For those with sidepipes, some advice

[Scott81]

I know lots of people really like the look of sidepipes, so I hope you take the following advice about the junk mufflers they sell for them. Let me state also, I'm not knocking Hooker (I love my sidepipes!) nor am I a spokesman for any other vendor, I'm just relating a recent experience.

When I was puling my motor I decided to get my headers and sidepipes recoated at Jet-Hot...which is a horror story in itself (which would be considered vendor bashing), but anyway, it took quite some time to get the sidepipes off the headers.

ADVICE; when installing sidepipes on the headers give them a good coat of anti-sieze so that one day you can take them apart long before you either go insane or have to buy new ones.

The mufflers, another complete horror story, took about 5 days to get out. The mufflers are JUNK! They last about a year before they start making horrible sounds, then they completely rust themselves to the inside of the pipes. I used 2 cans of WD-40, 2 quarts of used motor oil and countless hours trying to get my old mufflers out. What I finally had to do was to get a roll of strong wire and run it through the muffler and rap it around a short piece of pipe, having 2 guys hold the pipe while I yanked on the wire....they finally gave way enough to get them out.

ADVICE; get yourself a set of Spiral Turbo Baffles. There's no question in my tiny little brain that these will come out with no problem. To mount them was a simple matter of drilling 2 holes and sliding in the baffles and putting in the stainless bolts. Tools required were an allen wrench and box wrench, a drop of blue locktite on each bolt.

You can make up your own minds, but do yourself a big favor and check them out, everyone I talked to was really please with them. Once I get my car back on the road I'll post some sound files. If anyone wants me to post pics of how they mount just ask.

Spiral Turbo Baffles

 

[69MyWay]

They kicked my butt installing them! I had the headers ceramic coated by a local shop (he does not like Jett Hott either, but I figure that is because he is in competition with them), and mounted them to chrome side pipes.

I went ahead and put the baffle/mufflers in so it would not be too loud. My chrome side pipes would not fit onto the header. I am sure the ceramic coat did not help. After using the dremmel for about 20 minutes per side and a rubber mallet, I finally got them to slip over. Even at that, it required a ton of anti seeze to act as a lubricant hand help them slide.

I questioned at that time if I would ever be able to take them back off! I notice when I first fire the engine that condensation builds inside the exhaust and drips out the back. It has left ornage rust stain spots on the inside of the pipe.

I have hear wave files of the spiral inserts and they sound good. I hope my mufflers will come back apart when I am ready to upgrade.

What did you do with the side rocker cover? I need to figure out how to stuff those back in and cover up the raw frame.

 

[Scott81]

69MyWay,

I'm unhappy with Jet-Hot due to their customer service, or should I say lack of. 2 weeks after I got my pipes back I got 2 calls on 2 different days telling me my pipes were shipped out that morning...I sure hope they sent me 2 extra sets of headers and sidepipes, I'll sell them off cheap. The quality of the coating was quite nice as far as I can tell and my pipes looked horrible when I sent them for recoating.

When I originally bought my headers a friend of mine who owns a shop here put them on for me so I didn't get to experience they joys of putting them together. This time will be different though, I've done a complete engine compartment redo so I can put the headers in there before I drop in the new motor, which should be easier with a few buddies helping out. So far my sidepipes fit real nice, and it was easy to get those STS baffles in, I would assume they are much easier to get out seeing as how they mount. I'll post a couple pics later today when I get out of school.

When I pulled my sidepipes off I used a rubber mallet and a big flat tip screw driver to pry apart the groove where you tighten the sidepipes, my suggestion is not to tighten them, just slide them on but don't use the bolt to clamp them down. To get them apart spray them good with WD-40, carefully pry open a little the groove on the sidepipes. Then with the rubber mallet work the sidepipes back and forth while someone pulls on them. I ended up using a propane torch to heat the area up, with repeated heating/cooling they finally broke loose. Keep in mind they were on there almost 4 years though.

The condensation seems to be normal, just about everyone I've talked to noticed that, I can't tell you why it does this and I would assume the rust is probably coming from the mufflers as mine were a real mess.

For the side rocker covers I actually had bought the black painted parts, then bent the mounting tabs down so that I could mount them under the frame rather than under the rocker covers. This doesn't take away from the look at all and it's a lot less of a pain to put on/take off. I'll post a pic of this also.

 

[Scott81]

Here's a couple shots of the baffles installed so you can see the mounting points and how I bent the mounting tabs on the sidepipes to fit under the frame.

Bottom Baffle Bolt

Inside View

Full Length View

Unfortunately all the shots I took before the install were lost. I suppose you could drill the mounting points anywhere you choose, I put them on bottom since noone will ever see them but you could put them facing the car too.

 

[True Duals]

Has anyone got pictures of a 80 with side pipes mounted. Thanks

 

[inferno-vette]

They kicked my butt installing them! I had the headers ceramic coated by a local shop (he does not like Jett Hott either, but I figure that is because he is in competition with them), and mounted them to chrome side pipes.

How do the coated headers look like attached to chrome pipes, is there a lot of difference in the place where they meet?

 

[JHL]

Hi Scott,

You forgot to add a section on burnt flesh :L :L

We had a rare sunny day on Sunday and I took a run down to a local show and shine for old classics. No Vettes but a boy turned up with a very nice Cobra kit. As he pulled up we went over for a look, he got out and unfortunately stepped back as he stood up. The result was a rather nasty burn on the back of his leg from the sidepipe.

A timely reminder seeing as mine is just about ready to go.

J.