Straight Pipes on my Kirkham

[W. MITTY]

In my ongoing quest to irritate my wife and alienate my neighbors, I put together a set of straight pipes for my Kirkham.

I went to a high performance diesel muffler shop, and bought a couple of lengths of 4" diameter pipe, a 4" mandrel bent "U" piece, and a 3" to 4" transition. A buddy then cut the U at the appropriate location to create the turn out, and welded it to the straight piece. Once the assembly was cut to length and the transition was welded on, we were ready to attach it to the collector with a sleeve clamp. It worked out well.

As for the sound, driving it is a seismic event. Imagine a couple of gorillas locked in a dumpster with a hammer; that's what it sounds like to sit between the pipes. I took my brother for a canyon ride to celebrate tax day (he's a CPA and the end of the season is the happiest day of his life) and he was screaming something that sounded alarming like "my ears are bleeding" after we busted a serious horsepower pass on a rolling chicane (minivan).

Anyway, it's a lot of fun, but not something that I would recommend for city driving. The car sure pulls hard with those pipes on it though . . .

[Jamo]

Hehe...you're just having a ball, aren't ya.

[newBDR]

so there's no muffler in there? just wide open? that's the best thing since sliced bread.

[Karl Bebout]

Good Morning WM. You might want to take a look at your plugs to see how your carb jetting is doing with the reduced back pressure. Your sound has got to be great. I run 3" pipes back from the collector then through 3" I.D. bullets with the under car exhaust exiting just in front of the rear tires and it sounds plenty nasty but you set up would probably make me have to check to see if my engine is still running. Keep your ear plugs handy or do like I do and just remove the hearing aids. (too much rock and roll, race cars, and weaponry)

[W. MITTY]

I am now deaf. My wife can no longer communicate with me. Life is sweet.

Karl,

I bought one of those fancy wide band O2 sensors with the dial and digital readout. I'm waiting on my welding buddy to put the bung in, then I'll install the gauge and give it a test. I definitely agree that it will have likely changed the tuning parameters. It sure feels snorty.

[misfit41]

I F____ING LOVE IT !!!!!!

[David Kirkham]

WM,

YOU HAVE TO WEAR EAR PLUGS TO DRIVE THAT CAR!!!

I know!!!

That machine has AWSOME power.

That is really a sweet ride. Every time you come here there is something else that is missing on that machine. We even removed some carpet last time. Pretty soon there will be a body, wheels, and engine!

Definitely one of the coolest cars we have out there.

David

[lovehamr]

W. Mitty,

You must be quite the optimist. To wit; "after we busted a serious horsepower pass on a rolling chicane (minivan)." LMAO! Making the best of any situation huh? I've always just referred to them (minivans) as blights on the butt of the American highway. I'd have loved to see the look on the face of the driver as the "seismic event" echoed off of its tin can side. LOL There you go! You’ve got me laughing again. Thanks for the post, guess I'm not the only sicko around.

Steve

[David Kirkham]

WM,

How's the new tranny holding up? I would like to get some long term feedback on the project!

David

[David Kirkham]

WM,

We just did a little custom header work ourselves...

I'll try and post some pics tomorrow.

David

I will write to you from now on--because I KNOW YOU CAN"T HEAR!!!