Stainless Steel Sidepipes - options!

cobra de capell · #1 (**permalink**) 03-05-2008, 04:04 PM

I'm thinking of replacing my ERA painted side pipes with stainless steel.

ERA Stainless steel side-pipes only, polished, $2,100 pair.

Stainless Specialties has them for $1,985.00 / pair - not much difference, but is there a difference in steel quality or workmanship, muffler used?

Has anyone gone the Side pipes only (bare steel) - $600 route (from ERA) and had them chromed?

Input will be appreciated.

CJ428CJ · #2 (**permalink**) 03-06-2008, 10:14 AM

I have the SS sidepipes from ERA and although they sound bad a$$, they are LOUD. A lot of Cobra guys think their cars are loud until they hear mine. After hearing mine, I think they all agree mine's the loudest.

I understand the ERA sidepipes have baffles welded into them but they do not use any fiberglass packing.

Of course there's more to how a car sounds than just the sidepipes. I use to think mine was perfect (fairly loud, a real deep lopey idle, etc). That was with out of the box Edelbrock heads and a fairly mild cam. I then changed to a set of KC stage 2 heads and bigger cam. The car is now significantly louder. I'd like to quiet it down a bit but all my friends tell me to leave it like it is because it sounds so good.

Chris

cobra de capell · #3 (**permalink**) 03-06-2008, 02:54 PM

Interesting. My ERA was built in 1984 and has the same pipes - the muffler is about gone and seems very loud to me, but loud is not a big problem - it's the way it sounds that's cool.

speed220mph · #4 (**permalink**) 03-06-2008, 03:04 PM

My ERA, #409, has SS sidepipes and they are loud. My wife likes them as do I--it's a Cobra!

--so loud it stays.

Steve Witte · #5 (**permalink**) 03-06-2008, 08:09 PM

I have stainless that came with the vehicle and I have had a definite problem with keeping them clean. It appears rust is coming through them obviously I have a bad pair. I am not sure what brand they are however I would go stainless again if I could find a good pair that wouldn't turn on me.

cobra de capell · #6 (**permalink**) 03-07-2008, 07:37 AM

It appears that overall stainless is the way to go - long-term. Painted results in a huge upkeep issue. Coated, OK on upkeep but not great.

1Trkpony · #7 (**permalink**) 03-07-2008, 08:11 AM

My ERA has stainless pipes too. I echo Chris' comment about they are LOUD, but hey its a cobra they are supposed to be loud. Also they have stainless "packing" in the muffler so it won't rust out or blow out and get louder over time as some mufflers do.
I do wear ear plugs for long rides mainly because up until now I only had a 4 speed (I am in the process of swapping in a TKO right now to solve that) and on the highway it drones a bit :-) I hear now that ERA has made them a bit quieter but not sure how much.

Quality is top notch, very well made. They will yellow/gold with heat but if you want you can polish them to try and keep the gold out (on my pipes the heat turns them gold pretty quickly again). I like the gold look though, looks good. I think chrome will turn blue with heat and I prefer the gold look.

The only problem I have had is to seal up the slip joint from the header pipes to the side pipes. The 2 metals expand differently and tend to either leak or rattle when warm. Chris (above) has a solution to it that I am trying this year to hopefully end my rattle/leaking joints. Other then that they should/will last forever no rust.