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Old 09-18-2015, 10:22 AM   #26
MikeB
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Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: North Texas
Posts: 3,430
Re: Lmc dual exhaust kit(heartthrob)

I just finished installing a Heartthrob kit yesterday. It's their P/N 4144SK with stock mufflers and tailpipes exiting at the sides behind the rear wheels. Since my 82 C10 uses 96-00 5.7L Vortec exhaust manifolds, I had to modify the down pipes, so I can't attest to their fit with stock manifolds.

Pros: Thick wall 16 gauge aluminized pipe, smooth mandrel bends, two extra pipe sections for very long wheelbase trucks.

Con: I didn't see any way to make use of the short hangers. They are apparently designed to mount horizontally between clamps and frame rails, but they aren't long enough to do that. So I ended up buying flexible hangers from a parts store, and hung the pipes vertically from a cross rail just before the mufflers, and from the frame rails to the tailpipes.

Also, their "stock" mufflers are on the loud side, and sound more like turbo mufflers. The noise is amplified by the side-exit pipes bouncing sound off cars and curbs. For whatever reason, the kit with pipes that run straight back to the bumper cost more, even though there are fewer bends and should be cheaper to make.

On another note, I used stainless band clamps at the pipe and muffler junctions for ease of future disassembly (6 x $7.97 at Summit)



Overall, I got a lot of nice pipe and two mufflers for a very good price at Auto Accessories Garage. I paid around $218 including shipping using a discount coupon. Total spent was less than $300 including stainless clamps and hangers. Average price at local muffler shops to do the same work with crush bends was $650. And they typically want to weld everything together.
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Mike
1969 C10 LWB -- owned for 34 years. 350/TH350, 3.08 posi, 1st Gen Vintage Air, AAW wiring harness, 5-lug conversion, 1985 spindles and brakes.
1982 C10 SWB -- sold
1981 C10 Silverado LWB -- sold, but wish I still had it!
1969 C10 (not the current one) that I bought in the early 1980s. Paid $1200; sold for $1500 a few years later. Just a hint at the appreciation that was coming.
Retired as a factory automation products salesman.
Worked part-time over the years for an engine builder and a classic car repair shop.
Member here for 23 years! This is the very first car/truck Internet forum I joined. I still used a dial-up modem back then!
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