has anybody seen a C4 with sidepipes? just wondering what they would look like............

 

There is a product called Side Effects that is available from places like Corvette Central, Mid America, etc.
I was at Bloomington Gold last week having Jason from Vette2Vette install a hardtop on my 87 vert. His parts-chaser sent the wrong parts so we were not able to finish the install. I will go to his business site in July to finish.
Any way. He had a set of used Side Effects there at the show. If you E-mail him at parts@vette2vette.com he can quote you a price. I think they sell new for about a grand but he will sell his for much, much less.
I think they look OK but the look is not for me. I was at a Corvette show about 3 years ago where a Ruby coupe had these installed along with GS wheels. The car looked good and won Best C4!

 

The problem with side pipes on a C4 is the cats. None of these cars are old enough to be exempt from safety or emissions testing so you would have to have a set of cats in the exhaust system. I've seen the Side Effects, they're not too bad looking, (although I don't care for them). I think the exhaust goes from the manifold through a cat, then makes an "U" turn back to just behind the front wheel well to exit through the side pipe. So the real question is with all the turns how efficient is this system? The side pipes on the C2's and C3's go from the manifold out behind the wheel well.

 

i concur on the efficiency note....a friend has factory originals on a '69 427/435 out in Oregon and it looks bitchin'!!!!

 

I've seen about 4 or 5 C4's with side pipes. IMO so so of a look. Depends on the car and what else has been done to it.

 

Don't bother trying to find a new set.... "Sidepipes" have been out of production since Spring of 2003. And, most of their replacement parts have been sold.

They keep saying they'll be made again, but 2 years of waiting tells a stronger story.

If you're clever, you can use the "fake" covers sold by Mid-America Designs and create your own system (that exits the cat and does a 90-degree straight to the side). The advantage would be less restriction. The dis-advantage would be the possible loss of jacking points.

Either approach will cost you around 2" of ground clearance.

I've even spent time trying to re-design the whole system with high-flow cats up front and exits in behind the front wheels. This just cannot be done without MAJOR mods.

WWW.POWEREFFECTS.com has a pic so you can see. The site also has an 800 number if you want to see how bleak the chance of getting a system would be....

gp

 

And I'm sure it sounds even better.

 

The side effects are not true sidepipes, so I wouldn't even call them that.

 

Eh, not my style. : )

A member from CT was selling a 198X with updated front / rear bumpers, Greenwood kit and this side exhaist package. It didn't look too bad.

Let me see if I can find his pictures.

EDIT - I had them hosted on my sight.

 

thanx for the pics....not sure whether i like the look or not though....

 

what it looks like behind the covers. the silver part is glass packed. the glass was taken out of mine so im not sure what they sounded like new but now they sound just like muffler eliminators.

 

I dig em'

 

My C4 is emmissions exempt

 

I want to be exempt to.

 

i saw one the other day that had some chrome header style ones on it and was wondering how it worked. but it didn't sound too good either.

 

Check the photos in my signature box. They came from a company on the west side of Michigan. Previous owner put them on. They are currently not available, I talked to them to get some replacement bolts. Said they would resume late this year. I am Indy this weekend for an SCCA event with my spec Miata.

If you send me a personal I will froward the address when I get home.

Jim

 

So if they are indeed on the side w/side outlet and they are a pipe ... what are they ... They are not just for looks right?

 

According to some Corvette "experts" my dad knows out in CA (these are legit people), the side exhausts actually cost about 20-30 HP at the wheels compared to the normal exhaust on his 67 427/400. He's only dyno'ng 260HP at the rear wheels and both his mechanic and the dyno shop said that is about normal loss for his engine with sidepipes. Another guy with an identical car, all stock hit 300HP at the wheels - again about normal for regular exhaust. My dad likes the sidepipes, but isn't happy with the power loss.

 

Mine are for looks only. I race a spec Miata for fun. It might out run my C4. Miata has a trap speed of 141 MPH. It's also a lot cheaper to repair that the Corvette.

 

This power loss makes sense. When I installed the venting for my new downdraft stove, they said not to put more than three 90-degree bends in the exhaust routing.

My first attempt had four 90-degree and one 45-degree bend in the routing, but I wasn't happy with the air it would pull down through the stove. After redoing the setup, I got it down to one 90 and one 45-degree turn. The amount of air the fan would pull seemed to double! Boy, was I surprised!

Side Effects exhaust systems have one 45 and two 90-degree turns. Their advertisements and an older article in Corvette Fever claimed small gains, but it seems hard to believe with that many turns. When they first came out, most verts had oval mufflers with a dummy opening. They were pretty restrictive. Compared to those mufflers, it might have been possible to see a gain.

However, compared to most other performance systems you can add to a Corvette, Side Effects probably aren't the best. Because the best performance systems have NO bends. And, the quote above supports this. (Granted some back pressure is necessary to develop torque, but "Side Effects" may go too far. And, really, it's not their fault -- because trying to fab a bolt-on side-pipe system behind the rear cat of a low-clearance car is no walk in the park).

However, if you intend to "go for it", putting small performance cats up front and finding a routing that would lead straight behind the front wheel would be optimum (legal) solution.

The next best method would be to exit the stock cat and go straight sideways and exit in front of the rear wheel. You could "T" the pipe into a dummy chrome side (having only a rear exit) or you could run them into the urethane covers sold by MAD Vette.

If you choose the option of using covers, there are pros/cons (besides the restrictions/bends already mentioned). I've seen a "Side Effects" set where the covers were really busted up due to their low clearance. Unfortunately, "Side Effects" covers are made of fiberglass -- so they are breakable. If you route your own system into the MAD Vette side covers, they are made of urethane -- so they probably won't break as easily. And, if they do, at least low cost replacements covers are available.

Side Effects do have "jacking plates" to aid in jacking the car up (after you kill the ground clearance). And, the system is ready to bolt on. So there are some advantages to buying this pre-fab kit (if you can find one). You should also be aware that their is a different "collector" junction for L98 vs LT1s (if you go looking for a used set).

For those interesting in adding side pipes to their Vette, I think the real advantage would go to the person willing to design their own system -- eliminating all the bends and the factory cats associated with the "Side Effects" system. And, the final cost could easily be lower.