[Dangerous Doug]

I don't have to warm anyone about the pipes on my ERA 289 FIA being too hot. They are tucked under the car, and, like Bob said, they'd really have to work at it to end up burned.

In terms of noise, I have a 302 with 10.5:1 cr, aftermarket heads and a bit lumpy cam. I don't feel the need for earplugs, and I've opened it up quite a bit. Most of my neighbors like the sound of my Cobra, but they know when I'm coming or going. I've put nearly 3k miles on my car in the last year. The exhaust tone never bugs me, even during extended rides.

I like my pipes from ERA. I bought the standard steel glasspack pipes from them, and then sprayed them with VHT flat black. I think the only thing I would do differently is trim the end of the headers a bit so the pipes tuck up a little closer to the undercarriage. I find that on the FIA, getting over speed bumps is done slowly, carefully, and sometimes with a scraping sound. I plan on bringing them up about an inch after it comes back from paint. (It goes up next month)

DD