Hammad,

The original design pipes flow fine though the 1 ¾ baffle. This chamber while only 1 ¾ only has little restrictors in them and will not choke down the car. These pipes were used form the factory on all BB cars with side exhaust and even the high perf. Small block cars used them. The only difference in the big block and the small block cars was the front pipe.

The issue is the 2” baffles do not restrict the exhaust enough and while you may like a loud car; these are way too loud in my humble opinion. I know from experience on this since I have a set on one of my own cars. The car was so loud that sounded like a drag car at the race track, but for normal street driving it drove me nuts.

Before they came out with the correct side pipes, I felt I had to do something to quite my car down so I purchased a two foot section of the chambered 2” pipe and cut it in half. We then welded it in place between the chambered section and the manifold. (in other words we put another section in to quite down the car, and it was done in the front pipe right below the manifold where the pipe turns toward the outside edge of the car).

If you are racing your car or just don’t care how loud it is then by all means go with the 2” design! If you want to drive the car and not suffer a drastic loss in h/p then use the stock chamber size.

Now if you are using the aftermarket dual chambered exhaust for under the car, the presence of two chambers in one pipe is basically what I’ve done to my side pipes and it will quite the car down. Add in the fact that the pipes are behind the car and it’s a good sounding system. I have this dual chambered system on my 72 and the chambers are 2” and not the stock size.

But you have to remember; you have two chambers and not one so it makes quite a difference.

This is just my opinion, but the stock pipes are the best by far! They have the correct tone to them and they are not so loud that you are embarrassed to drive the car!

Willcox.

 

.................interesting comments. It would be a negative to have something that loud! Maybe I will just wait and see how my factory exhausts perform...before I buy.

 

i have hooker super competition headers and side pipes and these have the quieter baffles inserted in them and they are not too loud and yes i am and old guy......

 

Did the same with mine. What a difference!!!

 

So Dan - what aftermarket pipes do you have? Have you dynoed your motor/car and are you concerned of any loss in power if you changed? You mentioned they are louder - do you feel they have a less desireable tone at idle too? Are they SS?

 

QUOTE:

The original design pipes flow fine though the 1 ¾ baffle. This chamber while only 1 ¾ only has little restrictors in them and will not choke down the car. These pipes were used form the factory on all BB cars with side exhaust and even the high perf. Small block cars used them. The only difference in the big block and the small block cars was the front pipe.

The issue is the 2” baffles do not restrict the exhaust enough and while you may like a loud car; these are way too loud in my humble opinion. I know from experience on this since I have a set on one of my own cars. The car was so loud that sounded like a drag car at the race track, but for normal street driving it drove me nuts.
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Willcox, you're telling us a 427 (or ANY V-8 for that matter) flows fine through a 1-3/4" flowpath? And a 2" flowpath is too large? I'd have to call you on both statements. Try dynoing a big block & see how much HP you will lose with either of these combos. The twin flow tube mufflers that have small (like 1-1/4") tubes internally & a "wall" at the inlet end of the muffler are absolute HP killers - like around 100 HP loss in the power band. To make a sidepipe muffler really QUIET, you have to restrict the heck out of the exhaust flow. There's really no way to accomplish this & keep all or most of the power. GM made the chambered pipe flowpaths very small to control noise - they were not made to have high flow. The compromise sacrificed HP.

 

I replaced my stock 13/4" sides with Sweet Thunder 21/4"pipes and they really woke up my engine. However they were way to loud and I knew that it was only a matter of time before the police pulled me over. Also the sound in the cabin at freeway speeds was uncomfortable, so I added a crossover pipe and this toned it down a little, but not enough so I added perforated cones to the collectors (Hedman headers 3"collectors). the combination of these mods worked well for me, in fact well enough that my wife will ride in the car without complaining. You can make your own cones like I did or buy them thru Summit. I believe both these mods will not sacrifice much HP and will make your Vette more enjoyable sound wise.
Russ

 

Chambered: No calling out needed here…. I’m not saying the 2” is too large, only that the 2” or larger baffles are too loud for street use. I was not making any statement about Horse power and only offering suggestions to which system would be right for your car.

May people purchase the side pipes and get the larger baffle and love them. Maybe I’m getting to the old fart stage, but I can tell the difference from the factory sound to the loud aftermarket pipes. The Factory pipes had a sound all alone and most people (at least the people that we deal with) prefer the factory sound.

VettePower had the same problem as me! The larger baffle while better on performance was just too loud for my old fart brain!

GM used the same chambered muffler on all big blocks and all small blocks. “The original design pipes flow fine though the 1 ¾ baffle.” Maybe I should have put in this statement that they flow fine, but do cost you some horse power. . .

The 2” baffled pipes in my opinion, are too loud if you are driving the car on the street! The 1 ¾” pipes will cut the horse power of the car! So will 2” baffle for that matter! If you are drag racing the car and are worried about horse power then by all means the larger the better!

I have two of these systems on my personal cars. I’m not worried about loosing a few horses’ as long as the neighbors don’t know I’m coming when I’m five miles from my house. (Mike Allen made me a special pipe for my car and it’s a neat pipe that you can’t see)

It’s weird what GM did to cars in the 60’s and 70’s. Think about these factory exhaust systems. The 1970 LT-1 Convertible, the car has 2” exhaust manifolds, with 2” header pipes that open up to 2.5. On the 66-67 small block high performance cars with side exhaust, the manifolds were all 2 inch the front pipes were 2” that opened up to 2.5 before it hit the baffled chamber and then inside of it was the 1 ¾ baffle. For years, we sold the factory pipes from GM and most people would purchase the 1965 pipes since they were the last small block with the 2.5 manifold.

If you want a good sounding muffler that is something you can drive and enjoy the rumble of, go with the stock mufflers with the correct baffle. If you want to race the car, use open headers and head for the track! If you want a loud car use the 2” baffled chambered pipes.

Thanks guys, this has been interesting to say the least. I’m not suggesting either exhaust system. I’m only trying to make sure that people are informed about the difference in the two systems.

Willcox Inc.

 

What? ... he hee.. I can't hear you !

 

OK so I went ahead and ordered a set of Allens pipes. I sure hope that his sound just like the factory pipes and lot like some cheap set of glass packs. I'll keep ya posted.

 

Me too, I just ordered a pair from Allen. I've experienced the 2 in. ones and found them loud, I will see the 1 3/4 in. how much will be quieter.