Technical Fish Tail exhaust tips

I guess I will see how it works once I get it up and running. Had it running with a bottle of gas and sounded good but not under any load. As I said this is how I bought it and I am sure it was an expensive install.

 

I agree. It will be dead, rather than the alive it could be. And who wants a dead fish out the back?

Too big carbs, big lumpy cam and these days we can add huge exhaust diameter to the list of sock down the pants dick bragging. At the end of the day, they are performance killers.

 

If I had the situation that the OP does, and if I wanted to do what he does, which I don't, I would do the following:

I would reduce the diameter of the tail pipes down to 2 1/2" under the truck after the last bend. The more gentle the taper the better. Then, I would use the Shark Tails that 31Vicky posted earlier. I'll bet that the outlet size, in square inches, is less than the 4.9" that a plain 2 1/2" offers. This will help a bunch even if it is not ideal.

Having over exhausted a vehicle many years ago, I can tell you that a dual 3" straight thru system will kill power on the average hot rod. Like Vicky said, dual 3" pipes will support 600+ H.P. What you get with the BIG PIPES is BIG NOISE and DRONING.

Another good source for information is on the the Headers by Ed website. This isn't scientific or computer generated information but it should give you a different perspective on pipe sizing. The audio tape/cd is worth the $.

http://www.headersbyed.com/

 

These topics are exhausting to read sometimes. I want to see someone break tradition (modern tradition at least) and turn the fishtails 90 deg, lay em flat. That would make it look akin to the early V-12 and V-16 Cadillac outlets or like the Cord L-29. In the case of the early Cord there's a big flat pipe fabbed up to about 5"X 1.5" and it exits under the gas tank. At the outlet there's 2 or 3 vertical supports that go back a bit. Likely it was designed for ground clearence and visual interest.
Here's the Cord (courtesy of a google image search):


This is the best I could find on the Cadillacs:


Inspiration is free, just gotta look for it...

 

The best thing is to start at the proper size and then go up thru the restrictions.
2" head pipe into 2-1/4 then into a 3" muffler then back to tail pipes at 2-1/4 or 2-1/2 if there is lots of restrictive bends or a 3" tail pipe if to must. Going up in size as it goes back makes the tone lower and seemingly more powerful sound wise.

If you down size the tailpipes the flow backs up and that makes a noisy rappy mess of efficiency.

 

My flathead is the stock 1 3/4, then go to 2" mufflers, then will exit to a pair of polished 2 3/4 tails out back. I have it all, it looks kool and I won't lose any power, it's all still stock. The bigger tails will only be out back.

 

That's going to work great

 

Contact Samson exaust . They build the best looking fishtail in my opinion. They may sell or make you what you want . Blue

 

I used to be the Vice President of Samson Motorcycle Exhaust, so I put them on our custom Dually that we towed the show trailer with. Not only did they Kill the performance of the 460, the exhaust got Very HOT - so much so that the pipes blued really bad, and there should never be that much heat 15' from the motor. I cut them back off and life was good again And I don't think you will find anything over 2", those shark tails that were posted neck down to a smaller size as well.

 

I am surprised nobody has suggested just making a stainless steel fin and welding it on to your existing outlets.
simple

 

Moon Speed Equipment 1 7/8"

 

Now there's something I bet hardly anyone thinks about.

 

I agree . Blue

 

Paucho motorcycle parts in Carson City Nevada has made them for years. I used them on my 36 pickup. Most are for 1 3/4" pipes

 

Correction they were 3in and i brought them down to 2.5 so that way it would look better coming out the roll pan. Also the last set of fish tails i had on were the smaller normal size and after 10 years they never once turned blue. I had them under the roll pan so i eventually drug the bottoms off. My dad and a few of his buddies have been running them for the past 20 plus years and never once have they turned blue. I think the last thing people are thinking about is performance when they put fishtails on. Its just a cosmetic thing.

 

I like 'em on fish. If I caught a fish with any other shape of tail, I'd probably throw it back.

Now on a car or truck, in my opinion something around the middle 1950's would be the least "offensive" to the easily offended. Personally, I'd probably crack a smile no mater what they were attached to.

 

Was that just a fish tail tip on the tailpipes or was that's a fishtail slip on muffler onto the tailpipe

 

Just the Fishtail Tips - The truck had the stock factory dual exhaust pipes

 

Somebody's got to try it, or we won't know if they look good or not.

If everything looked good, we wouldn't have anything to criticize.

 

OK some of the fellas are going to find this offensive. But like an old woman in Mississippi once told me they all gots pants to gets glad in jus like they gots pants to gets mad in.

Anyway fishtails on most of what we would be building would fall into the rat category.

 

So now I know I built a rat rod 25 years ago.

 

My dads car must be a rat rod to then.

 

Oh, crap! first pic is running a 302 Ford, second one is a Flattie ( neither one is a custom or bike, and me likey too much)