Under Car exhaust

[werthie]

For those of you with original 260/289 Cobras or slabside replicas, here are two resources:

First, the oval glasspacks you need are no longer available. There's an outfit in Florida that will make reproductions very inexpensively: Kepich Exhaust. Talk to the owner, John Kepich at 1-800-365-5764. The original dimensions are 15" case length, 6-1/2" at the widest point, and 3-3/8" at the tallest point. Inlet and outlet were originally 1-7/8", but I had them make it with 2". Just personal taste, but you want glasspacks, not turbos or Flowmasters. It's just the right sound . . . .and it's original.

Second, for pipes, contact well-known Cobra expert Bill Kemper at csxcobrakids@aol.com. If you have the little cast iron manifolds and the two-tube headers, Bill will sell you the proper header pipes that come off the headers and connect to the muffler inlets. If you're running headers, you probably don't need this piece. He also makes the tail pipes--one piece from muffler outlet to the tip (slash cut, per the originals). The pipes are aluminized, with the appropriate hanger brackets welded on (in just the right places). Once again, I chose 2" O.D., even though the originals were smaller. Bill also sells the original rubber insulated connectors; you'll need three per side.

Using Bill's pipes and Kepich's mufflers, total installation time was less than an hour. I had to shorten the tail pipes slightly, and I had to flare each tail pipe slightly to fit over the muffler outlet. That was it.

Good luck and Happy New Year!

Alan in L.A.