I've got a '77 that I want to put side pipes on.

I have found some and have them ready to install. I crawled up to the car to check the mounting of them and I'm a little concerned with height clearance when using their standard 'L' shaped mounting bracket to hang them from the frame rail. It's tolerable, but I'd like it better if there was more.

It seems to me that if they were kicked out a little, and a different bracket system was used that the pipes could ride next to the frame rail, and not slung below it.

I'm curious if anyone here has sidepipes or has installed them in the past, and if so - did you go with the standard mounting or did you find a way to modify or fabricate a different bracket setup to gain some clearance?

And while you're at it, if you have a horror story about sidepipes you want to throw at me to scare me off them go ahead. Although I'm probably going to be stubborn and put them on for nostalgia's sake. But I'm sure it will give me things to be wary of.

Matter of fact I'll add my own to start off with.

Never use those cheesy oversized screws they send with the pipes to hang your pipes under the car. They will strip out eventually and leave your shiny chrome digging trenches in the asphalt. (I remember that fun from my dad's 76 Sprint.) Use bolts, nuts, lock washers and Loc-tite.

Hey Mark. I've been thinking about some sidepipes myself. Probally won't do it until next year though. I do like that old school look and not many Elky's have them.

I was looking at a 71 inch DynoMax setup. What brand and size did you purchase?

I got mine from JC Whitney. Their site is here: http://www.jcwhitney.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10101&storeId=10101&langId=-1&productId=174508&mediaCode=ZX&appId=385175

Odd thing is, I ordered mine just a couple of weeks ago and I paid $159 for mine, now they're listing them a lot higher. Guess they finally sold a pair so the demand went waaay up, so they upped the price. :-)

I didn't do any real comparison with the Dynomax and the ones from JC Whitney. JC Whitney just happened to be the first place I found them on. Even Dynomax doesn't exactly make them easy to find in their lisitings. They're listed under accessories?

The Dynomax's might flow better and give better performance. I don't know - nor am I particularly concerned. I'm not building a dragster - just a daily driver with a little extra HP.

I'll be glad to get them on though, so I can take my Elkie out and see how it drives. Right now I scare the cats and dogs for blocks when I fire it up and the exhaust poors straight out of the headers.

I had a 66 Malibu with Side Pipes and I like them. I didn't like the cheesy hardware that came with them I eventually had to replace most of it. The pipes were execlent though. I had thought about putting something like that on my 76 but never did.

I can say that I got a lot of tickets for excessive noise. I was still in the service at the time and anytime the cops in a GI town saw anyone with a nice car they would generally stop them and write them a ticket for something. It never failed.

I don't mean a Nice New car either. My pipes had some fiberglass insulation that had to be packed around the baffels that went inside the pipes. I had them until I got rid of the car.

dont do those side pipes on that 77 I had them on mine and tore them off 3 times on curbs ect. before I tore them off and put a true dual under the car :cry:

i'm buying a 78 ss with a 350 and sidepipes. but i don't know how long or what brand. sh1t i haven't even seen the car. so overall most people like them?

i do like the old skool look in my head. but the curb situation isn't very good either.

:cool: I "DIG" those Side Pipe's...I'm going to have the ass end of my 59' jacked up with nice fat meat's 8) ...just like I had my 64' Malibu I had in High School! :P Most all ride's nowaday's are so low to the ground that they teeter on a Speed Bump! I love the Old Hot Rod style myself :) ..."SKULL"

I put some side pipes on my 78 from Jegs and I love them. I get a lot of looks. I lowered the front end 4" and the rear 2" so I have to be very carefull where I can and can't go with it. The pipes are only 2 1/2" off the ground. As they say LOUD PIPES SAVES LIVES. and it is loud. The sound also depends on how long they are, I put the 56" ones on mine and I put 72" on a van and they are not even close to the same sound. It all depends what kind of look you want. As far as mounting I can't find any better way but to mount them to the frame and you can't really lift them any higher because the pipes will still sit under the frame. You better have a welder handy because will need one to make the attaching pipes. Do not try and use clamps for this they will drag the ground and always come loose. I tried this bad decision. Most after market headers collectors will sit back further than the front of your side pipe so you will definetly need to manufacture pipes to attach.
Good luck, It took me about 1 1/2 days to do in my garage. But well worth it.