OK here is my situation. You guys have always helped me before but now I REALLY need it. Last week I ordered the true daul exhaust system from mid America for my completly stock 81 Vette. I dropped it off at my mechanic. I was going to do the job myself but I wanted to weild the peices together instead of clamping them and I can't weld to save my life. Well my mechanic called and said that there was a problem with the left side manifold. Well to make a long story long but not to long I had to decide on headers or having him try to repair the manifold flange by welding. Well I had to make a quick decision so I went with headders. I ordered the Dynomax ceramacoated headders I see alot of you guys using. This entire ordeal is costing me more then I told my wife I was going to spend. She's not mad because I never spend money. So when this is all done I will have an 81 Vette stock except for Dynomax headders true daul exhaust and flowmaster 2 chamber (I think they are called 40 series) mufflers. I need reassurance guys will I be happy with the sound and performance. I am not looking for a 12 second race car I just want a nice looking sports car wich it is thats sounds like a sporsts car, and performs like a sports car. Is this making any sense?

 

you'll be fine....40s are loud though...so if you like loud, headers, true duals and 40s will take you there.

 

Hard to say if you will be happy with the sound, as everyone has there own tastes. Performance should be much improved.

 

I think youll be happy with the sound,i love my flowmasters.

 

The 50's might be more of what you're looking for...I am currently running headers, true duals (no cats), and generic mufflers. The car is loud, with a heavy drone, depending on RPM. It grew worse with the new engine. Before the motor, the car was very livable. Now, it's a pain.

But that my story. That's not to say you'll have similar issues. I think the best thing to do, is to not worry about it, and wait until you get the car back. Then, once you have it back, if necessary, tune the sound.

Relax, and :cheers:

 

Yeah! What he said.... :iagree:

 

WELCOME TO THE CLUB :)

You won't end up with a 12 second car by adding headers and exhaust. You might gain 15HP...which you will notice in terms of improved response.

The "note" is another issue....some like it, some don't......it may drone at around 2000 to 3000 RPM, but when you stomp on it, it'll probably put a big smile on your face :)

In future, just remember to research before you buy, there's always going to be hidden surprises that'll stretch the budget, and the more you know, the better prepared you'll be.....HAVE FUN......

 

OK, you're young so I am thinking you will dig the sound! I have the same setup (eexcept for an "H" pipe) and i love them! :thumbs:

 

The performance increase will probably cancel any negatives you encounter with the sound level. You may need to have the carb adjusted a little now that the motor can breath through headers. Have fun!!!
Eddie

 

I have no doubt whatsoever that you are going to love this setup. You have a corvette, forget the budget. You are buying entertainment and a relationship here, not an appliance. :D

 

Flowmaster recommends an H pipe and all of the sound bytes on their site include them. It will give you a more tollerable sound and maybe even pick up a little extra power.

 

Black Snowman...

You are enjoying this forum too much. It is completely unfair to find this forum and not be in total desperation looking for help for something you don't have a clue about on the C-3 you own. Give me your E-bay account & I'll bid on one of them Canuck C-3's for ya. Guaranteed you'll get it. That should keep you busy for the next 50 years or so.

Say cheese! :D

 

trust me, putting decent pipes on the crappy factory 'headers' is like putting a blower on a yugo. those things absolutely suck. super small primaries and a beyond bad design. they're just plain horrible. and besides, they all crack. worthless pieces of crap. other than that, they're not bad.
seriously, you may want to go with 50s although i really like the sound of my 40s but that may just be me. a cross over pipe will help mellow the sound a bit too. as long as your exhaust guy is already at it, have him install one. incase you don't know how this works, get everything installed. then put paint strips down both pipes from the collector as far back as you can go. run the car and get it up to temp. there will be a place on both pipes that is obviously hotter than the rest, the paint will be more scorched. ideally, you would like that spot to be about the same on both pipes. that's where your crossover pipe goes. most likely, it won't be though. have him install the pipe between the two scorched spots.
did i mention the factory headers suck?

 

I am confident you will be telling us this is the best money you ever spent on your car, and you will have to work hard at wiping the smile off of your soul.

How's that for reassurance? BTW, I'm not kidding. :cheers:

 

Same setup on my '81 except that I've got the cheap Monza mufflers (the ones you can see daylight through). Even with the stock manifolds the performance improvement was :D :D :D Can't comment on the sound level with the mufflers you're getting, except to say that at WOT the Monzas are LOUD. Idle is fine (not loud enough, to be honest) & cruising is OK, but there is a bit of a drone (however, due to 25 years of abuse to my ears, my opinion on sound levels tends to be different to normal people).
What I found with the MA system is that it's very difficult to fit a balance pipe in there as they are so close together where the pipe needs to be.
At the moment I'm fitting Dynomax Headers & was going to get pipes made to join them to the rear sections of the MA system. BUT.... last night while underneath measuring it all up, I realised that the new Bowtie 200-4r x-member allows a pipe to be run down the drivers side. Not only that, but it looks like I only need a pipe joined to the collector with a slight bend in it to bring it up level with the underside of the car & then it's a straight run right the way back until the bend to join to the muffler. And the passenger side looks like the same thing will work :D And there's bags of room to fit an "H" pipe. What a result!
So, any 80/81 owners planning on fitting a 200-4r tranny with a Bowtie x-member (which you WILL need for the installation) shouldn't mess with the exhausts until after the tranny swap as a really nice system can be made up with only one major bend in each pipe (I guess the same applies for a 700r4 swap?). Or.... chat to Bowtie & see if they'll make up an x-member for the TH350 (if they don't already). The measurements are that the perch (for the tranny mount) needs to be raised 7/8" higher than their 200-4r x-member & moved forwards by whatever the distance is that the mounts differ by on the 2 trannys (7"????). The 200-4r x-member perch is 3/8" lower than the bottom of the frame where the x-member bolts on & the stock TH350 x-member perch is 1/2" higher measured at the same point.

Sorry, I've hijacked your post :lol: I also spent more than planned on my MA exhaust system installation but once I started the engine & went for a ride I didn't regret a single penny (cent). The GF, far from happy at the cost, loved it (but she likes loud!). I regret it now, but only because I'm junking a system that cost me a lot of money (my brutal introduction to UK customs duty & transatlantic shipping costs nearly doubled the price). Ask the guy doing the installation to make sure that there is a small gap between the park brake cable & the pipes when the brake is off. The "DING DING DING" when over bumps when the cable hits the pipe is extremely annoying (or put some sort of heat resistant soft sleeve around the cable). If you've still got the stock E4ME carb then the computer will take care of the mixture adjustments on the primaries & the secondaries seemed to have run OK on mine. Unless the Headers really affect the mixture (which I'm doubting will be a problem) the stock carb should be fine. Fuel consumption will rocket badly, but that'll be due to you continually nailing it coz the improved power, response & noise is addictive. Don't worry about the expense - you're gonna love the result, best thing I did to mine was junking the stock exhausts :)
:cheers:

 

Thanks guys I appreciate the reassurance. I love noise. The louder the better. The headders come tommorrow so I should have the car back early next week. I can't wait.

 

I agree with Robert. However, the louder the exaust, the better for me. :reddevil