Sidepipe and AO Smith body....?

[Jim V.]

I am considering a 67 pipe car and am skeptical of the so called factory mounted side pipes.

A archived post mentions that NO AO Smith bodies had factory installed sidepipes. Is this really true?

Also, were there any engines where sidepipes were not an offered option?

Thanks

[Craig S.]

Re: Sidepipe and AO Smith body....?

Jim - that is my understanding for 67 specifically.....I am sure others will verify. As far as I know, there were no engines that restricted sidepipes. Also, no AO Smith cars were BB's in 67 as far as I know......Craig

[John H.]

Re: Sidepipe and AO Smith body....?

No factory sidepipes on A.O. Smith-bodied cars.

[David D.]

Re: Sidepipe and AO Smith body....?

John, Would that also apply to the 1965 and 1966 AOS big block and small block bodies? I believe it was stated in an earlier post, that only the St. Louis plant had the birdcage tooling, to make the cuts needed for side mount exhaust. Correct? Dave

[Kent K.]

Re: Sidepipe and AO Smith body....?

Jim----
Only combination of '67 base engine with powerglide did not permit side exhaust option. There may have been others in other years. Someone more knowlegeable on them will have to respond.
No AO Smith bodied Corvettes came with side exhaust that I'm aware of.
Kent #6201

[Wayne M.]

Per '66 and '67 Dealer Order Forms ...

... N14 side exhaust had no restrictions as to motor or transmission. This was not the situation in 1965, however, as the only small block side exhaust pipe made was 2.5" diameter at the exhaust manifold, and therefore excluded the base engine (manual or auto) and 300hp automatic trans, which used 2" manifolds only.

As there were no automatics or 2" manifolds for '65 L79 (350hp) L76 (365hp) or L78 (425hp), all could order N14.

In 1966 and 1967, N11 (off-road, under car) exhaust was restricted to manual transmissions (3 or 4sp) with any engine. I'm not sure why.

[John H.]

Re: Sidepipe and AO Smith body....?

Dave -

Yes, that's correct - the tooling required wasn't all that exotic (hydraulic nippers with dies and a pair of RH/LH nipper-locating fixtures to position the notches correctly in the sills and sill reinforcements), but Chevrolet chose not to allocate any N14 orders to A.O. Smith - they all went to St. Louis. A.O Smith processed the option on paper, but never built any.