Side pipes: Classic, rice, or just plain wrong?
 

Well, my latest idea is... you guessed it, side pipes on the ol' rex. I planed on running a rb header back to a single in/dual out magnaflow stainless steel muffler, then a 90 deg. madrel bend going off each of the outs and coming out right in front of the rear wheel wells(no crazy exhaust tips or anything). It would be different, cheap, and hopefully efficient. What do you guys think?

would be interesting.... post pics if you complete this.

Wrong. Side pipes are for corvettes and 57 Chevys! And LOUD!

Well, they don't have to be loud.. I will definately post some pics once I get it up, it'll be awhile though :/

thats sorta what i had in mind, but i didnt wanna sound like one of those "If it's not American, it's not a car" assholes.

I was thinking of the same thing. I think it would look good, BUT you would have a funky indent where your pipes should be coming out at the rear of the car.

I think it would be pretty cool. But, don't pretendit is a v8 or v6, your exhaust all comes from one side of the car, so go single side pipe on the passenger side! I think that would look cool.

Yea, talkin to some friends, they all said a single side pipe on the passenger side would be pretty cool. Damn, this is going to be incredibly simple. One bend, 6 welds, and all for a little over $300 :D

Well, not THAT simple! Ever took a look at a rotary-type muffler? It's pretty huge. The best thing would be no muffler at all, just straight dual pipes. But that'd be, well, LOUD!!! So you need a muffler. I'm curious how it'd look, but I'm also feeling it wouldn't really suit the car.

you'd have to put a damn good muffler where the cat is and remove the cat. Overall bad idea, I think. Not that it wouldn't look good, just wouldn't work well.

I think it could look good if done right. Two pipes on the passanger side would be badass. Expecially if its a track car. For the street it might be overkill.

I actually had working side pipes on my parts car before I tore the engine out :D. It consisted of the stock manifold, custom bent pipe tothe passenger side, out to a spare motorcycle muffler off a Honda 750 street bike I had laying around. Let me tell you, it was loud as shit, but the motorcycle muffler helped a little :). I just threw it together because I had everything laying around and I was bored. I was joking around with my Dad and he said "go for it" after I held the pipe up under the door, so I did it, lol.

~T.J.

I've seen a "Rotus" 7 use a single side pipe. I don't remember how loud it was, though.

I was gonna do the same thing. But what I was thinking was getting one of those spiral mufflers to cut down the noise, it was basically gonna be header,spiral muffler y pipe with 90 degree turns, 90 degree turn, it would run on both sides of the car. They make those mufflers in short lenghs.
My other idea was to run cheapy cherry bombs and some round mufflers, and just covered them with some heat shields, on both sides of the car of course.
Jegs catalog has some do-it yourslef exhausts, that
I was thinking about using for it

Cherry bombs will melt. You're better off using RB's silencers, IMO.

The motorcycle mufflers already have the heat shield look, and they can be had cheap at motorcycle wreckers...

~T.J.

There is one with dual side pipes I've seen near my work. I thought that the pipes were too big. They looked like they were from and El Camino. Sounded quiet though.

I've been trying to find this car just to look under to see what's going on....

my plan was to use a 20in long 5x8 magnaflow stainless steel muffler, and the littlest cat possible (inspection sucks!). I was also considering using a spiral flow muffler to cut down on sound a bit, as gatorgunner was saying. The idea of having two pipes going out the side sounds pretty badass, and If I did such a setup, I would run 2in pipes from the muffler, which wouldnt look to big or anything. Anyways, do you guys think the 5x8x20in muffler and the cat will fit up under the car? Also, how important is it to use mandrel bends? I will need to run a 90 deg bend to dump the exhaust out the side.

Ground clearance?

Form over function?

i was also thinking about side pipes but i dunno. how much louder would it be than a straight through system?
mandrel bends arn't all that important but do help alot with breathing and flow. mandrel bending just makes it the same inside diameter all the way through
DAVE

I'd like to see a nice loud ass exhaust routed right out the side of the car right after the front wheel :) Thats what I'm gonna do with mine for racing :D

you'll be deaf in no time!

This is my Ford Conversion, but I think the side pipes look good.... and its pretty freaking loud when you pass someone :D good intimidation factor on the racetrack.

http://www.jickedoutbastards.com/1004.jpg

Thats EXACTLY the look I was going for. Did you have any problems fitting the muffler/cat up under there?(assuming you used a muffler and cat) I know for a fact that the rearend of my car is a little lower than yours. I think the setup looks great, very fitting. Its good to see someone thats not afraid to do things a little different...

that is nice show us some better pics!

