Interested in purchasing hooker headers and side pipes. I know they are loud, is there a heavy drone on the highway?

 

I’ve got Doug’s headers side pipes and don’t feel they drone. The exhaust however is in your ear, as is the smell and taste. This is mainly at traffic lights. It’s quite different than a full exhaust. I love the side pipes.

 

Do you have a video of sound you can post

 

theres a few on youtube

 

Were ear plugs and it will sound great

 

This is the way!

There are also a number of different inserts that can go in the 4" pipes to get you the sound you want.

 

I've had both Doug's and Hookers. Doug's are thicker gauge tubes and fit a little better, ON MY CAR.
Doug's/Hooker offer 3 different muffler inserts. The bigger ID the center tube, the better performing (less back pressure) and the louder. I use the middle size and it's pretty loud, mostly because the end of the pipe is close to your head. Plus, I have a convertible, so using my radio is not a option. The higher performance muffler with the larger straight through pipe did give a noticeable power increase, but was Harley loud. So loud that I was afraid I was going to get a ticket. There are also spiral type inserts available but I don't have any experience with them.
The quietest muffle is really restrictive and I wouldn't use.
Your best bet is to find someone with a similar car and engine and listen to it.
Everyone's definition of loud is different.

 

Had the Hookers on my 75 back in 1977, loud but not to loud. The interstate drone was not to bad.
I got 5 years out of the Hookers, the Chicago salt ate up the headers collectors.

 

Hooker side pipes are the coolest but make no power. But WTFCsI would like to be able to just say it but feelings would be Hert. What a world we live in.

 

I agree I have Doug's on 2 corvettes and love them I think they only sell the quieter insert I have the loudest one and love it that being less restrictive.

 

I have stainless obx/maximizer/xspower style pipes on mine and I started with sweet thunder 2 3/4" inserts which had too much drone for my taste so I swapped to the vettepacks which are very similiar but less drone... I am installing an overdrive transmission to make highway driving more pleasurable and it should also dramatically help with drone. I love the pipes. I know they dont "make power" but the I do wonder what kind of effect they really have since Ive yet to see any actual dyno comparision results.

 

I had the Hooker stainless steel side pipes with the Hooker max flow inserts. There was no drone on the highway. Well, at least none I could hear!

 

I'm running doug's with the biggest inserts, I really like them. Here is an idle video, sorry about the wind noise. Don't expect a quiet ride with side pipes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2wM_j1PQb

 

Yes, I wonder too.
On my '69 BB 390 hp, I can definitely tell the difference with the quieter inserts. The louder muffler inserts (maxiflow???) have a 2 1/8"?? straight through pipe, not real restrictive, but real loud. Trade offs everywhere.
I think part of the story that side pipe don't make power revolves around the stock GM side pipes (and the quiet inserts) that used a reverse S type muffler that was pretty restrictive. Didn't a lot of racing sports cars--Corvette's, Cobra's, etc.--use no muffler side pipes in road races? So the pipes themselves are not power robbing, it's the mufflers???
Interestingly, on my '08 stock c6, there is only a 6hp (436 vs 430) difference between the stock mufflers which sound really bad at wot compared to the optional valve operated straight through muffler, which is still not real loud.

 

I have had experience with 2 Corvettes with side-pipes and I will not have them on my personal regular drivers as I think (they sound great) but have been just "too loud" for any kind of trip or highway ride. The 1967 C2 convertible with side-pipes was ridiculously loud and hurt your ears after time and for hours after a ride you would still be yelling according to other people. I had to wear hearing protectors while driving the C2 with it's factory side-pipes on both Coupes and Convertibles.

Chambered exhaust pipe systems work great for me and make just enough noise that sitting still they can be construed as loud but while driving the noise is being projected behind you. I can have a discussion with the passenger if I have one where in either of the 2 side-piped Corvettes I have been in previously driven there would be no way to hear another person or the stereo for that matter. For me personally I love the sound of side-pipes on other Corvettes but would not put them on my Corvette as they were just a bit too much for me and my ears. Both of my Corvettes sport Chambered Exhaust systems and I love the sounds they make.

One of the best sounding Corvettes was a real (Gulf Racing) ZL1 with side-pipes and that car sounded incredible with it's cam. It likely had no mufflers as it was a 10 second race Corvette running the All Aluminum 427 in it. What a sound though....

 

Here is video of 321 ss Xs power side pipes with classic chambered 3 inch mufflers. You can decide for yourself.

 

The "don't make power" argument is often repeated. With the Hooker-style sidepipes (Doug's are similar), you effectively have long tube sidepipes going into a 4" open exhaust. You can then customize this exhaust if you want (add muffler inserts, etc). Compared to the stock manifolds, 1 7/8 downpipes, and whatever exhaust came with your car, they are tremendously better. Compared to an absolutely optimized under-car setup, tuned for a specific RPM range, with an H-pipe or X-pipe, they may leave something on the table. But they don't take up space under the car.

Engine Masters did a related video, comparing straight dual exhaust, crossover, H-pipe, and X-pipe. The video is no longer on Youtube (perhaps you can find it elsewhere), but here's a summary. The difference is at most 1 or 2% in their testing.
https://ls1tech.com/articles/crossov...h-pipe-x-pipe/

I like the sidepipes, and I'm keeping them, though I don't like the chrome...

 

I don't remember what inserts I have in mine. They are a bit loud, not real loud. I can hear them in the house at idle, but they aren't s loud my grouchy neighbor complains(as long as I don't run it late at night, which I don't). Moral is, depending on the inserts(or lack thereof) they are as quiet or loud as you want them to be. And look bad ***!

 

Another big advantage, is that they move a lot of heat from under the car and then into the cabin, to the out side. A big advantage is hot areas.