Sidepipes or not to Sidepipe ?

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What do you see first? Not the tarps, not the missing vent panel, not the assorted junk...its the side pipes.
Im running a set of Heddman side exhaust headers and a set of cheap Patriot exhaust. (Summit) Its been a MAJOR PITA to hook it all up. I had to drill a few holes in my frame and seriously modify the hanging brackets, but Im happy with the way they look. My setup is pretty bubba-tastic...but its done cheaply. If you have deeper pockets, you will get even better results.


Personally I love the look
about burning.... with reversion mufflers the pipes get up to 130-145*. Alternatively, you can wrap the muffler with header wrap before you put them inside your pipes.... I'll get you a temp on that once I finish that install (I don't like the hp loss of the reversion mufflers).
Also, it depends on the coating, I have ceramic, rough coat titanium coating and it just doesn't ever get that hot (okay, with no mufflers it was in the 300-400 degree range.... but that's not something you'll be daily driving unless you wish for deafness or you're already deaf)
Had the '69 style on mine for 2 weeks, loved the look but with my newly built 383 at the time I had this horrible hollow drone btn 50 and 70 mph, right where most cruising takes place. They were also really loud, my neighbours could hear me coming from over 1 mile away
As with so many other decisions we make with our vettes, this is another fun one and not all that expensive.
My next door neighbor had numerous different cars, all of which were "loud".
His '07 Z06 had Billy Boat exhausts on it which were pretty loud, but had an AWFUL drone at ~2,000 RPM. Simply unbearable inside the car. Inside the car, they were comperable to my sidepipes, but the DRONE...awful.
His '08 GT500 also had Billy Boat's, but that one was almost tame by comparison. Not sure. Fun to drive and didn't wake everyone up.
On his '05 Mustang GT, he decided to run straight pipes which were HORRIBLY loud. I never drove that car, but I know I could hear it, literally, miles away. It didn't help that he seemed to cruise at redline. Thankfully, that engine ate itself in the subdivision and the car burned to the ground.
BECAUSE of the horribly insensitive neighbor, I was in the crosshairs of every person in the neighborhood that didn't understand that I WAS NOT the person doing 70 MPH down our streets. Our driveways are 500+ feet long, you just heard a sound. As soon as I got my 1970 on the road, I started getting stopped by people walking their dogs, telling me that they were going to call the cops, what an ***hole I was, and all these other horrible things. Guilty by association. I almost put a sticker on the back window that read "It Isn't Me".
I am careful in my neighborhood to not rev the engine and to practically idle to my house. Probably overkill, but I get smiles now, not stares. Honestly, you do need to be a little more sensitive to neighbors and others with sidepipes, but there are definitely worse ways to go. I've heard several 'louder' muffler cars, is all I'm saying.
As far as sidepipes creating a drone, I have not yet experienced that. I have no idea what my inserts are, but I'm probably going to install STS inserts into new sidetubes when I'm done with my engine. My stuff is all rusted out from the previous owner.
Be courteous and nobody will give you grief. Unless they're really, really old. Old people seem to give everyone grief.
The Best of Corvette for Corvette Enthusiasts
My next door neighbor had numerous different cars, all of which were "loud".
His '07 Z06 had Billy Boat exhausts on it which were pretty loud, but had an AWFUL drone at ~2,000 RPM. Simply unbearable inside the car. Inside the car, they were comperable to my sidepipes, but the DRONE...awful.
His '08 GT500 also had Billy Boat's, but that one was almost tame by comparison. Not sure. Fun to drive and didn't wake everyone up.
On his '05 Mustang GT, he decided to run straight pipes which were HORRIBLY loud. I never drove that car, but I know I could hear it, literally, miles away. It didn't help that he seemed to cruise at redline. Thankfully, that engine ate itself in the subdivision and the car burned to the ground.
BECAUSE of the horribly insensitive neighbor, I was in the crosshairs of every person in the neighborhood that didn't understand that I WAS NOT the person doing 70 MPH down our streets. Our driveways are 500+ feet long, you just heard a sound. As soon as I got my 1970 on the road, I started getting stopped by people walking their dogs, telling me that they were going to call the cops, what an ***hole I was, and all these other horrible things. Guilty by association. I almost put a sticker on the back window that read "It Isn't Me".
I am careful in my neighborhood to not rev the engine and to practically idle to my house. Probably overkill, but I get smiles now, not stares. Honestly, you do need to be a little more sensitive to neighbors and others with sidepipes, but there are definitely worse ways to go. I've heard several 'louder' muffler cars, is all I'm saying.
As far as sidepipes creating a drone, I have not yet experienced that. I have no idea what my inserts are, but I'm probably going to install STS inserts into new sidetubes when I'm done with my engine. My stuff is all rusted out from the previous owner.
Be courteous and nobody will give you grief. Unless they're really, really old. Old people seem to give everyone grief.

it's loud enough if you can't hear them





I'm not a fan of the factory sidepipes, i much prefer Hookers, I have hookers with the less restrictive mufflers, can't remember what they're called but they're less restrictive than the glass mufflers which will lose you hp over a standard system
( I read a dyno test between a stock system and two types of muffles in sidepipes, the results were
1 - loud sidepipes
2 - stock system
3 - quiet sidepipes.
The side pipes also give you more ground clearance on lowered cars.
I don't care if people burn themselves, I just say "watch it they're hot" after they've burnt themselves
[IMG]
[/IMG]Ha ha, just realised this shot was prior to me fitting the filler panel on the rear.
Last edited by Captain bob; Jan 24, 2013 at 07:00 PM.
Stingray = Side pipes. Side pipes = Stingray.

I run the classic chambered Vette packs in mine. 2 1/2" flowpath and just the right amount of volume. Steel Shields so no burns.
Win Win
.










Ouch!!!

