72 454 Chambered exhaust.

[Eric Fairclough]

Hello, I am thinking about getting a chambered exhaust system for my 72 454 vette from mid america. It is 300.00 for it. Do you think it will sound good with stock exhaust manifolds on? I really don't want to switch to headers on this car since it is mostly original. The exhaust that is currently on now is stock midas mufflers. I have headers and supertrapps on my 350 iroc-z but the engine is built so it sounds good. The vette engine is all orginal with a smoother idle. I want to make sure it will sound ok before i get it. Eric

[Gary S.]

Re: 72 454 Chambered exhaust.

A friend has a 77 with the base engine, stock exhaust manifolds and the chambered exhaust. It sounds very nice; throatier, deeper, and a little louder than the stock exhaust. It is much quieter than the side exhausts I hear. If original look and sound didn't appeal to me so much, I would install this exhaust.

Gary

[Clem Z.]

Re: 72 454 Chambered exhaust.

a friend put aftermarket chambered exhaust on his 427 and it killed all his power above above 4000 rpm. he disconnected the pipes at the manifolds and it runs right up to the redline without the lose of power. they must be more restrictive than you think.

[Eric Fairclough]

Re: 72 454 Chambered exhaust.

I thought the chambered part was like a glasspack (straight through) design. I have never seen one up close and off the car to verify this. Eric

[Dan White]

Re: 72 454 Chambered exhaust.

They are straight through, thats why I don't understand why they would kill power, but I have heard this from someone else before. By the way, I have a Mid-America set up on my 66 small block, with headers though, and I really like it. Not too loud when cruising, but if you step on it, it roars! My motor has specs similar to an L-79.

[Shannon Burgess]

Re: 72 454 Chambered exhaust.

Someone over on the CorvetteForum site posted dyno results of some tests they did with factory sidepipes, as well as Hooker pipes and some spiral baffles. They found that the factory pipes were very restrictive. As I understand it, the chanbered pipes are of a similar construction.

Shannon

[John H.]

Re: 72 454 Chambered exhaust.

We have run back-to-back tests on a chassis dyno on a '69 Z/28 with the factory chambered dual system vs. the factory standard dual system (which replaced the chambered system in production due to customers getting noise tickets), and the chambered system showed a consistent loss of 15-20hp at the power peak on that application vs. the standard system. I personally have no documentation for similar comparisons on the BB Corvette sidepipes vs. the standard dual system, but I've seen others post results over on CF that indicated higher losses with that application than we saw on the Z/28.

[Clem Z.]

Re: 72 454 Chambered exhaust.

stock side pipes vs kustom headers with side pipes(no mufflers) you will see over 100 HP difference on a high HP BB corvette. under the chassis headers and stock exhaust system all the way back will make more HP than stock chevy sidepipes.

[Patrick H.]

I've got them.

I have the Mid America chambered system on my 1971 small block which I installed in April. Interestingly enough, it also had Midas mufflers on it before that (from a previous owner - and I liked them, believe it or not). My thoughts:

1. I have heard of documented high-end hp loss with these. So what. Do you know how often my car goes over 4500rpm on the street? And for more than a second or two? I'll bet yours is the same.

2. They are loud. We just had a noise contest between my car (71 350/270 4 speed) and my friend's 1966 427/425 with side exhaust. I'm louder. In fact, I'm the loudest one in my Corvette club. But boy does it sound GOOD! I have yet to have someone complain about the sound or the noise level.

3. On your car, if a coupe, be prepared for some resonance in the storage area behind your seats.

Patrick

[Eric Fairclough]

Re: I've got them.

Patrick, If you are driving about 60mph can you still hear the radio? Thanks Eric

[Patrick H.]

Re: I've got them.

What radio?

To be honest, even with the old exhaust I usually rarely turned on the radio. That's not why I bought the car. At a 60 mph cruise, though, and even around town, you can still hear the radio - and I only have one working speaker. With the great sound I just have even less reason to listen.

One caveat: your gas mileage will go down. It's so much fun to hear the car that you will use your right foot more than you used to.

Patrick

[Eric Fairclough]

I will get them.

Thanks for the info Patrick, My iroc i could'nt hear the radio it was so loud so i took it out and the exhaust sound is my music. The corvette has stock mufflers that i though never fit the car because it is just too quiet and a corvette have some thunder when it is running. I don't race the corvette , just drive it for fun like you do so i think this exhaust should be perfect. Thanks Eric

[Patrick H.]

Re: I will get them.

Where you at? You could always come over and listen to it.

[Eric Fairclough]

Re: I will get them.

I live in pittsburgh pa. Near dormont. Eric

[Patrick H.]

Re: I will get them.

It's only a 6-7 hour drive to west Michigan, then...