Sidepipes Install

Needed Items:

83" Pertronix Performance Showtube Sidepipes 

"Great Stuff" spray insulation in a can..

Acetone to clean up the "Great Stuff"..

Single edge razor blade..

Automotive Weatherstripping..

Roll of blue "Painters Tape".. the wider the better..

High Heat Flat Black Spray Paint..

1" x 20' roll of "Safety Tread" striping..

Small bottle of factory color paint..

To install the sidepipe brackets, you will need to weld 2 brackets on the bottom of the car.. The instructions show to screw them to the car with self tapping screws, but that will not work.. For some reason the screws will not bite into anything, even though there is nothing 'behind' them to stop them from going in, they just won't go in.. Align the sidepipes up where you want them very carefully , because that is where they are going to be for years.. 83" long pipes will reach from wheel well to wheel well exactly.. I should have placed the "front" of the pipes 1" towards the rear of the car for a better look, but it is what it is..

 When you remove the side plastic rocker panels, there are about 12 - 15 holes.. That is what the "Great Stuff" is for.. to fill in ALL the holes as much as you can.. There are rectangular holes and circular holes.. Be certain to fill them all.. That is what is used at the factory to fill those holes, so don't worry.. It is VERY, VERY messy stuff, so have some ACETONE handy.. If this stuff cures, you will not be getting it off your hands or the car without a grinder, trust me..  Immediately remove any that got on the car or your hands before it has a chance to dry.. While the Great Stuff is drying, it will "puff" out of the holes, don't worry about that.. Once it hardens you can cut off the excess flush with the body with the single edge razor blade..

After you get all the little particles of that stuff cleaned up, it is time to prep for the paint.. Wipe the area down that you are going to paint with rubbing alcohol to remove any dirt or wax.. Tape off the area that you don't want paint to get on with the blue tape.. Here it is very important to get a straight edge.. I used the 2" wide tape and put 3 rows of it above where I didn't want to paint.. I then painted the bottom ~2" of the car and let that dry..

While the paint was drying I started applying the weatherstrip along the car so that the bottom edge of the weatherstrip just covered the bottom edge of the 6 rectangular holes that used to hold the side skirting on.. The weatherstrip should be flush with the bottom edge of the door.. I then applied the "stripes".. The Safety Tread was my choice as it is a strong, durable, and sticky stripe.. I applied it so that the top edge of the stripe was flush with the bottom edge of the weatherstrip and also ran along the edge of the bend in the body metal.. It took 3 pieces per side.. Then I had to use the factory color paint on the 2 small circular holes by the rear tire on each side to color the "great stuff" I applied into them earlier..

 Once all that is done, you need to bolt up the sidepipes and figure out where you are going to cut the factory exhaust.. Bend some proper sized pipes, install an O2 sensors seat into the new drivers side bent pipe.. You will not need to do this on the passenger side as the stock one stays in it's place.. Then you are ready to start welding up the new sidepipes, to the bent pipes, to the engine exhaust..

After I removed the stock exhaust, I removed some of the "excess" heat shielding and used that to shield where the exhaust now goes into the sidepipes.. Some screws do a good job of holding it to the plastic that is under there..

I also "finished' it by filling in the gaps on the "illusion" pipe and painted it chrome to blend in better.. Now it looks "Complete"..