Hot Rods open headers to the shop or not?

Or, join the auto club and get it towed for free.

 

Fahrenheit not Celsius. Not an engine tuning thread or metallurgy thread, but...

If your exhaust gas temp is 850° F, you are running alcohol, or running so rich you are fuel fouling your oil.

Look up steel temp vs color/ glow. Or ask a welder. More like 1200° surface temp for a cherry red glow in daylight.

Also, most guys at the stage of going to get pipes on haven't dialed in the tune, and you don't have to very far off to add a few hundred degrees (or more) to the exhaust gas temp.

Main point is, the issue is exhaust gas temp, not header surface temp, and I've had plenty of customers damage stuff, or even burn the car down, driving open headers in to get pipes put on. Takes 10 seconds to look and see if there is anything 'not metal' within 6"or so of the collector, and if there is, think about how lucky you feel today.

Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

Why have them if you're not going to run them OPEN(at some point anyway;like the drag strip, or to outrage the neighborhood ,or to clean leaves out of the road in front of your house?)I used to run with mine open cause it sounded better than my tape deck.BUT, on long trips I used to keep ear plugs handy- two hours of that will curdle your brain. Good luck, and remember, loud pipes save lives.

 

not only would i drive it there , if i had to get on the highway at any point of the trip I would make sure i leaned on her pretty hard just for ,,,,,,,,,,,,, "shits and giggles"!

 

That is part of the fun of installing headers when you get to cut off the old exhaust in the dirveway, install the new headers and drive it loud and proud to the muffler shop! Isn't it?????
Jay

 

How old are you- for some reason the police seem to allow a little more leeway the
whiter the hair. In college my buddy was pulled over for open headers, given a speeding
ticket for 56 in a 55 zone. 68 mustang with a 428 cobra jet swapped in. He even had
mufflers on it, though they were glass packs that did little more than be there.

 

I can, have , and do cruise with open headers at times. Damn right it sounds good. Don't get stupid with it and you'll likely be fine. Being in an old car, you have much more leeway than something more modern, and having some grey in the hair does help.

Devin

 

Any louder than those Harleys out there?

 

Having a muffler shop for 20 years and never remember having a car towed in just because it needed mufflers. I live in a no wuss area!! They were towed in so that they could be tuned without riling up the neighbors.



Not open headers but absolutely no mufflers at all. Just straight pipes.

 

I hope I see this on the news. Watch out for the spike strip

 

What is this thing you call...Muffler?

 

Drive it !

 

FYI-Aladdin Bail Bonds is 24/7 unless a trigger happy SPD doesn't get ya first ( just joking-sorta)

 

if it were me i would not say i'm heading the the muffler shop, thats a little like an admission of guilt, just ask if the cop think it is too loud, if he says yes then say you will drive to a muffler shop and have it fixed.

 

I have driven several cars to muffler shops around the area. Only time I had a issue was when I dropped the car off before work. I guess leaving the house at 0445 might have been a little early.

 

Drive, towing is too expensive. Use common sense while doing so; act your age and not your hat size.

 

Well, did you get it done? Inquiring minds want to know.

I have to agree with CadDaddy42 though as it has as much or more to do with what the heat from the exhaust might damage or do as it does with the noise. Damage to the paint on the frame, brakes because the exhaust hit part of the brake system or getting the floor boards so hot it sets the carpet on fire wouldn't be good.

 

Drive it! I drove my GTO to a local car show with open headers. Passed 3 Staters, no problem.

 

My Coupe is open as wells as all my friends' cars. We all drives them open and loud all the time. Never in trouble.

 

When I was 16, my daily driver was a '48 Cad (flathead, 2X2 carbs, dual exhausts (straight thru, no mufflers)
Got a fixit ticket in town, drove it home and drilled holes through the pipes, just upstream of the chrome pencil tips. Stuffed steel wool in the pipes, pushed 8 penny nails thru the cross-drilled holes to hold the steel wool in.
Went to the police station, the motorcycle officer (Elwood Rice, a hot rod hater) came out to inspect for 'noise'...

He stood behind the Caddy, made me rev it up..."Louder!" he said, so I went 'louder'.
Again with the "Louder!"...so I stepped on it and revved it high, and that steel wool came out on the side where he was standing...Black sooted steel wool hit his shiny riding boot, he just stood there with an annoyed look. Oops.
Guess who ended up with glass packs on his Caddy...

 

Its the only way I know how to get to the exhaust shop. drive it and keep out of the throttle and be prepared to turn it off if the cops are near. best to look broken down that get a ticket

 

been drivin my 55, open headers for 3 yrs now! been fun, but time for some Quiet.

 

OP should have been done by now, but just drive with some gentle throttle through town and you are fine.

 

I had to laugh because there is no way I could have done that without getting on it just once before sticking mufflers on it.

 

Pops told me you cant call yourself a hotrodder until you do atleast 5 miles uncapped. 3 miles if its before 6am.

the metric system? never heard of it.......

 

HELL YEA. I'VE DONE IT ON THE LAST 8 BUILDS. I BUILD CUSTOMS AND STREET ROD FOR HIRE AND THATS THE great CONCLUSION TO THE FINISH. MY EXHAUST GUY IS ABOUT 4 MILES AWAY. THATS MY LAST FUN BEFORE WE DELIVER. THE
CIVILIANS DON'T LIKE IT , BUT I'M DIG'N IT ALL THE WAY THERE. MY SUGGESTION IS GO FOR IT, JUST KEEP A LOOK OUT FOR THE BOYS IN BLUE.....

 

I'm a custom guy, not a hoodlum hot rodder, so I never liked the sound of open headers. I'd at least put some collectors and glasspacks on them to run it to the shop.
But no one has mentioned this yet, so far.....if it is a freshly built car, or had major mods before you take it out, I'd be more worried that I could not hear any problems with the engine or car on it's first drive, if it was too loud. Lotsa things could happen and you wouldn't hear it!

 

By all means, drive it! Have some fun with it while you can. I had a '65 Chevy 1-ton panel I dropped in a 283 with headers and drove it for about a week with straight headers. Funny a couple of times I saw a cop when I was out with it and they were looking around to see where the noise was coming from.

 

HA!
Yea, I'm leaving my car like that. When y'all movin out?

 

lotsa conservatives on here---drive her----my 55 was louder than the harleys around here-[glass pacs with 2.25 pipe exit in front of rear tire]--i was behind a harley--going under an overpass--he revved--his gal was digging it---then i revvved--she about came off the seat---he gave me a thumbs up--

my neighbor came over as i was warming up my car with open headers to goto the muffler shop---i saw her standing at the end of my driveway [200' away] pointing and saying something--so i shut my car off so she could tell me what was so important, mind u it was 2pm. she told me this was a nice quiet neighborhood before i moved in,just as a rice rocket got a green light and hit at least 12k revving all the way down the street. i was polite and waved to her and said yes i understand that. i am going to get mufflers on my car. so i waited a few mins---started my car---got to the end of my driveway--just to see a state police cruiser had pulled somebody over in front of my neigbors house---i kept the revvs low and drove right down the street---no problem--im sure he heard me go up the big hill .5 mile down the road---lol