Are these Bernbaum exhaust pipes correct?

[MarcDeSoto]

I bought an exhaust kit from Andy Bernbaum around 1992, but never installed it.  I'm just now checking to see that it fits.  BTW, I'm the president of the Procratinators Club of America.  I'm still working on the newsletter for 1993.  So the kit consists of the exhaust pipe that comes out of the exhaust manifold, the muffler, and the long curving tail pipe.  At first, I thought that the exhaust pipe was not correct because it went over the crossmember and not under it.  but I found the original exhaust pipe and it goes over the cross member also.  You would think that the cross member would show signs of burning where the exhaust pipe went over it as it is touching it.  The muffler looks correct.  But I'm having a big problem with the long tail pipe.  See how the pipe curves towards the middle of the chassis instead of going straight into the muffler.  Does that mean that this pipe is a reject?  

[Marcel Backs]

It looks like the tail pipe from AB is not right. Your old tailpipe looks badly distorted where it goes over the diff. A local muffler shop may be able to mod the AB pipe to match the correct contour because you may have reached the statute of limitations on their return policy. My D14 exhaust is vastly different because of the huge X brace between the frame rails.

[MarcDeSoto]

Do you think 30 years might be too late to return something to Bernbaum?  They still have the Bernbaum sticker on them.  I might send an email to Bernbaum to ask why the tail pipe curves in like that.  Maybe a muffler shop could heat it up red hot and bend it back?  I guess haveing the ex. pipe going on top of the cross frame is OK because the heat goes mostly up, not down, and the cross member is steel.  Yes, the tail pipe on this car is definitely not factory, but some hack job by some long ago crummy muffler shop, who just whacked the pipe into a very crude curve to go over the rear axle.  

[vintage6t]

Just a guess but your old tailpipe may be routed wrong. Might be a little hard to picture but using your pictures above as a frame of reference try this; Rotate the new tailpipe so the bend that goes over the axle is much closer to the passenger side frame rail.  That will help to align the curve at the muffler end with the muffler outlet. It should also make the other end of the tailpipe exit from under  the rear of frame at more or less a right angle to the rear cross member.

Edited April 12, 2021 by vintage6t

[sidevalvepete]

Also rotate muffler 180° so front section of exhaust from manifold aligns better......looks that way from 12,000 miles away anyway....

[61spit]

What if you flip the tail pipe end for end? Looks like the end you have pointing to the muffler is bent to exhaust out the side at the back rather than straight out the back. Maybe things will line up better.

[Merle Coggins]

That bend in the tail pipe looks like it should be at the rear. What's the other end look like? Do you have the pipe reversed? 

[Marcel Backs]

They may be onto something because looking at the pic with the 2 mufflers and looking at how the back of my pipe has a down angle similar to the picture, that may be it. PS I found tolerances on my car very tight for routing the whole exhaust system. Even though your exhaust is a simpler set up, I’ll bet that all bends need to correspond exactly with stock configuration.

Edited April 12, 2021 by Marcel Backs
More info

[chrysler1941]

Whitewalls on the inside? I'm confused

[Marcel Backs]

These are the best angles that I could get, but it illustrates the tight squeeze that the exhaust is on my car. Pay special attention to where pipe goes over rear axle to make sure it will not contact the under body. M

[greg g]

If I'm not mistaken, there are exhaust manifold s with three different exit locations.  The most common are behind #6 exhaust port,  directly under #6 exhaust port, and between cylinders 4 and 5.  That location and whether it's a short block or long block would dictate how that front pipe fits and how the rest of the pieces relate to it.

 

Mine was all custom bent by a local shop, usinge the remains of what was left as a template.

 

I don't know the reason rhyme as to which outlet style was assigned.

[MarcDeSoto]

4 hours ago, 61spit said:

What if you flip the tail pipe end for end? Looks like the end you have pointing to the muffler is bent to exhaust out the side at the back rather than straight out the back. Maybe things will line up better.

Either you are a genius or I'm stupid, or maybe both are true!  I did what you said above and it fits perfectly!  Thanks so much!  Marc.

[Marcel Backs]

If not perfectly right they are a curse inducing piece of kit to install. M

[MarcDeSoto]

3 hours ago, chrysler1941 said:

Whitewalls on the inside? I'm confused

So am I.  That's how the car came in 1980 when I bought it.  But the car only has one tire with a wide white wall.  I decided to paint the car maroon in the 80s, but changed my mind, so that's why the wheels and cowl are maroon.  I painted the hood Bermuda Beige, which is the color I'm leaning toward now.  

Edited April 12, 2021 by MarcDeSoto

[Marcel Backs]

I like the patrol blue!

[61spit]

Glad you got it to fit correctly. Would have been a pain to try and return it all these years later.

[MarcDeSoto]

Yeah, I think your solution is easier than me calling Bernbaum and saying "Hey this tailpipe is wrong.  Can I get my money back?"  Bernbaum, "Uh, when did you buy it".  "Uh, 1992!"  

[MarcDeSoto]

22 minutes ago, Marcel Backs said:

I like the patrol blue!

How about Bombardier Blue?  The Tampico Beige is the same as the Bermuda Beige.  

[Marcel Backs]

Yeah you were talking about that colour before. Blues give a car with the stature of a de Soto a deservedly upscale look.

[wagoneer]

I'm kind of partial to the traveler sand/beige two-tone combo. My C38 came in gun-gray, which gets tons of compliments from people and grows on you, I think its a slightly lighter shade of gray maybe closer to the cadet gray you have there.

 

I'm impressed that Bernbaum's has been around for so long. I think they would be amused by just the phone call. Maybe it's derigour that restorations take forever, and we buy parts to sit on our personal shelves until that fateful day comes, but 28 years is also quite a gap!

[Sniper]

I bought my first stuff from AB in 1988, Hemmings to the rescue, lol.  Ball and trunnion rebuild stuff for my 64 300.  Wish I still had that car.

[belvedere]

Marc, I think I need to join your procrastinators club! Last fall, I finally installed some new windows in our house...we had purchased them in 2009!  ?

[chrysler1941]

25 minutes ago, MarcDeSoto said:

How about Bombardier Blue?  The Tampico Beige is the same as the Bermuda Beige.  

Are DeSoto's colors boring ?

[Marcel Backs]

Look up Sherwin Williams Opex lacquer 47-48 de Soto. Colours for those years are far from boring! Colour chip page from 1950.

[MarcDeSoto]

I guess it depends on what you call boring.  Did you mean the Dodge colors above are more exciting than the DeSoto colors?  If you look at car colors today, they are mostly gray, white, silver, black, and dark blue.  Some sports cars have orange and yellow, as well as the ever popular red.  Wagoneer's talk about the color gray is true.  One doesn't think of gray as an exciting color, but on a car, it is.  Just look at this gray 41 Plymouth sedan.  It seems to give the car more class: