The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop sidepipes

has anyone on here put side pipes on a truck with the 235 motor. I have a 48 3/4 ton truck with a 235 from a 54 passenger car w/ true dual fenton headers and im thinking of running sidepipes on it. anyone else have, heard a one of these with sidepipes, or a link to a sound clip/video of one. thanks

Many years ago, "like 1955" I ran side pipes on mY '50 coupe and found that the tail pipes ran out to the back of the car sounded much better to me then the side pipes, which I converted back to the rear soon after.

Generally speaking, Chevrolet sixes sound the best with "more" pipe. In other words, a tail pipe sounds better - and the longer they are, the better they sound.

Joe

My son has side pipes on his 80 something amc concord,Now don't get mad,It had a chevy 400 in it.Well the local police stopped him and said they are illegal, as the exhaust could heat the rear tires and cause a blowout.We haven't changed them and haven't had any more trouble with the cops.The rest of the exhaust is legal,flow through cat's and good sounding mufflers so they can't ticket em for that.

On my daily 235 with original fentons, I have straight 2" pipes behind, not directly under the running boards, exiting before the rear tire.

The only thing with Lake/Side pipes on a 6 is that the pipes end up being uneven length, which gives an uneven noisy exhaust note.
Also promotes rapping, cracking and popping on deceleration in gear.
Chevy bombs lowriders love that exhaust sound.

However, you won't believe the improvement in sound of your 235 with straight pipes that are even length and in tune!

The forward header pipe on my truck routes under the oil pan and exits about mid way under the passenger running board.
The driver side pipe exits before the spring eye.

Sound is subjective to personal taste - there are always many opinions on what sounds better or worse.
Sounds examples never really give the whole spectrum and sound changes at idle, cruising, pulling or racing.

I say - experiment and have fun!
My 235 has sounded very different over the years.
Tried different length and types of glass and steel pack mufflers, different mounting locations, fence post pipes - shorter - longer, etc.
Keeping things simple and in balance was the key for me....

I'd question the police. Mid year Corvettes (63-67) had a factory side pipe option that exited in front of the rear tires. They're leagal in all states. I've seen some of them run some pretty hot laps and not have any tire problems. Hooker also still makes a side pipe header exhaust for 63-70 smething Corvettes that dumps directly in front of the rear tire.

Harold,I was wodering myself about them being illegal.Mabe they were just hasseling him.
But a factory installed systym has different rules than any modifacations.
The motor he has in it didn't have cats but the car itself came factory cats so the regulation applied to the body,not the motor.Anyway now he got hobbiest plates wich makes the rules different again,I'm not sure how but my son know's,I guess it's alway's something!

Also the cops don't hassle the harley's loud pipes wich is fine cause mine has loud pipes also! mabe the vetts fall under the same catagory? lol

The hobbiest plates are a great thing here in Wisconsin. The regulations for them are almost identical to the collector plates, except that hobbiest plates allow for major customizing as they may be used "where the vehicle has undergone modifications and some parts may or may not resemble original to that particular year or model." I am paraphrasing and I am not a lawyer but it does seem to give us a lot of leeway to customize our rides. Caution, I think you may not be able to operate a hobby plate vehicle in January, similiar to the collector plate rules. Grub, you know that cop was just harrassing your boy 'cuz they got nothing better to do up here than set 'em straight when they're young! It was amazing how often Wisconsin's finest were teaching me lessons when I was just startin out.

Agreed, The cop's get bored to! just stop the kids and hassle em.Luckily the kids got better access to the rules through the internet and set the cops straight!