NC-88

The car is a 1988 Camaro non-daily driver. It was originally a 305 TBI now is a 383 carb. The 383 has a 7 quart kicked out Moroso oil pan(i know, bad idea, it was my first build). I initially had dyno don headers to a custom y-pipe to a magnaflow 3" stainless system. The driver-side part of the y-pipe usually is routed between the cross-member and oil pan. My Moroso pan takes up all of that room. So my y-pipe was routed pretty much in the same direction, just lower....too low. It would scrape a lot. Almost tore the whole thing off so I took the y-pipe off and am back to open headers for now.

If I can avoid changing oil pans, but still have an exhaust that would be great. The pan was near impossible to get on when the engine was turned over on an engine stand so I know I would have to completely remove the engine again to change pans.

What would you guys recommend? I have a set of dyno don headers, hooker 2460's, and a 3" stainless magnaflow. The 2460's exit at a much better location. The dyno don driver side header pretty much points at the moroso sticker on my pan...

This (see link below) seems like a viable option, I'm not worried about the loudness. I live in the country, do not have to do emissions testing, and it is a wkend car. What tubular mufflers would fit best??
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/exha...e-flowing.html


Long tubes??
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/post...54-post10.html
Seem like a lot of work and still have clearance issues

urbanhunter44

iTrader: (3)

If you're interested in tubular mufflers I liked the sound of the Dynomax Bullet on my LT1 car years ago. Also Stainless Works makes a quality piece.

If you aren't worried about emissions I'd go long tubes all the way, even if just for the power difference. It's a bit of work on a 3rd gen but the power and sound you'll get out of it will be worth it in the end. I've been running long tubes for years now on my cars.

Orr89RocZ

iTrader: (20)

Do you have enough room for long tubes? If so they are a nice option for performance and sound, but you will have a tough time getting a y pipe to fit now. it will have to be custom and getting around the tranny crossmember is tricky. I went under the subframes and it created a very low spot on the car. Wasnt long before I flattened that section of pipe out due to constantly banging off of roads/bumps/etc.

Dyno dons with its large primaries and good collector size are the best option for clearance and performance mix. But you will likely need to fabricate a new exhaust ypipe for it. They may point at the sticker on the pan but can you get a piece of pipe on there and bend away from the pan?

The pipe needs to go down behind the pan, under the tranny torque converter area. Take the tranny cover off if you still have it on.

Then run down stock location..... sorta like this.

NC-88

Okay thanks for the info guys. Dynomax bullets sound like a decent way to go. Orr89RocZ - Ya there is room to get a pipe on the drivers side header, but its tight. I'm thinking just some bent tubes off of the shortys to a couple tubulars or just longtubes to tubulars. Other than the starter clearance issue, what other problems do longtubes create?

Orr89RocZ

iTrader: (20)

Longtubes just sit low and make for a low ypipe.



Thats how I did mine with SPohn x-member which hangs low as it is. Made it hard to tuck 3" pipe around it. 2.5" is much more workable but the headers are 3" anyway and you'd have to neck it down quickly and still go under the subframe/trans xmember.



Car is lowered abit but its very low at the crossmember/subframe area.

heat seeker

iTrader: (5)

Go long tubes if you can, you'll never look back. Clearance issues can be a problem if the car is lowered , but it's your weekend car so you should be good.

As far as mufflers go, I have Moroso Spiral Flow bullets from Jegs, dumped at the axles. They're pretty cheap ($40ea) and sound really good with a decent cam.

Just throwing it out there.....

NC-88

Okay, heat seeker - do you have the same ypipe set-up(right behind the trans) or is there a way to keep them split. My car is not lowered but man Orr's set-up is probably lower than I'd like to go. What is the longtube brand of choice: Hooker, Hedman, or Doug's. I have straight angle heads.

Thanks again for your advice

heat seeker

iTrader: (5)

Mine is similar to Orr's (if I'm seeing it correctly), true duals all the way back, I got rid of the Y-pipe. I too was hesitant to do straight duals, however I have a 6-quart oil pan, and a cross-over pipe wouldn't be ideal. I have straight plugs also, just use NGK plugs they run short enough so you won't have any clearance problems. Here are the parts that I used to build my exhaust....really simple.

