exhaust ?

[55metalmonkey]

I'm about to run my exhaust but have a question or two. I'm debateing my options at this point
Has anyone routed their exhaust on a 55-57 stepside and had the tip dump out in front of the rear tires? or even behind the rear tires? if so does anyone have any pics even with rounded tips?

My initial thought is to come from the shorty headers to a H pipe then to a pair of Flowmasters and have them exhaust in front of the rear tires through a set of custom SS tips that I was going to make and mount under the front step. The tip would be a flat pan style, rounded to blend in with roughly 1.5"x 10" opening in it.
obviously no one would have a pic of the tip I want but I'm just curious as to what it would look like...... any opinions?

My other options are to do the same thing but dump it out behind the rear tires or to just run it back to the roll pan like most people do but like the idea of having something a little different.
any input would be great

[Dan Bowles]

How do you plan to make the tips? 10 x 1.5 oval is going to take a 7 or 8" pipe to flatten. That could be tricky to flow back down to an inlet. You may have to make or find some cone tooling to connect that to the truck.

I don't like in front of the tires just because I always find these exhausts to have significant cabin boom. Out the back it usually better but that will be up to you.

I'm interested in how you go about the tips. It will be a challenge but if you have fab skills, then it should be a good deal. It most likely will flow in well with the truck body lines. I'd recommend a 300 series SS and have it flash chromed when you are done.

What pipes size are you thinking for the duals? What HP motor?

[55metalmonkey]

The engine is a 350 crate that I rebuilt, should be in the 330-350hp range, exhaust is 2.5 inch from header flange to tip.
Fabing isn't a problem, Not to blow smoke up my own a**, but I can pretty much make just about anything if I have an idea. if I can't get it the way I want with the tools I have on hand I know people who will either do it or let me play with their toys.

The point about the cabin bloom is a good point, I didn't give it much consideration but now that you mention it ....idleing at a stop light for a long time might not be the most pleasent experience for some people, the engine is 11:1 compression so I have to run high octane premium or race gas... I love the smell but others might hate it.

I have a few ideas of the design and a few options if my initial thoughts on it go down the crapper. I'm thinking in hind site that I might have the opening facing a bit more to the wheel opening
I guess I'll do a mock up with some light gauge stuff and see how it looks, I'll post a few picks if your interested.

[lazypineapple]

on my 52 i plan on my exhaust coming out in front of my rear tire too at the rear of the running board,flush to the edge, with retangle tips maybe 2x10",
looking on ebay i found several tips 30.00 or so for a pair of SS. i couldn't make them for that.
they got square,retangle,slant,round edges , all sizes

[55metalmonkey]

do you have a link or an image? just looking for ideas not to scam your find.
I want is something fairly subtle and doesn't stand out unless your looking for it which is why I was thinking only 1.5". I guess 2" would look about the same

[lazypineapple]

Do a search on eBay.
Try "exhaust Tips"
Or
Exhaust tips camero.
Exhaust tip corvette.

I was thinking about using something like this


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2-1-4...#ht_7179wt_948
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[kaycee]

I run them in front of tire on my 69 short step,coupla things to consider is in front of tire they are a lot louder in the cab.But alot cheaper and easier to fab on your own, behind the tire it will get alot of debris rock chips etc. if you have some fancy tips.

[mr48chev]

I have to go with what Dan and Kaycee said about them being a lot louder in the cab and the continual resonance can be a royal pain on long road trips.
It isn't as bad as having them dump under the bed in front of the axle but the "cool pipes" sound soon becomes tiring to most of us and our passengers.

I had side pipes on the 48 for several years and then had the six cylinder pipe dump in front of the rear wheel for 20 years. Along with that my 64 GMC had burned out glass packs that dumped in front of the wheel and the same pipes were on my 71 GMC for a long time. Fun to listen to when you rap it out but not fun after 200 miles of having it boom away on a road trip.
The other issue that no one covered is the exhaust residue gettng on your rear wheels and constantly having to be cleaned off. Even if you have a really clean running engine there always seems to be some residue from the exhaust getting on the rear wheels and having to be cleaned off.

[55metalmonkey]

i'm still humming and hawing over it, I'm still thinking of doing a couple different designs and testing them when the truck eventualy gets running. who knows, could be that all my ideas of what to do suck and I just won't realize it till I see it/ hear it

I know what your saying with the nausiating drum of exaust for a few hundred miles. I see alot of guys running glass packs and your right, it sounds cool for a bit but can drive you nuts after the novelty wears off, besides I'm not a 20 something trying to get every cops attention although my wife would likely disagree

The cab will be getting heavily sound proofed (muffled) after paint which will help but not when the windows are down and I went with 50 series flowmasters to keep the sound down a fair bit, I've heard them on a few trucks with a set up close to what I have and it's not anoying at all, it just has a nice rumble tone when your accelerating heavy.. other than that it's not realy loud.

Cleaning the tires all the time may get annoying though.

[oletrux]

For what it's worth, I run a 383, 2-1/2" pipe from the full length headers all the way back. Flowmaster 40 series into a mandrel bent 45* bend, into 12" Hushpowers. Sounds great outside, yet very low in-cab sound and practically zero resonance. I use SS tips, slash cut, with the back of the tip just even with the front of the wheel opening.
My rear axle is flipped, and there's not enough room for it to travel with the pipes going over the axle to the rear........

[mr48chev]

Well, the other thing is that you can always start with them dumping in front of the wheels and if you decide you don't like it you can go back and have tailpipes put on it to run all the way out the back either over or under the axle. MY guess is that if you drive the truck any distances on a regular basis you will be changing it out pretty soon though.
Or you can get some of those big orange or yellow ear muffs like the hotrodders who think it is great to run down the road with open megaphone style headers on their Model A's

[oletrux]

I hear that! I don't know how those guys stand it, especially in the t-buckets.
We just finished 4,350 miles on the Power Tour and it wasn't bad at all. You can talk just slightly above normal levels at 75 or so............and you are correct; if it's still too loud it can be moved further to the rear.

[55metalmonkey]

We get the guys at the shows who drive around like that, some cops will stop them and theaten to give them a ticket for driving with ear plugs in (not allowed here) and then give them a safety violation for having too loud of exhaust (not allowed either)
Harley guys with straight pipes hate it when the cops crack down/ enforce the Db laws.

My target is to have a barely noticeable rumble at idle and a slight growl on semi hard acceleration. It wouldn't be my first time tweeking exhaust for sound and though trial and error have found that there are a few things that can be done at the tips play with the sound. (diverter baffle ect)
I have a rough plan but am on hold for a couple weeks while some other stuff gets done so I have time to plan it more and make the mold/dies. I've seen a few pics on this site where people have the exaust in front of the tires and like the idea but my plan (so far anyway) is to have more of a flat plan style that conforms close to the step shape so it would be hardly noticeable unless you were looking for it vs a round pipe.
Mr48 is right, if I don't like it I can always move them closer to the rear, tons of room under these trucks for just about any option

[solidaxel]

I like them out the back with a good quality SS muffler

[55metalmonkey]

I considered that but will leave that as my back up option in case this plan goes down the crapper or I decied I don't like the side exaust.............

or the wife makes me change it, funny thing is she already thinks it's her's.... no idea where she got that idea from