History Belly Burner exhaust, let's discuss

So, I am tired of reading about radials vs bias, so let's talk about belly burner exhaust on pickups.

I have been pondering them for my next project, so I asked my dad, who is 79, if these were a regional thing or maybe a west coast deal. He said he never remembered seeing them on any thing in the SW. He was a pickup guy, so he paid particular attention to the pickups of the era.

Of course, there were no internet machines back then, so were these regional?
Or were these a "show car" type of a deal?

The Produce Truck running boards were from the Fresno area and they had 2 holes about 1-3/4" in the same spot on each board. I am thinking this may have been the case.

Anyone done any recently? What did you use for tubing? I want to either chrome them or polish stainless to a mirror finish.

Post up pics of belly burners if you have them.

 

I’ll be the first to ask why
Today you will see them almost exclusively on Rat Trucks

 

The holes could have been from 70's "stacks". Breaker, breaker!

 

I love them on pickups. I would recommend 304 stainless steel tubing. It's much better than standard stainless exhaust tubing, which is likely in the 400 series. 300 series stainless has more Nickel and less Iron. You won't be happy after you take the time to polish stainless exhaust tubing.

 

DO IT!

 

Bunch of good pics in this thread: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/pic-request-bellyburners-stacks-etc.567766/
@roadstar even explained how he did it.

"The long pipe is from speedway along with the clamps. It is there 70 inch lakes pipe, and I cut the flange off.

I made the mandrel bent pipe in one piece from stainless and had it polished. It matched pretty good but I may have it chromed.

I hid the seam under the clamp using a sleeve and the clam holds it together."

 

Ok, So back to the bias ply tires...

 

I am planning a build centered around a 55-60 era, that would have a show truck vibe to it. I'm just not sure about these yet. They could make or break the truck. I don't know anything about rat trucks.

Sancho, thanks. Once again, you seem to have useful information my friend.

 

In the late 70's my cousin brought a 56 F100 up to Canada from California. It had those pipes on it. I had never seen anything like it. Of course I have now seen more over the years. I think they can look good on a mild custom truck, but it is one of those things that I like to see on other peoples vehicles, but would likely never do to my own.

 

Am definitely a truck guy.
Had one or another in my possession for 40 yrs.
There are just some things custom that should have never caught on. I happen to think belly burners fall on that list.
It takes a special truck that would benefit from this custom touch.

 

Mine would be similar to the one pictured above ( green 40). Mine is a 36 though. Still on the fence. The problem is, it would be hard to go the other way, once they were added.

 

Mock them up during the build and see if you like them then if you don't easy to fix at that point. Should really be doing it that way anyways.

 

Yes, very easy to mock up with some PVC and "chrome in a can". I think they would only look right on a pickup with a bit of custom touches. White walls, etc.

 

I found a '37 that has them. If it helps you to visualize.....

 

My buddy built that 37’ think it’s just normal exhaust pipe. Nothing fancy

 

Only on the right truck, and there's damn few of them ...

 

I see that they are on some nicely finished trucks.
Not something I would put on any truck.

Previous to this I’ve seen them done on rat rod trucks, a lot of times because running a proper exhaust under the truck is not an option.

 

Belly burners, kickstand, and stacks are the shit...on the right truck of course.

 

And today I learned what belly burners are. With photos.

 

Only plus side to them that I can see is, they would keep people from leaning on your bed sides...

 

Hmmmm. I dunno.

 

Chop the top, drop the whole truck alittle more, mold some tear drop tailings into the rear fenders and a nice medium heavy metallic blue and it would look good.

 

You’re close....very close

 

I did 'em on my '29 closed cab back in the '90s to get the late fifies, early sixties vibe. They were fairly common in L.A. on mild custom and shop trucks back then. They got a lot of comments - good and bad, I liked them, they were different, and sounded good when paired with Smittys.
Typically, some people said I'd get sued if someone burned themselves on them but the only idiots who actually touched them were too embarrassed to be suing. I did the first set in plain old muffler tubing and then used them as patterns to have a set bent up in stainless. The stainless version stayed hotter far longer than the muffler tubing version.
It's all a matter of opinion, if you like 'em - do it, if you don't - don't. I like 'em on the right truck.

 

Of course it's gotta be a pure bright white tuck and roll interior to complement the blue while pulling the white wall tires into the look.

 

I am planning a glacier blue metallic with pleated white interior,bed cover with blue piping and spare tire cover. I have a whole project list on paper.

 

Belly pipes would be perfect on that.

 

I had them on this truck and loved it. Drove it for 10 years. Flathead and no baffles -- sounded perfect.

 

Sanitary is the main deal. Can I build the pieces with no straps, visible mounting hardware etc.

 

How hot was the piping? Did the paint fair well?