Hooker 2210 Long tubes - http://www.jegs.com/i/Hooker-Headers...rentProductId=

Hedman S-Bends - http://www.jegs.com/i/Hedman/500/18713/10002/-1

Moroso Spiral Flow - http://www.jegs.com/i/Moroso/710/940...rentProductId=

3" Tubing to connect S-bend to turndown - http://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS-Performan...oductId=752882

3" Flowmaster Turndowns - http://www.jegs.com/i/Flowmaster/389...oductId=748393


That's it....I did my cuts first, then I pieced it all together on the car and had a friend come and tack weld it once I got it turned and aligned. We took it off and welded all the ends together.

I can take off my exhaust from the headers back in about 5 min with my impact. That alone made the ground clearance issue completely worth it. I scrape every now and then....but the S-bends are the only thing that have touched the ground - not the header itself.

Here's a video clip, Idle is too high (that's fixed now)...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSyVZ...feature=relmfu

Hope this helps your decision.....

InfernalVortex

iTrader: (4)

If you can modify your crossmember, that's the best option. I love to post up this picture of mw66nova's brother's car. It's a 5.3 swap car, but it's using factory manifolds, would be functionally and practically identical to your shorties in this case:

This is the crossmember:


And here on a different car with the factory manis:




And this would be a good idea with Long tubes too. The trans crossmember is always the problem.

Sacrificing ground clearance is always a bummer. You can say it's a weekend car all you want, but you're really sacrificing the cars usefulness.

heat seeker

iTrader: (5)

True, the cross member is what causes most of the clearance issues.

I tucked as best I could. I did grind on the framing slightly to get rid of a rattle, and also tapped on the passenger side of transmission pan for a better fit.

I'll post some pics this weekend....

NC-88

Awesome, thanks for the parts list heat seeker. Your set-up is exactly what I had in mind...knew someone had to have done it.

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

how I did mine..

Orr89RocZ

iTrader: (20)

I used the hedman S-extensions as well to get under the x-member but i cut them up and rewelded them as necessary to gain more clearance because out of the box, they didnt fit at all, or atleast didnt give me any clearance

The crossmember is the big concern. 2.5" pipe would be abit easier to work with than 3".

I honestly dont think you'll give up much power with dyno don 1 3/4" shorties over longtubes, especially if you went with 1 5/8" long tubes. I'd run the 1 3/4" primary shorty over that.

heat seeker

iTrader: (5)

I took some shots of mine....just to give you an idea.

Orr89RocZ

iTrader: (20)

Wheres your rear sway bar?

heat seeker

iTrader: (5)

Ahhhhh, you noticed. I got rid of it along time ago, when I was in a hurry to shave weight off the car. However, from what I've read, I think it helps the car launch straight when you're drag racing.

Considering getting one from UMI Performance....

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

Yes for the ole 1320 a bigger is better works back there. Remove the front for tail dragging action!!
I also noticed your front lower A arm bolts are put in backwards. Its a pain to put them in correctly but do it! It also looks like the front lower pass bolt is a bit 2 short or the nut isnt all the way tight..

NC-88

Awesome work guys, very helpful pics

midnightfirews6

iTrader: (1)

Bringing this back from the dead... Did my driver's side A arm bushings, struggled with getting the spring back in, gave up and had the other side done at a shop. The A arm bolts are two different lengths & the long one goes in the side of the A arm closest to the front of the car and the short one goes in the one closest to the back... which is why the front bolt looks short on heatseeker's. Mine face the right direction on both sides but the shop mixed up the lengths like on heat seeker's. It's just a bolt so I'm guessing there'll be no problem there? Still gonna switch them when I install weight jacks because of my OCD lol, just wondered if it'll be fine until then.

heat seeker

iTrader: (5)

Yeah, they'll hold fine......mine don't budge. I just went out and checked them to be sure. They've been that way for about 5-6 yrs now.....I've had no problems.

Savage388

Just saw this, how loud is your exhaust, im thinking about taking my gaint flowmaster 40's out and straight piping it till i can scrape some money together for the exhaust.

heat seeker

iTrader: (5)

Those aren't straight pipes, there are two Moroso Spiral flow mufflers at the back. I would never run straight pipes on a street car.....just too much unnecessary noise. I liked controlled sound.

I listed all the parts I used in post #8......here's a video clip.