side exit exhaust on a soft-top

[James_Murray]

I have a Rocsta soft top, not a Zook, but similar body type with the top down. Today, I turned the exhaust system into something that now resembles a piece of curled up spaghetti. I reversed down a bit of a rut (after freaking out the passengers) and pushed the exhaust halfway back under the car.

Anyways, i will get a new section bent up and installed sometime next week, but I propose to make it a side exit pipe, exiting just behind the rear wheel likie I did on the Surf.

My question is though, with the top off, will this create more chance of the fumes entering the cabin area?

Thanks,
James.

[runnin4life]

i would say if you moving it would be a low chance but if you are stoped then the fumes could but if you have freash air moving throught the cab it shouldnt be a problem

[SiKiD_01]

i dont really know the answer to your question, but i have a vitara soft top. and before i got my exhaust done, i wanted a side exit in front of the rear wheel. the exhaust shop said it was highly illegal, and refused to do it for me.

now, when i have the soft top on, and the back window out, with the front windows down, i would get exhaust fumes in the cabin. this was the only time i could really notice the fumes inside. with the whole top off, theres no fumes. (that i know of) but thats with my old top, probably like yours.

i have a new top now, and i dont know if its the design, and how the wind travels over or around it, i dont get fumes inside the cabin. even with the back window out.

but i suppose having the pipe exit out the side and behind the rear wheel shouldnt make a difference. although when i had my 4runner, and had the back window down, i would get a lot of fumes inside. i put it all down to vaccuum pressures. i dont know exactly how it works, but it seems as though the exhaust gasses get sucked in through the back and out the front windows, but it doesnt seem to apply if you have the complete top off. i dont know, like a tunnel effect maybe?

so whether its out the side, or out the rear, it may still be the same when the vehicle is in motion.

[James_Murray]

Thats great news - I plan to have it exit behind the rear wheel - not infront of it, so I hope it is able to be done.

I usually have the top down, or at least the rear window wound up.

Thanks for the advice already.

Cheers, James

[Wesley]

My mate use to have twin side pipes just before the back wheels in his landcruser shorty (fj40 i think im not into crusers so if a fj40 dont exist dont blame me) with a 307 chev he never got pulled over for them and you could clearly see them if you pulled up next to him. Anyway a yellow sticker dosnt cost much to get removed so just make sure you can change it back to standard if you do get a fine. mates cruser also use to blow flames at night it looked cool. Also he didnt have any problems with fumes.

[spamwell]

my sierra's exhaust exits behind the back wheel it comes to the backwheel then bends and points out the side , i have no problems with fumes with the top on or off

[OldGold]

I have a stock exhaust and I still cop fumes at idle etc with the roof off, so I wouldn't worry about it too much

[stumped]

ya might have problems with legality... i *think* that exhaust (in nsw anyway) i supposed to be something like 15cm from the rear-most opening window. with a soft top this could possibly mean that you have to have the exhaust at the rear. might be worth checking

not sure if having it coming out the side at the back will cause any drama's for actual fumes tho...

[James_Murray]

thanks guys - appreciate all the advice. I am in NSW, so I will check into the legal side of things as well.

Cheers, James.

[built4thrashing]

ive had the same prob and got the exhaust done. first they poked it straight out the back and i was gettin real bad fumes in the cab as the air circulates them behind the car. I then went to another shop and got them to poke it out the side behind the tyre and it has completely stopped the fumes. it does it coz it puts the exhaust gas out into free flowing air and not into swirling air.

as for putting the pipe out infront of the tyre it is not allowed to be any closer than 12 inches from an opening side door. more so for the risk of burns when exiting the vehicle or so i was told.

[DiddyZook]

Standard Sierra exhaust exits from the left hand side (passenger side) rear of the vehicle, virtually the corner of the vehicle. Whilst the exhaust exits from here you are unlikely to get any exhaust fumes entering the cabin through the rear whether it be just the roll-up rear flap or canopy completely removed. This is good and surely the outcome of testing by highly skilled automotive experts. However some desk jockey wanker in the motor registries of a number of States here in Australia has decreed that exhaust shall not exit the left hand side of a vehicle. This only ever seems to take effect when a vehicle goes over the pits for inspection (eg change of ownership). When I first got my Zook it had the factory exhaust still in good working order with no fumes entering the rear when the flap was rolled up. The 'experts' at the motor registry insisted on the exhaust being changed so that it would exit from the rear. My protests that the original design had to meet ADRs and does not need to be changed was ignored. A straight through exhaust was installed, making it impossible to have passengers in the back seats unless I completely removed the canopy or the had a death wish.

I have encountered this petty beauracracy over exhaust on many vehicles including work trucks, the exhaust shops who have made good money out of this agree it is all bulls$%t and that no one would ever get pulled over unless it were excessively smokey.

In short my advice would be, go ahead and have exhaust exit from the side of the vehicle preferrably from the corner with the pipework well tucked up and out of harms way so you dont damage it again.

[jacka]

I have my exhaust popping out the side in front of the rear wheel.. Have not encountered any probs with fumes or legality and i reckon it looks great.