I am needing to get a new exhaust put on my 62 Electra. It currently is a single exhaust, but I want to go with duals. Before I take it in though, I would like to get some suggestions on what size pipes to go with. The car is stock with the 401 and 4bbl, and I don't plan on racing it.
IMHO any new exhaust for a basic street car should be at least 2 1/2 inches. The difference in performance from my old tiny exhaust to the 2.5 was dramatic. Make sure it is MANDREL bent, so the curves DON'T pinch down in size! You can get mufflers that keep it quiet also. But if you are going to spend any $$ on new exhaust, pay for the performance you mill is capable of. Anything less just defeats the purpose of having a big motor in a big car.
I wanted to put 2 on my 76 Electra, but the exhaust manifold had only 2 , so I mounted double 2 with Flowmaster 40 mufflers. And now it sounds great :laugh: and breaths a lot better. :3gears: In the future, I will only use Flowmaster 40 on my cars.
My 85 Monte Carlo had dual Flowmaster 40's on it... TOO LOUD.. Loved it when I was 18... I'm only 21 now and I just.. couldn't deal with it anymore.. lol Always waking the neighbors up in the morning When I bought my 71 Riviera my neighbors wife came over to me.. and the first thing she asked was "Is this one as loud as the other one??" lol I have Turbo mufflers now, well, they came with it when I bought it.. Sound nice. =P Wish I knew exactly what they were. All they say is "turbo" on them. Walker Turbo?
Well, as it turns out, I only needed to replace from just in front of the rear axle back, the rest was solid. I wanted a full dual exhaust, but just couldn't afford the extra cost and I really needed the exhaust fixed because the fumes were getting to me when I was driving. So, I had them replace the pipe going over the rear axel then go into a single in/dual out crossflow turbo muffler for a Camaro/Firebird with dual tailpipes. Now I can breathe when I drive, and it doesn't sound too bad either.
