Aluminum exhaust tubes, why not?
 

I know this has been posted before, but as I understand it, exhaust temperatures are lower as they leave down at the collectors into the exhaust system, mufflers and then to the tail pipes. Why is that people have not explored this easy way of shedding almost 60 pounds off the bottom of the chassis by using Aluminum pipe. I've seen it in many sizes ranging from 2" to 5" at the local speed store. I know that the Turbo guys use it for their intake inlets/intercoolers and such,
I believe that the temps are not hot enough to melt the pipes from the collectors on back, unless it has to do with heat escaping too fast through that alloy.
Anyone?.

Re: Aluminum exhaust tubes, why not?
 

60 lbs of What?? I don't know of any race cars that run exhaust past the collectors unless it's one of the "street" classes. You might want to post this question in a different section.

Re: Aluminum exhaust tubes, why not?
 

60 or more pounds of exhaust pipe weight. I know of some street/race cars that out run some pure non exhaust race cars. Some cars even run better wearing a full exhaust.
Figured every one is looking for that advantage and losing weight can be one of course.

Re: Aluminum exhaust tubes, why not?
 

That's funny right there, I don't care who ya are. LOL

Re: Aluminum exhaust tubes, why not?
 

I've never seen a s/ss car with full exhaust. Not being a smart *** just never seen it.

Re: Aluminum exhaust tubes, why not?
 

They wouldn't run quicker with full exhaust either. LOL

Re: Aluminum exhaust tubes, why not?
 

Judging by the limited number of posts by the OP, I'm assuming he's new to the site and may not understand S/SS racing is the same as what he understands it to be.
So thanks for the heads up, your idea is sound but not applicable here.

Re: Aluminum exhaust tubes, why not?
 

Instead of saving some weight with aluminum exhaust, leave the entire exhaust off, and save all the weight! If a car was to actually run faster with some exhaust restriction, as well as carrying the extra weight, seems it wasn`t setup or tuned very well to start with.

Re: Aluminum exhaust tubes, why not?
 

ooohps. I stand corrected. you guys are right, I totally did not realize the thread.

Re: Aluminum exhaust tubes, why not?
 

I used to run 2" aluminum sprinkler line on my cars back in the 60s. It will work.

Re: Aluminum exhaust tubes, why not?
 

I would think the reason people don't use it is because it's harder to bend, I have never tried to run any thru my pipe bender but I suspect it would be prone to collapsing or cracking and most exhaust shop's are not capable of doing mandrel bends.

Oh and we don't run mufflers on racecars, lol

Re: Aluminum exhaust tubes, why not?
 

In the sixties we made some hedders out of a flange kit and "flex-a-tube" bendable aluminum tailpipe in about an hour on a 57 chev and picked up 3mph. No collector. Warren Johnson looked at it and wished us luck.

Re: Aluminum exhaust tubes, why not?
 

Did it sound like a Duesenburg?

Re: Aluminum exhaust tubes, why not?
 

Not meaning to shoehorn into this class again, I was confused as to what this tech forum was specific too, so forgive the rant.
I'll interject with one small note, thin gauge Aluminum tubing is readily available from any good stocked speed shop in many sizes ranging from 2" all the way up to 5" along with many sections which are already mandrel bent. Straight sections are also available of course.
I was just wondering because so many people have to run exhaust systems in other classes and with so many noise restrictions nowadays, Aluminum for the system along with the Mufflers may be attractive to some. The Turbo guys use them for many applications on their hair dryer combos. What puzzled me was; is there an exhaust flow hampering with its heat being evaporated before it reaches the end of the system?
Maybe it's a cost issue.

Re: Aluminum exhaust tubes, why not?
 

I've wondered if the collector could be made of aluminum? It might last on a drag car.

Re: Aluminum exhaust tubes, why not?
 

Mine did!

I'm always messing with jetting and after a couple of years running TTI step headers with collectors and jetting it as best as I could, I switched to a 3" exhaust with an X-pipe and ending at the rear housing with Dynomax Ultraflow mufflers. The extra 60+ lbs was removed from elsewhere in the car and it wanted jetting 1-2 numbers less. But in the end, I picked up .05-.10. I believe it was mainly the X-pipe.

If I didn't think it helped, it wouldn't have stayed on. It's cramped to swap center sections and the exhaust has to be dropped for trans swaps or disconnected for teardown.

It scared the heck out of me for a while because I heard things I never heard before!

Re: Aluminum exhaust tubes, why not?
 

I would have to question the headers. An H pipe between the headers might have had a similar effect, but I have a problem thinking the headers were correct. I have had some pretty long collectors in the past on my old Jr Stockers. Like 24" extensions on one PG car. Total of 36". Can't tell you how many people told me it was wrong. Wrong headers and too poor to buy more at the time. LOL

Re: Aluminum exhaust tubes, why not?
 

An Aluminum collector might not survive the heat source from the primary header tubes that's blasting only a few inches behind. The rest of the tubing doesn't see actual flame but a respectable amount of heat.