I know theres a reason for it, but why do people route true duals from the headers to the frame then back to the middleish of the car then dump them,instead of just straight back from the headers like trucks???I know there a reason would just like to know what it is

 

because it's easier to dump them there then route them the entire length of the car.

 

I am talking about dumping them in front of the axle , what im asking is why not just STRAIGHT back instaed of curving here an there???thats whats eating my sack lunch

 

For ground clearance reasons. If you ran them straight back you would have to have the pipes hang very low because the fame would be in the way. People curve the pipeing around the chassis in order to have acceptable ground clearance. This is one reason why a y pipe is the best setup to have on our cars. Our cars just were not designed for duals.

 

oic...makes since to me now, just didnt know why for sure, appreciate the info bud

 

There's another reason - the fuel lines and I believe the brake lines run right over where the driver side dual would go if you ran it straight back.

 

why was it the 3rd and 4th gens werent designed to have duals? the 1st and 2nd gens did, the fox bodies do, the monte carlo does etc. so it cant be emissions or cost reason. this has always confused me...

 

It's just the design of the chassis. When the engineers designed the 3rd and 4th gen platform they didnt leave enough room on the undercarriage to run duals. It really doesn't matter anyways because a nice flowing y pipe with a single exhaust will still perform just as good as duals.

 

this imo would be the perfect setup

hooker long tubes
a few bends of madrel bent tubing
a flowmaster y-collector
4 inch i-pipe
4 inch over axle pipe
dual 3 inch tail pipes


youd route the pipe off the headers in the stock location..then use the y collector and then the 4 inch pipe

that would sound bad@ss

 

3rd and 4th gens sit lower to the ground, which has it's advantages. What's in the way is the floor pan. The floor pan to ground clearance is much greater in a fox body, 1st and 2nd gen f-body. FYI, there are some f-bodies on this site that have straight back exhaust. Also, I remember my Dad tearing off a muffler once in a while on is 77 T/A--they hung fairly low stock.

 

Thats not totaly true. I saw the dyno charts on an LT1 fourthgen that gained around 20-25 hp by going from a mufflex y pipe and single 3.5" mufflex catback to a custom dual 2.5" with x pipe. If you figure out the area's dual 2.5 and single 3.5 are pretty close in size yet he made more power with the dual w/ x pipe setup. I guess it just depends on how much work you are willing to put into it to get it routed to where you have good ground clearance. I have 4.5+" all the way from my headers to the back of my exhaust with my collector flange being the lowest point. This is only using hedman x extensions, straight pipe, and dynomax bullet mufflers and putting it together in my garage with clamps and driving it to the exhaust shop to have it welded. If there was a shop in town with the ability to do custom mandrel bending I am sure it could have been tucked up even a bit better.

For ease of instalation an being able to buy everything in one convenient(usually over priced) package then sure go for a single catback. This will also do fine, but I am happy with my duals and will probably never have a single exhaust on the car again. I was able to put together my exhaust for about $150 which is cheaper than most catbacks, and I dont scrape over any speed bumps or driveways ect... The only time I have scraped was going over a large hump in a country road at about 75 mph. It was the flange on the s extensions that scraped because it hangs down about .5" farther than the header flange it mates to. If I had good front struts I doubt that even would have happened.

Ben