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Driving with open headers

jtrux

jtrux

1/2 ton status
 Premium
Joined
Jan 14, 2007
Posts
561
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411
Location
San Antonio, TX
I finally got my 71 K5 fired up with it's new crate motor and now it's needs exhaust. I don't have to pay to get it towed; I get one free a year with my insurance but i'd like to save it for a real emergency. It's about 10 miles (highway) to the exhaust shop. Should I just do it or get the tow? I broke the motor in with open headers (in an apartment complex too :) ) so would it be any different?
 
I've driven several big block mopars open header to the exhaust shop that was 10 plus miles(ok, only 3 of them) and it never seem to hurt anything. It was fun too....
 
Drive it man. If they say anything to you, politely tell them the situation. They should understand.
 
I was trying to tell myself not to do it but the more I think about it the cooler it sounds and boy will it sound cool. It's got a nice cam in it so when it's idling it sounds like i'm at the drag strip waiting my turn to run. Thanks for the persuasion.
 
yea, I actually got pulled over one of the times and told the man I was actually had an appointment at the muffler shop. He just looked at my registration and insurance and politely sent me on my way.
 
Dudge said:
Drive it man. If they say anything to you, politely tell them the situation. They should understand.
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It's the luck of the draw. Traffic 5.0 will NOT understand nor care. Their whole job is that - chasing tail lights. I speak from experience.
 
After putting in his new 360, My little brother drove his CJ7 home after getting it rewired at a shop in town with his open out the frame headers tonight. Man did it sound sweet. He rolled up with a smile on his face like he had a new gold tooth.
 
jtrux said:
I finally got my 71 K5 fired up with it's new crate motor and now it's needs exhaust. I don't have to pay to get it towed; I get one free a year with my insurance but i'd like to save it for a real emergency. It's about 10 miles (highway) to the exhaust shop. Should I just do it or get the tow? I broke the motor in with open headers (in an apartment complex too :) ) so would it be any different?
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Just drive it to the shop. If the local PO PO pull you over and site you, it's not a moving violation. It's a vehicular code violation. Kindly and politely explain your situation. Tell him you're on your way. If he still writes you a ticket, bring the receipt to the court and show the judge. Explain to the judge what happened, and that you tried to explain it to the officer but he was insisting on giving me a ticket. 99.99% of the time you'll be dismissed, and the judge will hand the cop a new ass for taking his time up in court on a BS charge.

Been there, done that...ask me how I know.

Manny
 
I drove 30 miles one way to get my exhaust done in
Houston city driving. No tickets, No problem. I wanted it done at a certain shop and got a quote from 2 diferent towing services for over $150 . That would probably be more than the cost of the ticket I would have recieved, so I went for it.
 
obijuan said:
run it as loud as you can dont even put headers on.
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Um, running a motor without headers or manifolds could crack a piston, or a valve, or more. Letting cold air come rushing into an engine that is 1000* inside is a BAD thing.....
 
As long as you have headers/manifolds on you will be fine. I drove my 74 from Seminole to Crestview (35 miles or so) at 70 plus with straight headers. Couldn't hear **** for a few days but damn it sounded good. Sounded even better when driving it back with dual 3" pipes and 5" Supertrapps.
 
I drove about 20 miles to an exhaust shop. I went in rush hour figuring it being the best time to head to town and blend with the rest of the traffic. I probably wasn't blending with my 3 year old in his car seat with ear muffs on.
 
I say dont worry about it I have been driving myne with two nuggets of rusted pipe about three feet long for quite a while not the only thing that has happened to me was I got pulled over and the cop told me to get this peice of S*** of the road and then made some reference to the country song there aint nothing wrong with the radio.
 
I say run it! But being a responsible adult now makes me say you can always run some flex tubing @ 3 foot. Also be careful about exhaust gases in the cab! OK good deed over.:p:
 
I'm a cop. And I've run open headers on several rigs to the exhaust shop to get fitted. Not a big deal. Technically, it's a non-moving vehicle code violation, but not something most cops (unless they're traffic guys) will pursue.
d
 
ive always heard that it will ruin your valves and what not and im pretty sure it hasnt ruined mine ive been mudracin mine with open headers for 4 yrs now and run it in 0 deg to 100 deg weather all the time, as a matter of fact this weekend i was playin around with it runin through the field to hit some bumps and shake some mud off runnin the piss outta it and it was 9 deg here with 20mph winds, i say drive it and just have that big ole **** eatin grin on your face when someone stares at you, i drive mine when i dont feel like changin my two front tires to fit it on the trailer haha and have passed about 5 cops and i have no liscense and they just kept goin, guess i was lucky
 
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