Hi Randy,
It is indeed possible to install dual exhausts in your
'73 Imperial. However, based upon my experience with
one of my '71 Imperials, I would not recommend it.
First, no fuselage Imperials came from the factory
with dual exhausts (unless someone with lots of pull
managed to special order it, in which case you'd be
incredibly lucky to locate such a car.
Other fuselage C-Body cars of this era could be
ordered with factory dual exhaust. However, the
factory setup for these cars did NOT include
resonators at the rear. So even if you locate an
original gas tank from a New Yorker with factory
duals, there still will NOT be room for resonators at
the rear.
The two major issues I ran into in having dual exhaust
put on my '71 were pretty simple: first, I had to take
the car to FOUR different custom exhaust shops before
I could find someone who could get all the rattles and
knocks out. Second, since resonators could not be
installed at the rear, there were several RPM ranges
where the noise was absolutely deafening, something I
did NOT want in my Imperial.
My "final solution" was aluminized pipe, stock
mufflers, and an H-pipe. The last length of tailpipe
is actually run along the bottom of the frame rails on
each side at the rear, which has proven to work pretty
well. The H-pipe not only turned out to help with the
rumble that I got at 45 mph and also at 65+ mph, but
also gave a noticeable improvement in low end torque.
And when I replaced the interior a year or so ago, I
insulated the living daylights out of the trunk, rear
seat back, and floorboards. That cut out about 90% of
the "rumble," so now the car is much more Imperial
sounding on the inside. :o)
Now, to give you a better idea of this process . . . I
first had the duals installed in 1995, but it wasn't
until 2001 that I was at last satisfied with the
system.
My "new" '70 Imperial had been changed to dual exhaust
before I bought it. One of the first trips the car
will make this month will be to an exhaust shop to
have it put back to the correct original single
exhaust.
Please let me know if I can be of further help.
Best regards,
Elijah
1965 Imperial LeBaron
1970 Imperial LeBaron
(3) 1971 Imperial LeBarons
--- Randy Martin <CountyFleet@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> To all the fuselage owners out there (and anyone
> else who might know the answer),
> I have a '73 LeBaron with the factory single exhaust
> and would like to change it to duals. I have
> noticed when looking under the car, that the single
> exhaust pipe runs between the fuel tank and the
> chassis rail on the right side. However, there is
> no room on the left side between the tank and the
> chassis. That means to put on duals, I would have
> to run the second pipe on the outside (ugh) or under
> (also ugh) the chassis rail. I seem to recall that
> duals were an option on one of the fuselage years
> but don't know which one. Is it possible for me to
> obtain a fuel tank from one of these factory dual
> exhaust fuselage Imps and install it in my '73?
> Thanks for any help.
>
> RandyGet more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer
> download : http://explorer.msn.com
>
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