blunsford

I'm reall torn between the 2. I like the stock look of my Vette, but think it would look good with the chrome sidepipes.

What do you guys think? How much HP loss is there with the sides over duals? I like the ides of lowering the heat as well.

check my sig or click here. http://www.photohost.org/gallery/sho...hp?photo=16087

blunsford

Here's a pic of my 8 year old son at the wheel. He makes the car look better than I do :-)
http://www.photohost.org/gallery/sho...hp?photo=16088

GDaina

You gain H.P. with side pipes, how much depends on the motor's mods. I will never go back to stock exhaust...I like the idea of not having burned feet.

Click on my sig, will give you an idea how the sidemounts change the look of the vette


[Modified by GDaina, 12:33 AM 9/22/2003]

Brettmc

Nice car! I remember reading on the forum a while back that duals are less restrictive than sidepipes.

Brett :thumbs:

battsup

its that there is a lot of backpressure from sidepipes and that you can get more horsepower from true duals and headers.

blunsford

I'm wondering if the backpressure is from the mufflers or the sidepipes themselves. Even a true dual exhaust has bends in it. IF I do go with the sides, I'm thinking about the spiral baffles instead of mufflers.

Chuck Harmon

battsup,

The mufflers cause the back pressure, not the side pipes. The capped JCL baffles have a little back pressure. Uncapped there is virtually no back pressure or power loss. Some dual under car systems have very little back pressure too, but unless you extensively modify the frame you lose a great deal of ground clearance. You also have a heat issue with hot pipes running alongside the trans and the rear end, to say nothing of the heat coming up through the passenger compartment. Changing a clutch or T/O bearing is also much more of a pain if you have to remove the exhaust pipes to get to them.

I personally prefer the looks of the factory under car system, but there were too many disadvantages for me to outweigh my aesthetic preference.

Chuck

Jughead

I think a distinction should be made between factory style side pipes and the huge Hooker sidemounts. Big difference in size & flow. I don't think there's any comparison between an under car system and Hooker sidemounts. I think that's why they use them on the race circuit.

Tele_Man

Side pipes definitely look cool, but I decided to go with duals. First, if you want authentic side pipes from the '69 model year it'll cost you a lot of money. Second. side pipes can burn your shins badly if you're not careful getting out of the car. Third, I was concerned about getting hassled by my local police for the noise pollution. I went with 2 1/2" diameter dual rear pipes on my '69. The original exhaust specs were 2" diameter. The extra width allows the exhaust to flow better out of the engine. My car also sounds fine and no worries about the cops. Overall, I'm happy with my decision.

Corey_68

Plus don't forget you will gain more ground clearance with side pipes. I easily gained 3 inches underthe car, no more worries straddling dead animals in the road. :thumbs:

Alwyn678

I like the look of Sidepipes but I think True Duals flow better. Also to get sidepipes to flow properly they are un-godly loud and annoying for any exteded drive time.....Let's not forget the leg scars from sidepipes :lol:

GDaina

Reading all the replies, I'm wondering if we are all on the same page....factory side mounts, Hooker sidemounts, two different exhaust systems...I get the impression some are talking about the factory and some are talking about Hookers..... :confused:

Maurice

I have been torn by this same question for over a year. I really wanted side pipes for the looks, a black 69 vert with chrome sidepipes is AWESOME!! BUT...the whole pain/burn thing is such a turnoff for me. What decided it for me was thinking that my dogs might get burned when coming to greet me. I know that they would learn after a couple times and forgive me....but my wife would never forgive me if she saw the dogs get it or if she got burned!! I now have 3" undercar exhaust and scrape on every speedbump I meet.

Mark70

If you want to protect yourself and the dogs from burns, you can get heat shields for the Hooker Sidemounts. JCL has some at his site, http://www.spiralturbobaffles.com , or you can get something like the ones I have on my car, http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zero...&id=1545196083 .

Maurice

Thanks, those look pretty cool. Have you checked the temp on them to see the difference between the pipes and the covers? Anybody know right off hand at what temperature you get burned?

Robert N

My .02:

I personally like the look of the original style pipes only.

I went with the undercar system as my floor will be insulated when the carpet is redone, the lose of ground clearance is no biggie, and while there are shields for the side pipes and the underside of the car is cooler, the door sills STILL get hot to the touch. Burned my hand once. My then 3 year old son climbed in after a ride and burned both feet - sidepipes are gone!!

Deslok

My preference was for the sidepipes. The only issue for me is the possibility of burning when getting in/out of the car. But, I've trained myself and wife as best I can.

For the factory side pipes, you can replace the factory muffler with JCL baffles also. Haven't dyno'd mine since I upgraded to Hooker sidemounts/JCL baffles, but, I can feel a huge difference in SOP.

Keith

Smokehouse69

In my opinion, there is nothing that looks better on a 'vette than a good looking set of sidepipes, but if you have any small children, pets or female companions who might burn themselves on the car then don't get them. If you still want them then the only relatively safe type to get is reproduction stock looking fiberglass covers. They remain fairly cool and won't burn anyone unless they are trying hard to get burned by reaching up behind the covers.
They look pretty darned good either painted to match the car (Binny's yellow car looks great,) painted a contrasting color or even painted silver.
Last year we had a guy from the Dallas area that had a set of fiberglass covers that he got chrome plated, and they looked damned good. He told me he spent many hours sanding and smoothing them before they were electro-plated. If I remember correctly it cost him about $800.00 to get them plated.
I also saw a pair that had been painted with the shiniest chrome paint I have ever seen then clear coated. They looked very good and you had to get down and really look to tell they weren't plated (of course I'm a half blind old phart, so your mileage may vary.) The guy promised to send me the paint code, but I never heard from him again.
As far as performance goes, Hookers with JCL's are very, very good performers. JCL also makes a set of inserts for stock side pipes. Hooking headers up to sidepipes isn't the easiest thing to do, but it can be done, and as long as the sidepipes don't have restrictive mufflers then your performance should be very good.
Another thing to consider is that although sidepipes sound great, they can get loud and popping isn't uncommon. An under car exhaust can easily setup with an "H" pipe or "X" crossover that will really mellow out the sounds of exhaust. It is fairly hard to route a crossover on a sidepipe car. I saw a car in the C-2 forum that had a crossover, but he routed it around the front of his engine and then heavily insulated it with header wrap. It didn't look too cool.
Anyway that's my opinion and what I seen and been told about sidepipes. Good luck in whatever you choose. I know what it's like trying to decide what to do, because I'm in the same boat. I sure want sidepipes and I really need to replace my exhaust.