New Sidepipe Mufflers!

[lovehamr]

I recently changed the mufflers on my side pipes and made them removable with V band clamps. With all the talk about side pipes here recently I thought I’d share how I did it. Now before any of you killer fabricators get all cranked up over it, I’m NOT a good welder but wanted to give this a shot myself. To start with I was pretty sure that my pipes were fairly restrictive just because of some posts that I’d seen on mid production BDRs (mine is #687). Some of you may remember my issues with the headers that I received with my car and I’ll show a little of some of the things that I did with them. So everyone is on the same page, my car was an early example of a BDR set up for an FE and I understand that many things that I had trouble with have since been addressed. But for those with a car near mine in production this should be interesting.

First let's look into the exit side of the headers. Most of the pics here are self-explanatory but if you have questions about then don’t hesitate to ask.
In the next 3 pics you’ll see the weld slag in the port where the side pipes bolt to the header. I actually went to town grinding on these before I put the engine on the dyno a few weeks back.




The next couple of shots are of the inside of the side pipe after I finally got up the cojones to take the chop saw to it. The first one is looking at the collector from the muffler end and the second is what the inside of the muffler looked like. Not good in either case.




This is a look down the muffler that replaced it. This is a 5”OD glasspack with a 3” core. I think it’ll do mo’betta. I sourced the mufflers from Full Line Exhaust Full Line Exhaust Online @ something like $38 a pair.


Then I got the V band mounts as even as I possibly could on the mufflers and tacked them in place.



Then, with the V band mounts on the collector but NOT tacked yet, I fitted the muffler. To do this I used the V band to hold the mounts in the right place while I moved the mufflers to the best position that I could. The slight movement of the V band mounts on the collectors allowed several degrees of movement in all radial directions.



Once the mufflers were as well placed as I could get them I tacked the V band mounts in place on the collector. BTW, I sourced the V band parts from All Purpose Pipes V-band Clamps and Rings




Once that was done I moved on to the dump tips which were trimmed with the chop saw and tacked in place with a very slight downward tilt. The 3” tips came from FLE as well.



Then came the Muffler mounts which I cut off of the factory pipes. Since these mufflers are larger around than the factory’s, I had to do a bit of bending and cutting to get them right but nothing to big, Once they were done they were tacked in place.




Then they all came off for final welding (yes that’s what I’m calling it), sand blasting, painting and refitting.

(A little side note on the sand blasting here, to sand blast it I had to rent one and the place that I went to didn’t have a normal air powered blaster and the guy asked me if I wanted to use one powered by my pressure washer. I’d never heard of that but rented the thing anyway. I have to say that It worked awesome! Way more power than I had expected.)

Once they were blasted I mostly dried them with a MAP torch then let them dry the rest of the way over night. The next day I wiped them down with lacquer thinner and panted them with VHT white and let them dry overnight. It should be noted that it took 2 cans to do it and I could use even more so be forewarned.

Then everything was bolted back in place and VHT’s curing process was started. This is how it turned out.




Now for the part that everyone is thinking but not asking. “How does it sound man?!”
Here is a before.
Before - YouTube

And here is an after.
After.3gp - YouTube

And the sound at full song is beautiful!

[DAVID GAGNARD]

Steve:

Nice job, I like white side pipes,to me, they just look right.....
uh-oh, what's with the R6 Hoosier road race radials????????????

You tracking the car?????

David

[lovehamr]

Where do you get Hoosier from? They're GY RRs and yes I do have the puppy on track on occasion.

[AKA EDDY]

Good job lovehamr.

[COBRANIP]

Excellent tutorial!
Thanks for sharing.

[Chaplin]

Well done Hammer! Excellent write up.

[Seagull81]

Super post and I like the way you used the V-band clamp!

This might be a stupid question, but after all the grinding and enlarging, why did you reduce the turn out fitting? Seems like it would be restrictive.

[lovehamr]

Originally Posted by Seagull81

This might be a stupid question, but after all the grinding and enlarging, why did you reduce the turn out fitting? Seems like it would be restrictive.

The answer to that is I didn't decrease the inside dia with the turn out. It's 3" ID just like the muffler. If you look at the pic down the entrance of the new muffler you'll see a step down a few inches inside the muffler. It basically opens up to 3.5" right at the ends but narrows to a 3" core. I used this internal step-down as a reducer at the collector taking the flow from the 3.5" collector to the muffler core but saw no reason to step it back up on exit. When I ordered the mufflers I ordered them with a 3" core and assumed that I would be building in a reducer at the collector. It was only after I got them that I realized that they had the reducer essentially built in, so I just ran with it.

[rpatton3]

Very nice!

[DAVID GAGNARD]

Originally Posted by lovehamr

Where do you get Hoosier from? They're GY RRs and yes I do have the puppy on track on occasion.

I order mine on line directly from Hoosier.https://www.hoosiertire.com/discontinuedtires.htm..no dealers nearby....Usually during the winter, they run some real good sales and offer free shipping or a very discounted rate....Also bought a set a few years ago, should have bought 4 or 5 sets, they were an overstocked item,Hoosier R6 Road Race radials but 2 sizes shorter than I normally run, 55 bucks a tire delivered to my door!!!!!!!!!!
I use them for practise and on my street car when I track it a few times a year........

Glad your car is seeing some track time, that's the most fun you're gonna have in it........

David

[lovehamr]

No ya cajan goof. Not "Where can I buy some Hoosiers?" where did you get the idea that I was running Hoosiers in the first place? Now go back to re-wiring your air boat with harpoon canon.

[SpecOp1]

Well done sir....sounds and looks great!

[DAVID GAGNARD]

Originally Posted by lovehamr

No ya cajan goof. Not "Where can I buy some Hoosiers?" where did you get the idea that I was running Hoosiers in the first place? Now go back to re-wiring your air boat with harpoon canon.

I dunno, the pictures you posted I guess, the tires on your car look exactly like the R6 Hoosier radials..........but my eyes are old and not as good as years ago.......

Now back to the shop to see what else I can mess up.......

David

[Cashburn]

Now for the vband to straight pipe swap...

[lovehamr]

Originally Posted by Cashburn

Now for the vband to straight pipe swap...

And that my man, is the reason for the V band in the first place!

[rayzorsharp]

Very nice job. Love the car too!!

[rpatton3]

Is there any "seat of the pants" difference in power? The sound is worth your effort!

[Sledge]

I just changed out my sidepipe inserts to the 30" turbo spirals (for Corvettes, I had to shorten them a bit to make them fit). I was actually trying to get a little quieter but it did not happen--they're louder at idle and under acceleration but the sound is much nicer to my ear, like lovehamr's youtube video. At cruise speeds they're actually a bit quieter. I'll keep them if my nieghbors don't shoot me and the cops don't give me a ticket....or vice versa. I keep telling myself the sound in city traffic is just the white trash (such as myself) version of bad yet stupidly loud distorted rap "music," and there appears to be no shortage of that....

I went with the v-band clamps also for easier access should I need to make a change.

[mickmate]

Good thread and pics. I like the V band clamps as you said it allows for some bolt on alternatives. I wouldn't have used the 5" muffler body I much prefer the 4". I thought you were goofing when you videoed it idling but man is there a difference in breathing just at idle.
Good job.

[PLDRIVE]

Well done Steve. Thanks for sharing!