Hello, I'm new to the board, glad to have found you all! My question is we are planning on chaning the exhaust on our 71' Grabber, we want to run 2 1/2 " off of the headers, into flow masters, and run it to dump out in front of the rear wheels. Does any one have a set up like this, and are there any problems with state inspections? We live in Massachusetts and were not sure if this would be a problem when it comes time to get an inspection sticker. Any info would be appreciated!!! Thanks, Lynne
dumping in front of wheels well, flowmasters are 50 state legal, at least according to them, if you already have headers noise definitely isn't a concern to you. Anyway, I actually just ran a very similar setup. The mufflers have a spot to hang, and its right at the rear wheels, actually the end of the muffler is close to the axle. doing dumps in front of the tires would be difficult, you would have to make a 180 from the muffler and then another 90 to exit. I have actually done this, with my buddy's muffler shop, but clearance was a problem. I'd hate to have to pay somebody to do it, just for cost reasons. Hope this helps!
Thanks for the info!!! I have a question for you, why did you put the mufflers in the stock position, couldn't you have put them right off the headers? Thats what we were thinking...
Well... The stock position is actually on the passengers side next to the gas tank. The "spot" '72 Comet GT is refering to is a place right in front of the rear axel where the mufflers fit nicely into because of the elevated floorpan underneath the rear seat. Putting mufflers right off the headers would pose some problems in the clearance department. They would be extreamly low to the ground, and scrape on every pot hole or bump in the road. If clearance is not a problem, it might work, but it would be sort of ugly in my opinion. You could see everything hanging down underneath when looking at the car from the outside. Just my 2 bits.... -Corbin
Clearance the main problem is clearance. from the headers the mufflers would sit under the floorpans, which just won't work. you can look for yourself, but you'd hit every speedbump in town.
exhaust question Thanks 72' Comet GT and Corbin, I see what your saying! Sounds like to do this I'd have a mess of exhaust pipe going every where uner the car, or I'd be scraping the ground all the time. And your right, I don't want to see everything hanging down under the car either! Well I guess it's back to the drawing board for now.... Thanks again for your help! I'll let you know what we end up doing! Lynne
Lynn; I think it is best if you run them over the rear axle and out the rear, under the valence panel. It looks clean, and the mufflers fit just ahead of the axle, and out of the way. I am running turbo mufflers, crossover and chrome tips, and Flow Tech headers. It sounds good, and has good power. Give it a thought. Earl
Pictures Tell you what, when I can get my car on a lift, I'll take pictures of how mine is run. Right now its squared off 180's. When I can buy mandrel-bent 180's I'll cut out and re-weld the new pieces. They're $20 apiece though!
jcwhitney.com has 45, 90 & 180 degree bends in 2.25 & 2.50 diameter tubing and they're reasonably priced. Call around....... you're likely to find a muffler shop that will build you what you want at a price you can afford. Just takes a little planning.
I have 2x cherry bombs comming off the exaust manafolds and im having just that problem, there is no clearence and i hit every pothole in town, and every bump in the road, not to mention it looks like crap.
Have you been inside a car with Flows dumped under the car? Just a warning in case you haven't... it is loud. Not a good loud either, a headsplitting drone loud. Don't get me wrong, it'll sound mean as hell outside the car. You're the one inside though. If you already know, then just disregard this warning. Otherwise, I would suggest getting softer mufflers or running the exhaust out the back. My .02 Dave
Go to www.spintechmufflers.com for oval tubing if you have the dough and a clearance problem. The also have low profile mufflers and just came out with a muffler that sits in front of your axle, right where you want it, but the inlet and outlet are on the front side of the muffler so you can shoot the exhaust out the side with a 90. Their mufflers look exactly like Flows. Dave
exhaust question Wow guys, thanks for all of the excellent ideas and information! I really appreciate it! I definatly have a lot more to think about before deciding which way to go. I am looking into the Thrush Turbo Tubes, and the info on the Spin Tech Mufflers is very interesting too. You all have made some good points as to clearence, and noise etc, and going out the back may end up being the smarter more affordable way to go, that is the set up I used in my first Maverick back in 82'. (Wow now I'm really dating my self... where did those 20 years go!!!) Keep the great info coming, and I'll definatly let you know when I pick which way I'm going to go with this!!! Thanks Again... Lynne
Another thing to consider.... Running 2 1/2" pipe out the back is next to impossible on the left side due to the offset of the gas tank. It is offset to the left side of the car and the fuel pickup is also on the left side. I have 2" on my 77 and they tend to rattle now and then against the springs. I've heard some people have done it but be careful not to let the pipe burn a hole or chafe the fuel line. For my Sprint I have installed a 67 Mustang gas tank with a little modification and it gives me clearence to run 4" pipe if I so desire. I will email a free copy to anyone who wants one or you can view it on Stefans websight
Sewer Pipes Here's a pic of what I did. 2-1/2 Mandrel from Header to 3 inch X-pipe to 3 inch Mandrel to two 50 Series Flowmaters (3 chamber SUV mufflers) then I dumped it right at the end of the muffler. I wouldn't do this unless your making some good horsepower numbers otherwise its over kill if you ask me. On my other Maverick I run 2-1/2 with an H-pipe to two Junk Terminator mufflers (wanna be flowmasters) and 2-1/2 pipes all the way to the rear of the car. So 2-1/2 pipes are possible at the rear. I run them under the axle / rearend. This solves all problems.
