67 side exhaust car?

[Tim S.]

I am working in a 67 car with side exhaust installed. I pulled the rocker molding and SE cover and I see the molding hangers have been cut off almost even with the body channel. It is my understanding that original side exhaust cars had NO hangers (not cut off hangers) is this correct?The splash shield has no weatherstrip and no holes for staples, but they could have been changed. The confusing part is that there are no holes in the frame, near where the exhast pipes go through, for a ground strap. It is not that they are not tapped, there is no hole at all. I see some evidence of where hangers may have been bolted on the rear frame rail, but they have been obscured by undercoating. I am assuming this is not an original S/E car but the ground strap holes puzzel me.
Thanks
Tim

[Mike M.]

Re: 67 side exhaust car?

All of your assumptions are correct.
The holes may have been filled.
H. a. N. D.

[Jack H.]

Re: 67 side exhaust car?

Yes, side exhaust was a configuration option that exploded upward on the build sheet (get the body made with matching rear valance panel, correct sill plates without hangers, + 'cuts' in the fiberglass for clearance; get the chassis made without tranny hanger plate for non-existent through-frame exhaust pipes, Etc.).

GM designers would kill their grandmother for a $0.25/unit cost saving. Why would they absorb the time, labor and expense of welding hanger straps to the sill plates and then taking a saw and cutting the hangers off when they knew from the git go this was a 'piper' car?

[Louis T.]

Re: 67 side exhaust car?

Tim,

The holes for the hangers of an under-car exhaust, as well as those for the grounding straps appear in the frames of all cars (just as do the exhaust pipe pass-through holes through the transmission crossmember). On a factory sidepipe car they would not have been tapped as no bolts would have needed to be introduced to them. As Mike mentioned, it sounds like some previous owner didn't know this and tried to cover up the ground-strap holes.

Holes with threads in and of themselves wouldn't necessarily indicate an original under-car exhaust, as a sidepipe car could have been converted to under-car exhaust by some previous owner in an attempt to quiet the car. In absence of original documentation, clues include the trim tag (most agree that no sidepipe cars came from AO Smith - they never had the jig used for setup), rubber splash guard seals (not on sidepipe car - easy to add/remove), rear valance (easier to replace than fill in the exhaust bezel holes), the appearance of rocker panel brackets (which can only be completely removed during a body-off), and the most tell-tail sign, which is the existence of 6 (I think) little rectangular cut-outs on each side of the lower birdcage on sidepipe cars for their hardware. I understand that these are very difficult to reproduce after the fact, as they were made with a special punch-out tool at the factory.

Save the wave!

Louis

[Robert K.]

Re: 67 side exhaust car?

Louis,

Do you (or does anyone else ) have a picture of what these "6 little rectangular cut-outs on each side of the lower birdcage" look like? I'd like to know where to look and what to look for....


Thanks for your help!

[Jack H.]

Re: 67 side exhaust car?

I can't see a reason for posting an actual picture of the factory mod... The cut-outs are called out in the AIM book with sufficient detail for one to look and see if they're there or not there...

[Nick C.]

I am with Jack

Either it is or is not.

Too many bad examples already floating around.

Pictures can be misleading.

[Wayne W.]

Re: 67 side exhaust car?

Louis,

Do you (or does anyone else ) have a picture of what these "6 little rectangular cut-outs on each side of the lower birdcage" look like? I'd like to know where to look and what to look for....


Thanks for your help!

In the top picture.

http://216.77.188.54/coDataImages/p/Groups/303/303869/folders/240714/2029470OldPictureFromOldComp428.jpg

[Robert K.]

Re: 67 side exhaust car?

Wayne,

Thanks very much - the AIM was not (is not) as clear as your pictures. I appreciate the help!

[Jeremy H.]

Re: 67 side exhaust car?

look at this picture of the cutouts. I have more pictures if you or anyone wants to see. This car is still on my rotisseri.

Jeremy Hedges
#31711

[Louis T.]

Re: 67 side exhaust car?

Hi Jeremy,

These are fantastic pictures! Is there any way you can take a shot of either side where all on that side are visible in the picture at the same time?

Louis

[Paul Y.]

Re: 67 side exhaust car?

Thanks for the pictures. They are worth more than a thousand words.

[Mike M.]

Re: 67 side exhaust car?

Again, my recommendation is to find a known, documented, authenticated (and all the other buzz words) original car to personally obtain the information that you are looking for.
H. a. N. D.

[Robert K.]

Re: 67 side exhaust car?

Jeremy,

Those are great pictures - worth a thousand words!! Thank you very much for taking the time to post these! They are a big help to me....

By the way Mike, (and I'm sure that you're aware of this) not all members have access to a known, documented, original car so we rely on this forum and pictures from others to help us out.

[Rick S.]

Re: 67 side exhaust car?

I have a known, documented, 67 side exhaust car on a lift in a Detroit suburb if anyone wants to see one up close and personal.