Doing some planning for my 54' Chevy 2100 4-dr. I'm sticking with the old 235 straight 6 but want to go with a split Fenton exhaust. As far as the pipes go, all I've ever seen is the standard set-up where one pipe goes back on the driver side like the OEM, and the second makes an awkward bend around the transmission so it can go back on the passenger side. Has anyone done dual pipes any other way? Other than the odd bend, I also don't like how the above set-up gives the impression of the car being a V8 till you open the hood. Has anyone tried running both pipes side-by-side on the driver side? I'm also considering having cut-outs connected to lake pipes in addition to the dual muffeled pipes. I remember years ago seeing lake pipes that had slits cut length-wise through them, but now can't find anything other than plain-jane capped or un-capped pipes. Am I remembering that right and if so, what did the slits do? My 53' has the original exhaust pipe, but with a steel-pack muffler and I like how it sounds so I'll probably use the same mufflers on the 54'.
I believe that the slits were on an outer guard so when getting out of the vehicle you wouldn't toast you legs. The slits were to help in cooling the quard. Some mid sixties Vettes had these as an option I believe.
On my ‘48 Effie I am running a Chevy 250 with headers and run both pipes out side by side but the in between hasn’t been sorted out yet .
I never liked the way the six sounded with duals or a straight through muffler. I like the regular single exhaust with a quiet muffler. The six has a sound that really needs quieted..
I had a 292 chevy with three carbs in my roadster for years. Had two straight pipes that dumped out on the driver side in front or the door, Harley style. My woman liked it cause she said it sounded like a tractor coming up the lane.
Split duals on your 6 won't give the impression of a V-8 until you open the hood. A 6 with duals sounds completely different than a V-8 with duals. Some like it, some don't.
Here's how I did my '53. I didn't get any pictures of the exhaust installed but I ran the two pipes down the driver's side, mufflers near the tranny, then did a 90deg jog to the passenger side just in front of the spare tire with that pipe. As you can see, I used a lot of the space under the truck with the big late model Chevy truck gas tank. Incidentally I spliced in some rectangular tubing to extend the frame 1' for my king cab conversion. You can see the splice under the book lying on the frame.
Not a six but the same principle. I have a header split into 2 collectors. From there I run two pipes side by side to the rear with dual glasspacks. I like the look and the sound. We did the pipes at night and have since corrected them and made them level.
For sure, they sound different. I just mean that most 50's cars with exhast pipes sticking out from under both sides of the bumper had a V8 connected to them because the manifolds were on both sides.
I had a 390 ( I know, not a six cylinder) powered '76 F-250 Camper Special that had the drivers side auxiliary fuel tank. Not wanting to run a pipe near that tank, I ran both pipes down the passenger side instead and exited both on the passenger side at a 45 deg. angle just behind the rear tire. The tips and exit looked similar to how Ford does it today with their diesel pickups. I staggered the mufflers, one behind the other and it worked out great. There is no reason why you can't run both pipes down one side and dump them both on the same side. It worked fine on my old F-250, plus when I was passing people, especially with a trailer hanging off the back end and that 390 was at full song, they got quite the earfull.
235s sound great split will never sound like a v8, and thats good. Why should it? I have one of these to do a split manifold with, step vans and COEs had them
I agree, one of the great motor sounds is a straight 6 w/ split exhaust and straight pipes or even glass packs.
Just run em side by side out the back never be ashamed of a straight 6 my 20 year old self would have disagreed, I have since kicked that guys butt
I agree. I had a Chevelle with a sexy six and ran a Royal Scot muffler . Varoom, varoom, ratatat tat.
I'm funny like that too. I like the arrangement of tailpipes to reflect the engine configuration. It's a sort of design honesty thing.
Ok, so dual pipes on the driver side should do the trick for the daily driving. As far as the cut-outs and lake pipes go, I like the idea of having them exit somewhere around the front fender rather than the traditional under the rockers. Most of this build is going to be very mild custom, but I wouldn't be against cutting into the front fender. My vision is that it would be like a hopped up stock car racer but not lose any of the brightwork or 54' styling. It seems like most cars I see with "Harley style" lake pipes are more hot-rods and gassers, and are a bit more simple in their design. Any ideas how to do it on a custom so it would flow with the body's geometry? Mabey even port it out the side of the hood like the old 20's-30's racers?
First thing I did to my $50 1946 Chevy coupe with knocking 216 was a Saturday morning at Brownie Muffler shop on Ventura Street in Fresno having dual exhaust installed. $45 for everything, removing exhaust manifold to split it for the second pipe. I had them remove the heat riser and put in a full block. 1 3/4 pipe on each side with chrome tips. 30 inch glass packs. Not as loud as some but I never got a ticket for excessive noise.The Dinuba police did like to pass out those tickets.
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