better and a little cheaper here. I couldn't get the obx here in kommifornia.
As for sound. Cars are different and peoples expectations are different, etc. Since the pipes exit right by your head, they will sound louder to you then they actually are.
For MY 69/427, the Hooker glaspaks were a little restrictive. They have about a 1 3/4" straight through pipe. Sound good, not too loud. I tried the Hooker maxflow, which has about a 2 1/8" straight through pipe and I my car perked up a bit. BUT, real loud. I was that guy that everyone looked at and a few people commented on. With your small block, I would recommend the mid sized glaspak inserts. With the lower exhaust volume, you should be ok. Do not get the reverse flow type mufflers. Very restrictive.

Scottd

I run the cheap Summit brand 'Patriot' sidepipes on my big block. They sound AMAZING at idle and at RPM's under 3,000. After that, they get LOUD. Like, World War II open cockpit fighter plane loud. And just like an old airplane, you are sitting relatively close to the source of that exhaust.
SO to answer your question, sidepipes sound great and are awesome for short bursts of high RPM's. For any kind of sustained driving, they will make your ears ring after about 20 minutes exposure. (This is of course with the tops off and the windows down).

Addisonc3

Thankyou all! very appricated! come to the decision of getting the glasspack inserts sound a decent overall! now just got to find the whole kit in this country otherwise we are paying $700 just on delivery (not even kidding) :')