Koolest Kar & Exhaust cutouts (any ideas?)

[Jimbocobra]

The good news: I won the Koolest Kar award at Rookies last night.
The bad news: Dropped my car cover on hot side pipes and put some nice holes in it. I'll be cleaning melted polyester (and now solidfied like hard plastic) off the sidepipe all week.

I am going to be dropping in some AFR heads and a new cam soon. Should be good for 75hp or more.

I spoke with Ford, they said I am losing 20-40hp through the small 2 inch sidepipes. Rather than replacing then for a cost of $2,000, I was thinking about doing some exhaust cut outs between the headers and quarterpanel under the hood. They would have to be custom fabricated because there are 4 tubes under the hood and a typical Y-pipe is made for a standard exhaust system. I think the combination of all 3 should get me 100hp and still keep the compression ratio low, run on pump gas and sound cool.

Has anyone ever done tried exhaust cut outs on sidepipes - is it a bad idea?

[RodgerH]

Just a suggestion. If you have the tools and talent to do the modifications you asked about, save yourself a lot of money and fab your own sidepipes. Believe me....it ain't that hard.

1. Cut your 4 header tubes where they go to into the collector and remove the collector/muffler/turnout.

2. Weld on a merge collector http://www.summitracing.com/parts/HOK-11540HKR/ (or if you really want to do it right use http://www.headermania.com/mm5/merch...=COLLECTORSPMC)

3.Get a muffler from http://www.classicchambered.com/clas...cts.html#cobra (pick your flavor of sound level)

4. Cut off and reuse your old turnouts.

5. You will need to fab new supports.

6. Paint it and run it for a while to see if all is like you want it, then send it out for coating.

The trick is to keep everything straight and properly aligned. I cut, fitted, and tacked it all together with a TIG with it on the car. I then removed the sidepipes and completed the welds.

Rodger

[Jimbocobra]

Hey thanks! The header collecter might work. I still want to use the sidepipes, they sound perfect, but when I go to the strip or at a stop light I want to uncork them and dump the exhaust under the car and keep everything hidden under the hood.

I have about 9 inches from the end of the headers to the quarter panel to get it the pipes collected and get the Y-pipe and exhaust cut out installed and reconnect to the pipes exiting the car. It is going to be interesting.

I don't want to put mufflers on the car at all or put new pipes. I like the current ones for everyday driving, but I am trying to get the best-of-both-worlds with the cutouts.

You did give me a couple ideas and I appreciate it. Now I need a good welder near the house.