Hi everyone, I am looking to buy a pre bent exhaust pipe, from manifold on back, for my truck. It is a '53 3100 with a 235 hydraulic lifter engine out of a '56 car with manual transmission, that's what my research tells me. Would I be safe ordering an exhaust for a '53 3100 with a 235, or would there a monkey wrench in that approach? Any input on this would be a ton of help, thanks.
I believe the original 53 engine had a straight dump exhaust manifold while the 56 engine will have one with a slight angle. If so, the "Stock" 53 exhaust pipe will not fit.
The manifold in my truck has an angled dump, so I assume it's the original with the '56 engine. I guess I'm wondering if my current exhaust dumps in the same place that a 216 and a 235 would have dumped in a '53 3100. It looks like all '53 trucks sold in Canada would have came with a 235, as per my research. What year did 235's start to have angled dump manifolds?
Well, took a trip to the local muffler shop today. We bent up a section of exhaust from manifold to muffler according to the old school "bending card" for a '53 chevy, and lo and behold, it fit like a glove!
My local muffler shop. My brother used to work there about twenty years ago. My brother dug through their card catalog and pulled out a grubby old card that was titled 50-55 chevy truck. He used their equipment, reading the card, and bent up the pipe for me. It was funny because the shop owner, my brothers former boss, said that it's been years since anyone there used a bending card to make an exhaust pipe, and the couple employees there had no clue how to read the cards. Looks like another art is falling by the way side.
I don't know if this shop will ship pipes. It's just a small two stall mom & pop garage. Also, we only made the pipe to the back of the cab, from that point on I am customizing the path the exhaust takes, so I can't guarantee this card will be correct from the cab back, but I suspect it should be.
I will try getting a photo of the bending card so others can use it. Only prob is I don't know how to post pics here, I get frustrated trying to figure it out. I could email it or text it if requested.
Feel free to email me any pictures you can get of the cards; I'll post the pictures for you. An email address is under my profile. If they don't mind you taking pictures, take as many of the old Chevys as you can.
Or any one of us Lem, would be glad to post the pictures if you emailed them and most all of us have an email address in our profile. This has been a brick wall for most of us for many years. As I posted to you in a PM, I've been looking in the Chicago suburbs for nearly a decade for some shop that still had a bend card for the early trucks. Most all have newer machines that don't go back to the Stovebolt days. I've been in touch with 'Walker Exhaust Systems' and they don't have any info anymore on the Stovebolt era either. Any of the muffler shops can custom bend pipes but they don't always fit the way they should.
Thanks and I hope you can come follow thru for us on this. This is like finding a gold nugget the size of your fist in my mind. Denny Graham Sandwich, IL
Try E-Bay. I bought my exhaust from a guy on E-Bay that makes a complete single exhaust system from the manifold back. Price not to bad either. $249.99. My exhaust fit well with very little modification. He makes these systems for 1950-1955 Chevrolet and GMC trucks. Just type in 1953 Chevrolet truck exhaust system and his E-Bay add should come up.
Tim
"Pay attention to the details! It ALWAYS pays off."
1949 Chevrolet 3100 Series 1/2 ton Pickup 1964 Chevrolet C10 (Ol' Yella) (SOLD) 1958 Chevrolet Biscayne 2 door (SOLD) 1970 VW Beetle
But, but, but...that's the whole idea Tim. If we can run down to our local muffler shop with the numbers and have them bend up the pipes for us, it's much easier than ordering from epay with all the hassle of mail order and shipping an all. If it ain't right....it's only a five minute drive back to the shop to get it corrected. How much could they in all honesty charge if you walked in with two $20 lengths of aluminized pipe and had them make 6 or 8 pre-determined bends in them??? Wouldn't take more that an half hour.
Lem, thank you for sharing these cards & going to the effort to get the pictures. Send thanks to the shop owner as well. If you prefer I remove the photographs from the "Uncle Brad" share folder linked above, just let me know.
Those should be all any shop needs to bend up a set of pipes. I've seen Ben Pearson benders in a lot of shops, but I think any bender could use the numbers. A big thanks to Lem for sharing those with us. I think the only difference in the tail pipe years is where it exits at the rear, which is an easy adjustment to make if you want to change that. Might need a little adjustment in that tale pipe for us 3/4 ton guys also, since we're about 10" longer in the bed.
