While I'm taking a little brake from the project at hand to eat lunch, I'm just gonna ask a few more questions.......because.....that's what I do.


Exhaust.


I now have a suspension that has lowered my car by one inch. I can lower by 2, but I think that would limit where I can drive it safely. Due to the smart struts in the rear, I think having an exhaust come out that way is now out of the question. The exhaust size is going to be 2.5 inches, and after a little measuring, I really don't think there is that in the rear, at the choke points, anyway. It would sit VERY close to the ground. So, no good.


I like, no, love side pipes, but they are out of my budget, and will be for some time. The next big spend I want to do is not side pipes, but an over drive tranny, hopefully a TKO. Plus, unless I am wrong, those side pipes seem to take away about an inch of clearance, as well. So again, no good.

So, the idea I have had bouncing around in my head was, standard exhaust, but have it curve out and dump out in front of the rear wheels. I was told that, once again, going under the frame would create clearance issues. So then I thought, why not over the frame? I have seen some side pipe setups that cut out the "gill" section on the side of the nose. I was thinking the same thing, cut out a fitted portion of glass over the frame in the rear, and then have an exhaust tip come out and done, so that the frame is not visible, and the pipes are not under, but on top of the frame. This would have, like, glass packs, or something, for mufflers, somewhere between the frame and the headers.


Is this crazy talk, or can this be done? Will this end up costing more than side pipes?

I honestly don't want to spend TOO much on the exhaust, as this will be the SECOND time doing it, the first now no good due to the new suspension


Thoughts, ideas, opposing view points? What have some of you guys done, that are running VBP smart struts with the dual mount rear spring?

 

Getting the side exahusts to go sideway out just front of the rear wheel sounds a good idea, but with some cons. I have studied myself this solution for my C3 and the real iussue is the clearance when you go under the side frame rail...there is not clearance for round tubing at all, but there could be for oval tubing (check Mr Gas...), but still the space available is tight.

The only solution would be to over the frame cutting the FB but i was looking to put back the car on the road so i went streight undercarriage and left the more complicated alternative for the (next) future...

 

Why not run through the holes in the transmission crossmember and put small mufflers right after that on the sides of the transmission. Put some small turndowns on it to direct heat away from the floor and be done with it. You see it all the time on budget build Camaros and Trans Ams. It'll keep you legal, quiet, and it'll have minimal impact on your wallet. There shouldn't be any problem with clearance since you'll be going through the frame, unless your dragging your frame, which is a whole other problem.

 

Is it loud in the cockpit?



Another guy said he did that, and it got old fast.


Personally, I'm not overly concerned with noise, as this is NOT a comfort ride anyway, unless, of course, sweaty feet, jarringly stiff suspension, and pain in the but to get out of every time is your idea of comfort...

All I want is something that is fairly cheap, offers good clearance, and is legal. This sounds like a winner to my problems. Thank you very much.




Another question, though, and one that I will probably have to answer for myself...

My neighbor tells me that side pipes on cars is illegal in CT.


But I see side pipes all the time. On vettes, shelby cobras, etc.


So, maybe they are technically illegal, but so long as they are not too loud, it's a don't ask don't tell policy?

 

And panic, I just wanted to say....and I mean no offense to anyone here...you have, by far, the sweetest looking vette on this forum, that I have seen, anyway.

 

Kevin,
I have been thinking about your problem since it has kinda become my own. I like the idea of an exhaust exiting just before the rear wheels and since clearance is an issue, Maybe a long and flat tip could be used. Similar to panic's idea of an oval exhaust, but I have seen long and square exhaust tips before. If the tip is sized right (would take some calculation), there should not be much, if any, loss in the exhaust if the tip is long enough. However, oval might be the easiest and make the most sense in the long run. We need to find out how much clearance you can give up on the side and see which one will work best.

 

I was thinking the same thing.



The exhaust tips that some of the later years of camaros had are really wide and flat. I think they look ugly on those cars, but it might look pretty good out the side.


And as stated above, maybe just having the pipes end in mufflers right past the holes in the tranny crossmember could be the way to go, as well.


Did you say you tried that, or was it someone else who said they did that, and didn't like it?

 

It was someone else, but I'm not sure if he said he had mufflers or not. I think we went without any.

 

I couldn't do it without mufflers.



I uh.......started it the other day with just open headers, heh. You know, just to see....



And it was pretty loud. The neighbors agree. Heh.

 

Alright, I looked up your old post. Two guys wrote similar things.
"another-user" said he did straight pipes thru the crossmember and he said the sounds got old fast.
"same problem i had (have i should say, i havnt tested it out yet) what ive done is wrap the spring in high temp header wrap, have about a 1-2 inch air pocket between that and the muffler, and wrap the mufflers directly under it.

reason i say i havnt tested it yet is because i just have straight pipes that dump out behind the tranny Xmember right now (it sounds like a good idea at the time, but after a couple days of driving like that, it gets real old real fast)"

On the other hand,
"chris75stingray" said he used mufflers and ran it for a year.
"you might run into ground clearance problems if you try to run the pipe under the frame to exit out the side. if you just want a temperary exhaust untill you get the side pipes heres what i did: right after the tranny xmember i bolted the mufflers on with a coupling and clamps. yes it scrapped all the time but the mufflers were garbage anyway and i just needed them till i got the sidepipes.(it was a temperary plan when i did it but i ended up driving like that for over a year. it's funny how those temperary fixes can end up staying on the car for that long)"

So maybe a low profile muffler is an option and a straight dump?

 

thanks

 

I dumped mine just ahead of the differential. For now it has a pair of mini cherry bombs. Sounds pretty good and not overly loud in the cabin.

Click to enlarge

 

Now I've got to figure out what is street legal is this darn state.


It's funny, side pipes are not legal, but I see them all the time....


But then, so far, I have been pulled over for running a yellow light, and for doing 27 in a 25 mph zone, all in just 3 years of living up here.

I have no tickets, but for some reason, murphey's law seems to apply extra hard for me.