Stainless Specialty Side Pipe length

[sea2jet]

I’m having a new set of SS side pipes made to replace my Stainless Specialties pipes. One thing a friend noticed on ERA 727 and had corrected while they were still in business, was that the passenger side pipe was longer than the drivers side. Meaning the exhaust tip is closer to the rear wheel on the passenger side than the drivers side. I forgot to measure before taking them off and sending them to Georgie at GasN Pipes. If you have Stainless Specialties pipes on your ERA, can you measure each side to see what the actual difference is? I believe it’s just the pipe that attaches to the rear of the baffle that differs in length between the two sides. Patrick, any chance you have the same pipes? Thanks.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by sea2jet

Patrick, any chance you have the same pipes? Thanks.

I just went down and measured them. The distance from the end of the baffle portion of the pipe to the front of the opening of the side pipe is NINE inches on the driver side and EIGHT inches on the passenger side. Now, I do have the "quiet type" pipes from SS, pics of which are available in the gallery and ERA link in my sig below. That's funny that I never noticed the one inch difference in length.

[patrickt]

Here's a pic:

[sea2jet]

Oh no Patrick, sorry to point out the flaw��. I never noticed also until my friend so graciously enlighten me when he noticed on ERA 727. Sure enough, 744 has the same issue. I just want to make sure that Gas N Pipes has the correct information as they are using my pipes to create a fixture to make pipes for future ERA cars. I wish I would have measured mine while they where on the car. Thanks for taking the time to check Patrick...I just checked pictures I have and my pax side is longer than my drivers side.

[DC COBRA]

If you make the sidepipes the same length and the headers the same length, one side is going to be further back on the car due to the cylinder offset side to side. Usually about the width of a connecting rod, about an inch or so.

[patrickt]

The baffles are roughly the same length on both sides at 20.5" but the baffle is 4.5" behind the four pipes on the driver's side and about 6" behind the four pipes on the passenger side.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by sea2jet

Thanks for taking the time to check Patrick...I might have been confused on which side is longer that the other.

After 15+ years I was starting to think I'd seen it all, so it's refreshing to have something as obvious as that pointed out that I had never noticed. Kind of like when I point out the intentionally off kilter turn signal on the front of the cars.

[sea2jet]

The turn signal is off kilter on my car as well, what’s this world coming too

[kevins2]

Interesting, I also have the "quiet pipes" from Stainless specialties, but the dimensions are completely different. On my driver's side, the end of the baffle (I used the middle of the weld as the measure point) to the front of the exhaust opening is 1 5/8". The passenger side is 2 3/8". I also never noticed the difference.

Patrick, you said you have the quiet pipes. I recall Peter telling me the standard baffle length from Stainless Specialties is 20" and the quiet pipes baffles are 28". Mine are 28 1/2" so yours are considerably shorter and don't match what was described to me as the quiet pipes. That said, my car is anything but quiet. In fact, it is the loudest car in the area. So much so, one of the guys nicknamed my car "Thunderstorm", because that's what he said it sounds like when I'm approaching. Very confusing. Here's a photo so you can see the very long baffle and different dimensions compared to Patrick's car.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by kevins2

Very confusing. Here's a photo so you can see the very long baffle and different dimensions compared to Patrick's car.

Well this is one of those rare subjects of which I know very little. I will say the tone of the exhaust is absolutely delightful. Not too loud, not too soft, just the right amount of bass -- perfect.

[kevins2]

The tone of my car is awesome, deep base. If I could turn the volume down a little, I would but wouldn’t want to change the tone. I just don’t understand why my longer baffles, made by the same company, are not quieter.

[RockBit]

I also have Stainless Specialty side pipes and had never noticed the difference. I just measured and the passenger side is longer than the drivers side. I have the 20 inch baffle section and my pipes are very loud. Peter did not tell me there were quieter options.

The bends in the front on mine are not concentric, and I had to trim the opening when I installed the pipes to have clearance with the body on the passenger side. I asked Peter about getting the pipes remade but he declined, saying that he could not get in touch with Stainless Specialties. They weren’t cheap and should have been right.

I am glad to see Gas-N may be making ERA pipes. I might replace mine.

[Argess]

One of these days ERA might be gone and my concern would be getting primary pipes. They look difficult to make... getting the bends at the right angles comes to mind.

[patrickt]

Hmmm, maybe ceramic coating them black reduces the sound level.

[patrickt]

Here, I fished this out for reference.

[joyridin']

Originally Posted by Argess

One of these days ERA might be gone and my concern would be getting primary pipes. They look difficult to make... getting the bends at the right angles comes to mind.

That won't be an issue. I had some headers made by GP Headers. I butchered up my old header and welded a flange on it and tried to describe what I wanted. I have no idea how they did it, but they were absolutely perfect and were within less than 1/16" of being where I had measured.

[sea2jet]

Originally Posted by RockBit

I also have Stainless Specialty side pipes and had never noticed the difference. I just measured and the passenger side is longer than the drivers side. I have the 20 inch baffle section and my pipes are very loud. Peter did not tell me there were quieter options.

The bends in the front on mine are not concentric, and I had to trim the opening when I installed the pipes to have clearance with the body on the passenger side. I asked Peter about getting the pipes remade but he declined, saying that he could not get in touch with Stainless Specialties. They weren’t cheap and should have been right.

I am glad to see Gas-N may be making ERA pipes. I might replace mine.

Rockbit,
You mentioned that your passenger pipe was longer than the drivers side. What was the difference in length between the two? Thanks.

[RockBit]

sea2jet,

Sorry for the slow reply. I had to make a quick trip.

Lengths on my SS pipes (inches) are:

Passenger Driver
Nearest distance to tire: 5 1/2 7 1/4
Length after baffle: 13 12 1/2
Collector Length: 7 7

Photo is of passenger side. You can see the nonconcentric bend.

[patrickt]

That's interesting, the pipes do look different. It reminds me of pipes that we would do long ago on cars that we would cut the tubs out of the engine bay (on cars where they weren't integral) and you could see the pipes from outside the car by looking behind the front wheels. I used to think that was about the coolest look I had ever seen. When you saw it, you knew somebody had done some serious tweaking to the car.

[sea2jet]

Originally Posted by RockBit

sea2jet,

Sorry for the slow reply. I had to make a quick trip.

Lengths on my SS pipes (inches) are:

Passenger Driver
Nearest distance to tire: 5 1/2 7 1/4
Length after baffle: 13 12 1/2
Collector Length: 7 7

Photo is of passenger side. You can see the nonconcentric bend.

Thanks RockBit,
Your pipes look just like mine. So from a visual aspect, the passenger side looks like it’s 1 3/4” longer. Length after baffle is only 1/2” so I wonder if the the other 1 1/4” difference is due to cylinder offset? That being the case and depending on whether you want longer or shorter side pipes(look) adding or removing 7/8” from both the after baffle pipe and the collector should give a symmetrical appearance.