Although I haven't been able to get much down in the garage, I haven't stopped thinking and planning. Last thing I was working on was the firewall. I have everything planned out for the firewall and can hardly wait to get it all fab'd up. I have a new steering wheel in the works. The exhaust plan is finally coming together too. Check these out...
Here's the steering wheel I picked up. It's a 14", Italian made, "Ruspachromo Torino" (straight off ebay) that I am actually pleased with the quality on. The wood does have a few scratches so it will need to be refinished. But a Nardi runs around $400 and I got this for $90.50 to my door. So, I can deal with re-finishing it. What do you think about the wood? Should I use a stain similar to what was original? Or should I use an ebony stain? Oh, the horn button is a repop of the 70's Dodge "Tuff Wheel" horn button. I think it works for this. Plus, it will help to cover the wide plastic column this will be mounted to (after I make the adapter).
Lol... My drawing skills crack me up sometimes. Anyway... Here's a representation of the way I'll run the exhaust. You've seen the headers already. The Dynatech 4-bolt collectors finally came in (darn things are expensive!). I'll use a set of high-flow 3" catalytic converters. Then, I need to decide whether I can get an "X" pipe to work or whether I will need to go with an "H" pipe setup. An H would be so much easier to deal with here, but the X makes more sense to me when I think about the idea of exhaust flow. After the X or H, the 3" pipe will take a sweeping 90degree turn and head toward a polished 304 tip that will stick out through the running board on each side of the truck. Taking a step back... Just before the tip, I will insert some medicine for tired ears (a set of mufflers that will only be used when the cutout is blocked off). Unfortunately, Magnaflow only makes this muffler in a 2.5" version. GRRR. But okay. If I want more flow, I'll use the switches on my door to "roll down the rear windows." Of course, those switches will be ACTUALLY be routed to the exhaust cutouts... One per side
I am going to have SO MUCH fun messing with cars on either side of me at stoplights or on the highway!! Seriously can hardly wait!
Fancy Drawing
Dynatech 4-bolt collectors (I'll cut the collectors at the 3" level so I get full 3" flow instead of being restricted to 2.5"). Obviously, these bolts are just there so I could mock it up quick without having to open the other packaging.
Here's the basic idea for the muffler on each side (turns out, this is what the Corvette C5 guys have to do).
Here's another shot of what the C5 Corvette guys do. I think this is a stock C5 muffler.
Here's the Magnaflow Muffler I'll be using (even though it only has 2.5" in/out). I already wrote Magnaflow to see what they thought about making a 3" version... They didn't like my suggestion
5 x 8 OVAL 14210
Here are the ebay cutouts... We'll see how they hold up!
Here are a couple pics of the tips I'll use. Of course I don't have the running boards cut out yet... you get the general idea though.