Wanted: Pictures of side exit exhaust, in front of rw

[Preyupy]

You need to be vary carefull about how you mount a side exhaust. The enigine moves a lot and as it twists around the crankshaft axis it twists the exhaust right along with it. If you mount the pipe at the center of the car and then at the outer tip right in front of the wheel you will be braking pipes/headers on a regular basis. You need some kind of flexible coupler at the header if you are going to go with a side exhaust. They also cost you a lot of ground clearance if you don't notch the side rail and run the pipe/muffler under the hump in the floor under the seat.

Have a look at the original exhaust hangers on your car, they are all lined up down the middle of the car and they allow the entire exhaust system to "twist" with the engine as it moves.

[TobyB]

yeah, that and ground clearance have lead me to not try this-

you need some sort of slip joint to take the twist, and a bracket to make sure

the twist that's there doesn't shred your header.

And before some bright spark suggests a flex joint, they don't twist.

So you'd have to 90 it, THEN use the flex joint.... say... that MIGHT work

if'n you hinged the attachment at the rocker.

But I did work out that an oval pipe 1" by about 4" would have similar

flow to a 2 1/2" round pipe...

(holy old thread regurgitation, batman)

[whiteout]

Wouldn't the exhaust exiting on the right side of the car allow for the exhaust to flex down with the driveline and not hit anything, ie like a stock rear exit (compared with a left side exit).

Nick

[eurotrash]

Does anybody know where hangers are put to hold up side-exit exhaust? I cannot seem to find a mounting point in front of the rear diff. Are custom hangers used?

Thanks,

Nick

Why not hang them from the straps that attach to the rear sub frame bushings?

[TobyB]

Wouldn't the exhaust exiting on the right side of the car allow for the exhaust to flex down

sure, but then you let off the throttle while accelerating, and it kicks the

other way...

seems like the sort of thing that might be easy on a solid- mounted engine,

but really hard to do with stock mounts.

t

[Swiftus]

Toby,

I think you are thinking about this too far up the pipe.

The solution is simple. Use a stock configuration all the way until the 90 for the side exit exhaust. Immediately after the 90, that is where one uses their steel flex pipe. This, as you pointed out, converts the twist into a flex and it does so without introducing any extra bends into the system... Vital for a free-flowing system.

Here is one of my favorite side exit exhausts:

Swirly stainless for the win!!! It is also one of quietest hill climb cars one will ever come across...

[TobyB]

Immediately after the 90, that is where one uses their steel flex pipe

yup, that's what I meant above. Don't twist your flexpipe, let it bend instead!

Now I wanna try it. The race car uses urethane mounts, so it'd be

a fine guinea pig. Plus, we get to cut the floor for a muffler (but that's it)

so THAT woudn't be a huge problem....

t

[Psymon]

My car came with side exhaust from the previous owner. I can snap pics and upload them in a few days probably.

[Swiftus]

Toby-

The Opel pictured above has a custom header which puts the exhaust inside the passenger compartment essentially level with the exit. That is how he managed to lower the car as much as he did. But Opels have pretty stiff stock engine mounts....a world away from 2002s.

Another option would be a ball joint coupler... But I'm not sure how much twist those can take.

I think the real solution is a brace on the head of the engine... To limit the overall flop from the engine.

Jay