Finally got around to pulling the trigger on the Pypes stainless steel dual exhaust purchase. Ordered the Street Pro system from Summit on Thursday the 3rd and it arrived on Monday the 7th! However, they "Pypes" still has kits out their with the non-polished tips and that's what arrived Called and they said they would check inventory and send the polished ones, checked back today and the polished ones won't be in until the end of May Atleast I can still do the install and I got the free hat....

Also ordered the Summit copper collector gaskets and the Headman Header Collector Extensions to deal with that "little gap" issue.

Was initially going to go with the stock manifolds but Marc "Nice 78" just happened to be selling a brand new set of Flowtech ceramic coated headers in the Parts section - so its going to be the whole enchilada exhaust mod.

Want to express a special thanks to L82Shark and mzmgb for their very detailed postings and lessons learned during their install - http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...ighlight=pypes
guys, your info and pics were just great and inspiring.

Will post pics when the install starts this week.

 

Are the headman extensions stainless? The headman extensions I had on my car were not. The rest of my exhaust is aluminized and still looks new but those extensions got rusty as hell almost immediately. Seems crappy to me to have nice coated headers and a stainless system all except for the one rusty spot. Why can’t pypes include a section like the headman extensions in stainless, then you could just cut them to length for your particular headers? Everyone has to buy the extensions to make the system work so why not just include them.

 

They don't appear to be stainless. Totally agree (no matter what the Pypes owner/president posts on here), they should provide or at least offer the same extensions for this system. They do offer the extension/connector for the stock manifolds, so why not have another sku like the Hedmans?

 

Also another little rant/peeve that was also mentioned by L82Shark and mzmgb was the clamps. Why they don't provide 4 more band clamps instead of cheapening out with regular clamps for the front connections....

I don't mind getting the clamps and saddles for the cross member locally as the cross members will be different. However, the connections on their system, providing nice band clamps would be a fitting touch.

 

Hey BTAL, good luck with the install.

 

I didnt get a hat but I definitely got the T shirt. Let me know if you need any help or hints, I have a ton of pics of varying points during the install. What tranny are you running? I may can save you some time

 

Thanks, based on lift availability in my brother's garage, looks like am going to install this afternoon.

Thanks for the offer! Your previous write up and pics really provides a great road map and end result! It is a stock 4 speed manual trans, so should have plenty of room vs those monster autos.

I've got some extra Pypes stickers/decals if you want them

Pics to come later today or tomorrow if all goes well.

 

you shouldnt have the problems I had with the manual. I had to modify the Hedman extensions to get enough clearance around the auto tranny pan. Show it to us when you get er done!!

 

if you have a th400 the hedman header extensions will not work they will hit the pan if you try and use the stock crossmember holes. and they are not stainless or even aluminized they will rust in about a week. I had them and cut them up when i built my new system.

 

never mind just saw you had a 4 speed, but they will still need to be treated with something cause they will rust.

 

No pics yet? I hope all is well?

 

Finally installed - pics below. Here's the story and editorial comments.

Installed the headers on Friday afternoon. Very smooth process in general. Passenger side went in easy as pie. Drivers side required removing the clutch z-bar to get them up into position. Reinstalling the z-bar required about an 1/4 inch "dimpling" of one of the down tubes for clearance. So, for the install on a manual trans '78, these are good fit and clearance headers. They do point slightly down at the collector connection but not enough to cause problems. A "Header Buddy" could be used, but I ended up with a custom bend on the "pypes missing link" section.

Now for the actual Pypes install - that was a whole different animal. You guys that have done this using only jack stands you're better men than me! My brother and I was test fitting the system and was getting nowhere. There aren't too many things that we can't work out but this was not lining up well at all, especially the secondary sections between the x-pipe and the mufflers. So after about 3 hours of frustration, I threw in the towel and took it to the local exhaust shop/fabricator that has been in business for years doing custom exhausts. To finally get it in with correct clearances, firm/solid and aligned correctly (mufflers, tips, x-pipe/cross member and headers) it took us 5 hours. The majority of that was totally WASTED time screwing around with the clamps. To make it work we ended up welding the joints at the back of the x-pipe which made for a very solid system and eliminated the need for any brackets at the front cross member holes.