Now...those mufflers!!! I talked with Walker Exhaust Systems a few years back about re-instating the AD pipes and muffler in their catalog but they weren't interested. I guess manufacturing them in quantities less than a quarter million isn't profitable enough. One of the guys here posted that he had a company in Canada custom make one for his truck. To bad we can't get that company to make a small production run. I think if they were accurate reproductions they would sell quite readily. It's really a pretty simple muffler to make. I've even thought about trying one my self, but I've got enough projects in the works right now. Tim, did your muffler from the guy on ebay come in a box, that is, with any part numbers or names on it? DG
Also, Lem, please thank the shop who found/provided the "Exhaust Bending Card". I do not recall anyone ever posting (or, even referring-to) that information.
The muffler did come in a box, but no part number on the box. The muffler appears to have been handmade. Very heavy round galvanized steel outer shell, two end caps with 2" I.D. inlet and 1 3/4" outlet. Straight through design with perforated holes throughout the inner pipe and a baffle about halfway in the inner pipe. 1/2 diameter hole through center of baffle. Looks similar to a Smithy muffler, but no stamped logos and a larger diameter. I can try to find out where this guy gets these mufflers, or does he make them himself. I will let you know. Jim Carter has these mufflers for $54.50/EA.
Tim
Last edited by fixit1958; 10/21/20152:25 PM.
"Pay attention to the details! It ALWAYS pays off."
1949 Chevrolet 3100 Series 1/2 ton Pickup 1964 Chevrolet C10 (Ol' Yella) (SOLD) 1958 Chevrolet Biscayne 2 door (SOLD) 1970 VW Beetle
Tanks for lookin', just curious, thought Walker or one of the other muffler makers was producing them again.
Jim Carter's catalog is so screwed up, I haven't bought anything from them for a couple or more years. I go to a vendor who has an online catalog that works.
Like I posted, there isn't much to these mufflers, really wouldn't be all that hard to make one that looked and worked just as good as the original ones. All one needs are a few sheet metal tools and a mig welder.
I was fortunate to find a muffler shop (family owned) since the early 40's. The son running the shop dug through a lot of stored boxes of old records and found the card for my 46 (216) bent the pipe as per the numbers and it bolted right up. These are still out there you just have to keep asking. Modern chain muffler shops are of no help with our old iron! I guess they could measure and bend something to fit. Harold
I always learn something here at "Stovebolt school". Exhaust Bending Card being one of them, a new term added to my lexicon. Denny, that YouTube video explained well how something 3D like bending pipes is done. The use of the rotational dial sure is a great help.
I've found a half dozen old general repair shops that have a bender in the corner for the occasional exhaust system job. I've had them look thru their cards and none had anything going back past the 60's or 70's. That's just simply not where the money is, unless you are a restoration shop. These cards Lem found are great news.
Out of 35,500 members, it seems that the odds of finding someone working in a repair shop that has a card file going back to the 50's would be pretty good. But Lem is the first to come up with any real documentation. Now...I just wish we could find one for the tail pipes for the 3/4 (3604) AD trucks, did I just repeat myself??? dg
Denny the bending card is out there, we just need to find it and hopefully capture the information for the future. Maybe Harold can go back and visit his muffler shop?
Boy that would be super buddy. That would cover 95% of the stovebolts on the road today. And we wouldn't have to depend on a muffler shop guessing at what the pipes should look like.
Thanks for going way out of your way for us. Denny Graham Sandwich, IL
Well, I handed the additional 3/4 and 1 ton info to my brother. He is gonna try getting pics of those cards in his future travels. I don't know how often he gets over to the muffler shop these days, but when I hear something I'll let you guys know.
Ok, here is what I got. From what I understand, the book says all models 50-55 are the same except for the tail pipe. 41-49 has a different exhaust pattern, I don't think he could find that card, but he did find the tail pipe card for 3/4 ton. I will send that to Denny Graham via email. Unfortunately, they didn't have a 1 ton tailpipe card.
Tim, I think you do have some of those cards mixed up indeed. To clear things up, here are the numbers/applications. Card# 7E282 mfg. no. 3693715 is for 50-55 all models, manifold to muffler pipe. Card# 5T499 mfg. no. 3705359 is for 51-55 1/2 ton 3100, tailpipe. Card# 5T430 mfg. no. 3696161 is for 50-55 3/4 ton 3604, tailpipe.
