Forgive me if there is already a thread out there, I'm new to the H.A.M.B. This is my first car, so I have plenty of ideas, but no knowledge to back it up. I've got some speedway lake pipes (free) that I want to put on, but I also want to run them as functional exhaust for the little 8BA. Would they handle the use? I'm open to any opinions or advice. Thanks, Jack
Cool shoebox you have there. I see no reason why your lake pipes wouldn't hold up as the actual exhaust system for the car. You might want to keep some wax on them as the chrome on most of those pipes never was the best. Word of advice; Allow pipes to cool down before applying wax.
They look good in the mock up photo. Free? Why not! Do you mean to run the exhaust through them all the time or only when uncapped?
Be careful i had a set on a 60 impala were on it when i got it, burnt my leg bad first time i drove it the get hot !, mount them as much under car as you can.
They'll work fine, but as above: Chrome might not be the best or last too long. They get VERY hot Remember to uncap them
I was planning on running them uncapped. And yeah I found out about hot pipes when I got out of a t bucket one time. That was fun. Thanks for the input!
it helps to move those pipes closer to the rear of the car. Reason: S-curve from exhaust pipe to side pipe I have similar pipes used as handrails on a pickup that I will use.They are thicker metal with better chrome Put them*under*the car to avoid burns
Now next question: since there isn't a lot of room between the headers and the pipes, could I use mufflers?
Mufflers can be used with lake pipes. You run your standard exhaust setup with the tailpipes poking out the rear and then run a "S" pipe from the standard exhaust pipe (before the muffler) to the lake pipes. With this setup, the lake pipes caps can be left on until you want some extra loud exhaust noise, then you remove the caps.
The pipes look good mocked up. The car looks pretty nice too - a good start . I'm sure you can find a way to get mufflers under there. Just keep them small to save space - just a bit more piping. The flatty won't be as loud as a small block unmuffled, but it will be pretty annoying. Also, they won't get as hot, but will still make your day suck if you get your leg against it (if wearing shorts).
Also, there's no reason why you couldn't bring the exhaust pipe into the lake pipe further down. think of cutting a hole in the back side of the pipe half way down. That way you could run mufflers easily and use the lake pipes as your only exhaust exit.
I think I'll go with cutting a hole in half way down. I love the sound of a straight piped flathead, but I need to be able to drive this thing. I think I'll go with glass packs. All the help is much appreciated guys.
Plus , if you bring the exhaust into the lake pipes 1/2 way back and angle it towards the exit a bit , it might not get as hot directly under the doors . Another side benefit - win , win !
If you plan to run mufflers, hook up the lake pipes like they were intended to be run, as a cutout system.
That's another thing I want to do. I just want to do something different. Everyone and their mother has fake lake pipes.
Why not run a conventional exhaust system out the back, and use exhaust cutouts running to the lake pipes. Then you could partially open the cutouts to get the sound you wanted, just by running part of the exhaust through the lake pipes.
I ran functional lakes on a 60 biscayne tucked below the rockers, never burned anyone. I would like to find stainless ones of a larger diameter with slant tips to run on my 60 olds wagon. Haven't been able to find anyone making them in the 2 1/4 or so diameter. They always seem to be 2 Inch or 1 7/8 and usually chrome plated
This is what I did on my 35 Ford pickup. I used cables and dashboard controls to open and close the cutouts.
I don't have pix, but I ran my lakes pipes and a glass pak exhaust system out the rear end on my '54 Chevy ragtop (no longer have it), and when I connected the lakes pipes to the regular exhaust pipe just behind the headers, I put in a "Race Ready" electric cutout valve on each side, with a button on the dash so I could open them up whenever I could get away with it, and left the caps off the lakes pipes. Folks would say "those are phoney, all your exhaust is going out the rear", then I'd hit the button and Wow, folks were impressed that it could be done that way, and the sudden sound of an open exhaust startled the heck out of more than a few folks, and driving hard on curvey back roads with the Lakes open is just way, way cool, and ya can quiet it down when ya come into a town. It's just the coolest thing I've ever run into for our hot rod exhaust systems... I've done a fair amount of research on these electric cutouts, and it seems the rotating disk vs the slide disk seems to have the least amount of problems. I'm sold on my Race Readys, but there are lots of brands out there. Keep the caps handy, if they ever fail to close up, you can always cap 'em, and be free of harassment when you need to. The idea above of cutting into the Lakes Pipes behind the door so burning your leg (or your lady's leg) is less of a problem, I hadn't thought of that, a great idea! I'd definitely cap the front of the Lakes Pipes though, keep that heat (and that marvelous sound) flowing out the rear. Aloha from Maui, 2Loose Willy
my experience is that your passengers will want to use your lakes pipes as a "step" to climb into your car
I figure if I run it with cutouts and open caps I have less of a chance of building up water in the pipes. I see that as an advantage.
The Jalopy Journal
