side pipes
Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 3,242
Likes: 0
From: Aledo/Waco Tx
yes there is a reason, its because most people are not big fans of side pipes on later model vettes because most people don't think they blend very well with the body of the C4/C5....side pipes were kind of a 60's muscle car thing, but now the corvette has evolved to a real sports car, and that type of thing just gets in the way of peak performance (extra weight, added weight to the sides of the car), also most people don't like burning their legs when they step out of their cars or melting the fiberglass panels by the pipes.
Pro
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 721
Likes: 10
From: Irvine CA
Side Pipes
A friend of mine has them and they look good on his '90. They are covered and painted the color of the car. They do take away some ground clearance because ther is no room under the door. Also, in order to make them legal with the cats you have to run the exhaust pipe from the back of the to front to use the side pipes.
Race Director
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 16,475
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From: Kingman AZ
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Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 2,101
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From: Orange TX
Originally Posted by corvetteronw
I have seen them on a few c-4s They look pretty good
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 2,670
Likes: 4
From: Severna Park MD
Originally Posted by GOOG
why is it that i don't see any later model vettes with side pipes? i happen to be a big fan of them! is there a reason?
If you get a chance to look at an earlier car up on a lift, then compare it to a C4 up on a lift, you can see the huge difference. On the C4 the fiberglass pan under the seats is way too low to run an exhaust pipe there. No easy way to route the exhaust directly from the engine to the front of the side body. You would have to cut up something pretty badly.
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Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 30,861
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From: Boston, Dallas, Detroit, SoCal, back to Boston MA
Originally Posted by FELNGR8
The main reason is the different frame. The C4 has frame rails plus a body pan that drop down to about 4" off the pavement. This prevents you running the exhaust directly out the side like on C2/C3 cars. The usual solution, inlcuding Side Effects, is to take the exhaust back through the center tunnel like normal exhaust, then make an S-bend and bring it up front again, to another S-bend. Pretty inefficient exhaust routing.
If you get a chance to look at an earlier car up on a lift, then compare it to a C4 up on a lift, you can see the huge difference. On the C4 the fiberglass pan under the seats is way too low to run an exhaust pipe there. No easy way to route the exhaust directly from the engine to the front of the side body. You would have to cut up something pretty badly.
If you get a chance to look at an earlier car up on a lift, then compare it to a C4 up on a lift, you can see the huge difference. On the C4 the fiberglass pan under the seats is way too low to run an exhaust pipe there. No easy way to route the exhaust directly from the engine to the front of the side body. You would have to cut up something pretty badly.