That does look nice, but it isn't what I think of when I think side pipes. Very nice looking car though!

Is THIS your idea of sidepipes:D
http://www.stainlessworks.net/images...0sidepipes.jpg

yeah your car is badass, i have seen your site. nice swap, very clean.

i think his site is www.jickedoutbastards.com

what i was going to do someday was get a cutout, and have it exit in front of the wheel like that, and keep the normal muffler where it is. never got around to it though.

I checked out the site, here's a better picture of the side pipehttp://www.jickedoutbastards.com/1005.jpg

Yup, that is what I think of when I think side pipes.

edit: Ok that last post wasn't there when I posted this! I am talking about the Cobra! Just because it exits before the rear tire doesn't mean it is a side pipe.

hmm, maybe I should change the title of the thread to "side-exit exhaust":D

On a stock port or street port motor you will make more power and have a wider powerband with a long primary exhaust system; where the two exhaust pipes (one for each rotor) do not collect until the end of the system, just before the rear muffler.

I had the short primary RB header and single presilencer and switch to the long primary RB and dual presilencers and the latter was much better (see above)!

But, as always, to each their own!

I'd make them exit to the side right BEHIND the rear wheels.... make duals :D That'd look badass IMO

gas tank???

I was thinking side pipes like the cobra as well. I plan on doing side pipes like that.
I fyou want the side exit pipes, I think it would look bad-ass if you had some side skirts, whit holes cut out for the pipe to exit. There was a car that came like that, but i cant think of it right now.

That looks way to NASCAR
More red neck than rice for me

The only draw back I can think of is that RX-7s are not the easyest car to get out of. Your leg comes down right by the edge of the door frame. Now you add a hot exhaust pipe that you have to step out and over to get in an out of your car. If you ware shorts you will have burnt legs in no time. I had a friend that had them on a '68 Camaro and he complained all the time about people burning their legs on the side pipes.

Other then that they seem pritty bad ass.

If I remember correctly, one of the mustangs (Saleen, cobra) came with side exit exhaust going through side skirts. After hearing everyones opinions concerning power, looks, sound, and everything else, I think I am going to use the RB road race header, with one stainless steel tube muffler going off each outlets on the header, after that, collecting at a Y pipe right before the muffler, and going into a stainless oval muffler, right before shooting out the side. Very RB-ish, so I know it would work well. You can get the tube mufflers in small diameters(3 inches), and I know they would fit side by side. So there it is, relatively low noise, high flow, tuned length (uhh, sorta) exhaust. It might not be the best solution out there, but like it was said earlier in the thread, to each his own, and this will definately be my own...

sudox_e ;)

Ya I think that was the Cobra. But there are mustangs with side pipes covered by a cowel

Roush Mustang.

http://www.roushperf.com/images/stage3_mustang.jpg
Iamge courtesy roushperf.com

The last version of the Cobra R had side exhaust outlets. Thats where I got the idea for mine.

Chris

Oh, that's right. :) Less stylized, too.

I have to agree. You really have to watch your ankles or you'll have a second degree burn before you can say "Oh Shit!" If the exhaust temperatures of a rotary are really that much higher than piston engine you would definitely want heat shields. I think the pipes would look nice though.

http://www.priveye.com/dls/snakebite.jpg

Roush. Dammit, I knew the cobra didnt sound quite right

Owwie :eek:

The original Viper had the sidepipes.

One thing about sidepipes- would that be heavier than just a reg exaust? More expensive?

And, would you have exhaust fumes coming back in the car- since the rear tires a very close to the side windows?

If youre talking side pipes like the old shelby cobra, I would Imagine that it would be heavier than a regular exhaust. No, if its jsut simple side exit exhaust, it would be lighter (less piping to run), and not as expensive (yet again, fewer welds, it doesnt have to go over the rear axle, so it costs less). About fumes, I couldnt say for sure, but I dont think it would be any worse than sitting next to someone in traffic. And most of the time, you would be moving anyways. oh yea, 100 posts!

Just one thing to remember, bends restrict flow. Especially 90d bends! You're trying to force air into a different direction and it acts just like there would be a restriction there and decreases flow at that point even when it is mandrel bent. Less bends=better flow.

i think the idea is more for a look than performance, well at least it is for me. Maybe some cut outs that dump straight down from the header, for when you wanna have performance?, especially if you run a switch to them so you can open 'em on command

hehehe evil :D