Dual exhaust conversion on a 1979

[L88 crazy]

How do you convert a 79 Vette's stock exhaust to true dual exhaust? Who makes complete dual exhaust kits for this?

[mvftw]

I would NOT get a kit... Go to a good muffler shop and have them make a custom exhaust... if your keeping the engine mostly stock, go with 2 1/4" (under 325 hp)...

[arcticvette]

out of curiosity what would be wrong with a kit?

[mkapp7879]

This is my dual exhaust from Mid America on my 79. Of course I had to do the header hookup myself. One nice detail of these pipes is that they're oval shaped under the rear differential for a little extra ground clearance. Preferred doing it myself as I don't like anyone else working on my Vettes! I have heard some complaints about kits, not fitting right and other problems. My only complaint is that the pipes going into the mufflers needed an extension(supplied). Obviously made for mufflers with the intakes at the inner side of the muffler rather than the outer side(79 style). Did these a long time ago, so can't vouch for what they have available now. Mike

[arcticvette]

This is my dual exhaust from Mid America on my 79. Of course I had to do the header hookup myself. One nice detail of these pipes is that they're oval shaped under the rear differential for a little extra ground clearance.



like the more clearance idea, what brand of headers are you running?

[Mac]

Originally Posted by arcticvette

out of curiosity what would be wrong with a kit?

Nothing that I can think of except maybe price. A good muffler shop will have the specs to bend up a true dual exhaust for you and it'll likely cost half what a kit would. The only thing you'll need to be careful of is the position of the mufflers and, in some cases, the angle on the tailpipes.

-Mac

[mkapp7879]

Originally Posted by arcticvette

like the more clearance idea, what brand of headers are you running?

Well, they're old Blackjack"alumacoated", circa 1985! Like I said, did it long ago! After I did mine, put the same headers in a friend's 76. He had his pipes installed by a local muffler shop. Cost about the same as I paid but what a mess. I'm sure the technology is better now. Make sure you find a good place. I see you have an 80. Mid America carries a kit that utilizes the single hump in the trans crossmember. Mike

[mvftw]

It took an except over 5 hours at a shop to put my true duals in with a H-pipe, what do you think it will take you on your back? Plus you can't put in an H-pipe yourself... I'm just saying think about it... Vettes are NOT your usually car...

[srs244]

i converted my 78 to true duals using the factory exhaust manifolds as i haven't had anything but trouble with headers on my BB 71 el camino. i bought all the pipes and clamps/hangers, etc from corvette central and found them to be both very knowledgable and helpful in making this conversion. obviously this involved using parts from a pre-cat car, but it was a piece of cake to do. (fortunately, gm chose to keep everything under the car pretty much the same through the C3 line). everything (head pipe, intermediate pipe and exhaust pipe) lined up and bolted up perfectly. several points however, since your car (and mine too) had a catalytic converter, you will need to use a universal hanger setup at the cross member where the pipes go through as the original non cat duals would have had a hanger at the rear of the trans to support the pipes and keep them centered through the crossmember holes. with a cat car, only one pipe goes through the cross member on the passenger side.

i decided to get a side pipe sound out of my set up, and didn't want to spend the extra $$ for baffled under car pipes, so my system doesn't have any mufflers and only uses the resonators contained in the ansi tips i chose to use. BTW, i think the car sounds great and the way a vette should, lol (but that's just one man's opinion however).

[Dave L.]

I used the Mid-America dual kit on my car with no problems. I got the 409 stainless pipes and I'll guarantee they'll outlast me!