At one point, he recommended boxing it up and sending it (he used an expletive to describe it) back before we welded anything. That he could build me one (albeit not mandrel bent) for a whole lot less $s and headaches. Honestly, he wasn't trying to make a quick sale as I know him personally, but was giving his honest advise.

Also, as mentioned in the Pypes install posting mentioned above (http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...ighlight=pypes), the left Axle pipe was shorter than the right requiring the addition of a 2" piece between the Axle pipe and the muffler to get the muffler moved to the back/rear of the car to align correctly for the tips and with the right side. I do not agree with a Ccass (Pypes owner/person) posting that these cars are not symmetrical, and are still waiting to see the scan of the frame drawing he was going to post to prove the point.

In the end, I like the sound, not raspy, barking or harsh like some, just a nice deep rumbling growl. I definitely love the very noticeable butt-dyno performance enhancement the headers and better flowing system has produced.

Is it worth the money? Can't really say so, not until Pypes gets the bugs worked out. Those being:

1. Shipping without polished tips. (L82Shark - you even got polished Axle pipes ??? but supposedly nobody else.)

2. Fix the Axle pipe issue or prove that the cars are asymmetrical. Mine isn't!

3. Provide a 2 straight pieces of SS that can be bent locally for the "header gap" issue.

4. Mark the x-pipe better than just an arrow. The instructions are not exactly clear regarding orientation - which side is up. We even tried flipping it once and trying to make it work in case we were total idiots that couldn't read english.

5. Looking at the other install photos, the brackets and some of the bends don't seem to be the same. For example the first pic in L82Shark's - The Pypes are on (well almost) thread, it appears the the front of the x-pipe has a bend in front of the cross member holes. Is this true?

6. For the average pleasure car here, does SS and mandrel bends make it worth the headaches - probably not.

Sorry for the long diatribe and please excuse the dirty pics below. Now off to install the new VBP rear spring and Bilsteins!

Flowtech 31106 ceramic coated headers. X-pipe just laying in cross member.


Header dimple for z-bar clearance


The "MISSING LINK" section


Full length view


Axle pipes (non-polished) clearance


Left muffler showing the added bit to increase length for proper muffler alignment.


Right muffler


Tips (non-polished) from side


Tips from rear

 

Hey BTAL,

Sorry to hear about all the headaches, I guess I got lucky with the polished. Are they going to send you the polished tailpipes? That sucks, but your right, I do love the sound!

 

Thanks for the condolences But, the job is done, on to bigger and better things. Yes, they are sending the polished tips - when they are in stock - END OF MAY

May be PM'ing you on your half shaft yoke solution/resolution.

 

anything I can help with let me know. I finally finished shaving my floor boards last night and am installing the Dynamat now.

 

I went to install mine today and apparently my front hanger(the one attached to the transmission) has some kind of offset to it. Needless to say the x-pipe didnt quite fit through evenly. So i took that out and while i was at it took out the cross member for painting.


Is there any other solution to clamping the x-pipe to the crossmember? Other than using the stock hanger bolted to the tranny?


I want to get this in tommorow. Can i drill a couple holes in the cross member and use a universal hanger for the x-pipe?

 

Need a little help guys, I have a TH400, need to connect the flowtech headers to the x-pipe. Should i bother with the provided s bends? Is the a header extension that will work? (IE hedman extensions, summit?)

 

Anyway you can take a picture of the gap between the headers and X-pipe?

 

Yes i will do that. I bought some " cheap pipe " to play with it. Might help paint a better picture of what I need to do. I had some pypes header collector extensions on order but they are back ordered for like 3-4 weeks and I can't wait that long. In the mean time i have to get this hooked up, even if its temporary.


I can't work on it for a few days but need to get it done this week/weekend sometime. So if i need to buy parts now is the time.