rjtjr1
New Member
Would a 1970 Road Runner original exhaust from the Van Nuys, Los Angeles factory have been welded or clamped together. Mine is welded and I'm trying to determine if it's original.
Are you saying this was done at the factory....I have never seen a survivor/original exhaust welded....The original units that did get welded was when a replacement muffler was replaced or a portion/full exhaust. Are you sure the mufflers are original to the car? Mufflers are stamped with a date and a logo...my '68 road runner had the mufflers welded to the exhaust pipe and the tail pipes clamped to the muffler.
this was factory. I remember laying on my back having to hack saw the mufflers off when they had rotted out. I bought the car new in 1968. I have a '69 r/t, hp440, and the original h-pipe did slip inside the muffler and was clamped front and back; still have the h-pipe. 383's were different. they had a 2 1/4" muffler with the 2 1/4 head pipe welded to it. the 440 had a 2 3/8" muffler with the h-pipe swaged down to fit inside the muffler and the 2 1/4" tail pipe swaged up to fit inside the muffler; still have the tail pipes too.Are you saying this was done at the factory....I have never seen a survivor/original exhaust welded....The original units that did get welded was when a replacement muffler was replaced or a portion/full exhaust. Are you sure the mufflers are original to the car? Mufflers are stamped with a date and a logo...
Did both of your mufflers have a stamp and a logo facing the ground?
That's interesting....I have had survivors tat did not have a single weld....maybe they had a line fix on some, it's ma.mopar they did crazy things...this was factory. I remember laying on my back having to hack saw the mufflers off when they had rotted out. I bought the car new in 1968. I have a '69 r/t, hp440, and the original h-pipe did slip inside the muffler and was clamped front and back; still have the h-pipe. 383's were different. they had a 2 1/4" muffler with the 2 1/4 head pipe welded to it. the 440 had a 2 3/8" muffler with the h-pipe swaged down to fit inside the muffler and the 2 1/4" tail pipe swaged up to fit inside the muffler; still have the tail pipes too.
I don't disagree with you guys at this point... remember not all plants did the same thing.....the 2 survivors I had were chargers from hamtramck....they had zero welds....I'm going to have to agree with 'lewtot' , I seem to remember mine being welded at front of muffler as well. Hacksaw off right in front of weld & new mufflers slid right on. Of course, I could be wrong( who,me?!!).
AND when the muffler was welded at front, there wouldn't have been the 2"(?) flange coming out of muffler. The weld was right at the front of muffler.
White stripes were dodge, LR had no stripes....And if I remember, the hoses all had a white stripe running horizontally with the hose. That was actually a ground strap to tie the engine to the radiator/heater core for grounding purposes. Actually tested it one time,test lite poked very gently into hose with other end connected to positive on battery; it lit up the light.
I have seen a lot of original owners that proclaim to be "experts" and they clearly are not and I have seen some that remember a lot and are correct.....As far as age goes, buying these cars new, working on them or racing them does not make one an expert.....I have seen many of those "chip on the shoulder" owners....Those I completely ignore because of their biases.....Ones like these people I ask them, "So where is your OE example?" I tell them your over here quizzing my car, wheres yours? I get the ole well it's in process, I had one, comparing the one I had new, I do not have pictures, my trailer needs new tires etc....lolnot trying to pick on anyone, but i wonder how many people who say "this is correct factory or this is not" actually worked on these cars in the '60's and '70's ? there's a guy in my area who's the "numbers/correct guru" who never worked on nor had one of these cars in the '60's. in fact i don't think this guy can put air in a tire but will tell you whats right and whats wrong. if your not in your late '60's or early '70s in age, then you never worked on, raced. or cruised these muscle cars back in the day. there's another guy in my area who's probably late '40's-early '50's who just got into these cars 3-4 years ago and bingo he's an expert. there's a lot of misinformation out there. when these cars were a couple of years old the batteries, tires, shocks, and brakes were wore out. exhaust sytems didn't last much longer.
absolutely agree.....it is kinda good and bad.....the good aspect is it creates the desire and need for more knowledge and investigating....the bad that is obvious and some things are just lost....Justin I can totally agree with what you say. When I was working on mine it was "change this/better that" we never knew about restoration/collectibility. Heck, I can remember spray painting right over the QC stamps,etc just to get to one overall color. Didn't know any better and never thought I'd still have the car 49yrs later!