Where to get exhaust for 78 C3

[John Frank]

First post, though I have been a member for a couple of years.

Doing a rolling restoration with my son on a 1978 Silver Anniversary. I have rebuilt cars before but never a Vette and never to any sort of judging standard.

The Judging Guide says "The use of aluminized or stainless steel pipes and components is inconsistent with the goal of NCRS to retain factory originality." and "In addition to the standard deduction for stainless steel components, deductions should be made for aluminized, stainless and carbon steel replacement components on the basis of the lack of factory appearance".

Yet all of the catalogs I have from Eckler, Corvette America, etc. etc. only list aluminized and stainless steel exhaust systems. So where do I get pipes, mufflers, clamps, etc. that will be up to the judging standards?

[Tom R.]

Re: Where to get exhaust for 78 C3

John:

I'm in a similar situation restoring a 78 Pace Car. Generally you work to minimize deductions but understanding what the correct configuration is and work to ensure configuration is correct. By that I mean, correct catalytic converter or 2 inch pipe for an L48 versus 2 1/2 for L82. The rear L48 Y-pipe is squashed so it does not hang under the differential but is tucked up. At some point you must settle for what's available in the after market unless fortunate enough to pick up a used 78 exhaust system. Go to some NCRS Regional meets and "study" exhaust systems. Or, find some local original Corvettes in your neighborhood and throw them up on a rack. Take pictures. Swap meets are additional source to pick up smaller components that you can do some restoration and recycle such as clamps and brackets. These are used over several model years and so become readily available.

I've judged cars with stainless systems that did not look bad (even great) but you knew they were stainless. So you have 25 points originality and 25 points condition. Carbon steel minimizes your point deduction but if its rusted, than you still get deducted for condition. Or, if its stainless, you take the standard deduction of 50% for originality and more if both mufflers and pipes are stainless...standard deduct can run up to 75% but than you have a great looking system which is nice for those show buffs.

The board (forum) sometime back talked about an exhaust pipe company that did high end correct original exhaust systems and now were entering the Corvette market. I called them but they will limit their development effort to the C3 high performance models...L88s, L89s and LT1s. Nothing past 73 so we are out of luck but it sounds like they nearly do custom work and go to great extremes to ensure pipes are correct with mandrel bent and no ridges...stuff like that. They work from original components and duplicate original configuration with the correct material...carbon steel.

I have yet to study where to find "best" aftermarket exhaust systems for the 78 model year so can't help you there but let's work on it together. Keep me posted and hope this helps.

[Jack H.]

Re: Where to get exhaust for 78 C3

The deduction for aluminized is minor compared with SS systems (see the Standard Deduction Tables in the NCRS Judging Reference Manual) and many simply buy/install the aluminized systems and sacrifice a few judging points for the improved durability they get. But, if you really want original carbon steel, you'll find there's a footnote in the Corvette Central catalog that offers their reproduction exhaust components in carbon steel vs. the standard aluminized material.

Last, bear in mind, I don't think there's ANYBODY out there who supplies a 100% correct/original reproduction exhaust system (there's always some minor detail(s) that differ), so it's a game of minimizing point deductions vs. getting full credit UNLESS you shop the Corvette speciality 'bone yards' for a real McCoy factory original exhaust system that's used...

[John Frank]

Re: Where to get exhaust for 78 C3

This car is never going to be a top award winner. It really is a training project for me to get ready for another project. I want to get it looking original but I am not going to go to extremes to do things that only an expert would recognize. So I guess I will go with aluminized and avoid the big deduction for stainless.

Corvette Central has a free shipping deal at the moment but I have concerns. They seems to have one size pipe for both L48 and L82, and the two different engines originally had different diameter pipes for the 78 model year.

Fortunately I do have the correct hangers including that one aft of the Cat for which the lower clamp is no longer available from anyone.

I'll mull on this a bit more. This weekend's project is to drop the fuel tank and get the tank sheet.

Thanks for the input guys.