exhaust dilema!!!!!

[cb1965]

allright guys

im new to the exhaust stuff. i have stock ram horns that are not in great shape and tubing that was botched by one of the PO's. what recomendations do you have as far as manifolds/headers and tubing, mufflers.the whole nine. i like to do things myself but have no welding experience. is there a set up for our truck that will bolt on directly. maybe attached with brackets or do you suggest taking it to a shop.
crate 350 with powerglide(will upgrade to th350 later down the road) thanks

[jocko]

Headers are ok, but my experience is that they turn to rust quickly unless you fork over the $ to buy them coated or have them coated. And I've done that and it is nice - then I just add a collector reducer to the end and drive it to a muffler shop to ge tthe rest done.

However, if you are on a budget, I'd media blast the rams horns, coat them with something from Eastwood and stick new studs in them and go with that. Simple, works, looks good, and no headaches. My 2 cents. I think my header buyin days are about over... prefer cast iron these days.

Pypes has an exhaust system for 67 and newer trucks. Not sure if it could be adapted. My best experience is with a local muffler shop. Find someone you trust and it's worth paying them to do a nice job. Unfortunately, nowadays (depending on the state) the rules are so crazy as to what they can or cannot do to your exhaust system that you HAVE to use the good ol boy network. In Maryland, I could not even get a muffler shop top change the pipes on my truck from the mufflers on back - all I wanted was an angled downspout - NOBODY would do it, they quoted some nonsense about not being able to legally work on a system without a cat on it (without actually installing a cat in the process). Total horse hockey - I figured they just didn't want to work on it, but it turned out to be a common thread. Strange. I'm in cali now, and have lived here many times before - and even as emissions conscious as cali can be, I know I'll have no problem getting the pipes I want. Anyhoo, I see you're in cali also, so that'd be my advice: blast the rams horns, save the bucks for a nice set of pipes installed by a pro and you can get them to look and sound like you want.

[Sillyoldman]

I put Pypes on my '63. Kit was easy to install and sounds great. Price was nice too.

[markeb01]

Back in the 60’s you could just buy stock replacement headpipes and tailpipes from any local parts house and bolt everything together yourself. I did it many times on a variety of cars, but I don’t think any of the chain stores do that anymore.

I’m with Jocko regarding headers. If you’re going racing they’re fine, as long as you spend enough money to get high quality, heavy flange headers with a good coating. My earlier experience with cheap headers taught me to never do that again. Constant leaks, loose bolts, poor fit, restricted access to the spark plugs, burned wires, incredible heat in the engine compartment, etc. I just run ram horns manifold now. I prefer zero maintenance over good looks.

I took mine to a local muffler shop, where they did beautiful custom work.

[lakeroadster]

In regards to Rams Horn manifolds, they are not all created equal. The stock 2-1/2" Corvette style are said to be about 66% as good as headers on a mild SBC. The more radical the motor, the more you will benefit from headers, it's the flow in and flow out that make headers more efficient. Some people are porting the 'vette rams horn and getting within 10% of headers, but those ported manifolds cost as much or more than a set of headers. Why? Well in certain drag racing classes stock, means running stock parts. But the classes allow modifying the stock parts, thus you end up with hhigh dollar stock manifold modifications.

Here is a link to a company that sells stock and modified Rams Horn manifolds, as well as late 60's "log" style manifolds. A lot of good data here, but their prices are pretty high. http://www.castheads.com/faqs_exhaust_manifolds.php

Speedway Motors sells new Rams Horn manifolds that are smooth and look very nice, at a more reasonable price, but still pricey IMO: http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Small-...olds,3823.html

And here is some actual data posted in regards to a '72 LT1 motor, rams horn vs. headers.: http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-t...s-headers.html

The difference between a fully ported set of 2.5" dia rams horns and Hooker Super Comp 1.75" headers was about 10% of my power on my 1972 LT-1 motor during a dyno test of the motor (394HP manifolds/426HP Hookers.) The testing was done with a set of DynoMax Ultra Flow 2.5" mufflers on a simulated exhaust system. The difference at the Drags 12.60@113.8 MPH with rams horns (I had a lot of porting labor in them and broke over $90 of carbide burrs porting them, they were better than Brezinski manifolds) and 12.28@117 MPH with the Hookers (both runs through the mufflers.)

But for the record: I have headers on every V-8 I own.

[cb1965]

is there a year of ram horns to try to get or stay away from or are they all

the same? mine are in bad shape corrosion around the ports. is there a

difference with center dump or angled? any suggestions on mufflers. should i

buy some and take them with me to a shop or will a shop have an assortment

to pick from. what price range am i looking at? .....i know too many

questions

[markeb01]

I used an angled manifold on the driver side and a straight manifold on the passenger side, although it appears a straight manifold would also have worked.



If you’re on a tight budget and can use straight manifolds these cheap manifolds on eBay would do the trick:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...K%3AMEWAX%3AIT

I’m pretty sure they are Chinese imports, but I bought one for my wife’s 360 FE engine and it fit perfectly and cost less than half what everybody wanted for a used one in about the same condition as the one I was throwing away.

[fleetsidelarry]

so far it has been my experience that the aftermarket manifolds are fine. I scrapped the 4-tube headers for a set of corvette 2.5" several years ago. paid thru the nose for the oem corvette's, one of which the muffler shop immediately broke a corner of the flange off of when they did the pipes. it eventually cracked and I replaced it with one of the cheap ones off e-bay. it may not be completely equal to the oem in total flow but otherwise is nice and heavy and works for me.

my 2 cents: the worth of headers on daily drivers is overrated imo, they are just not necessary unless you're going to do some racing. there's driving on the street and there's racing, anything in between is a compromise. for our trucks, the rams horn style is a good choice as evidenced by lakeroadster's post above.

[Clyde65]

If your looking at headers, may I suggest looking at Sanderson headers, I have found they work well and are closer to the inexpensive side of headers.