New Waldron Exhaust System on a 1936 Chrysler Airstream

[Professor]

All,

 

Apologies to anyone who has already read about my Waldron exhaust installation on my 1936 Chrysler Airstream restoration thread here:  

 

 

But I felt it was important to put this topic in the general area in case anyone else is considering installing a Waldron exhaust system.

 

First, a few images of the old exhaust system:

 

 

And a few images of the new exhaust installed about 3.5 hours later:

 

(Apologies in advance for any oddly oriented images… I do not know how to use the forum to reorient images)

 

The installation was simple and quite easy to do.  I took excessive time because I wanted to do it right the first time.

 

I would be remiss if I did not note how perfectly this exhaust fit right out of the box.  I tried to show some of the tight twists and turns that this exhaust needed to go through to fit through the inner cross member, and it fit perfectly, with equal spacing between:

 

The front inner frame rail (cross member) exhaust cutout.

The exhaust muffler between the outer frame rail and the inner frame rail

The rear axle rise between the fuel tank and the passenger side leaf springs

 

I have seen a small handful of complaints about Waldron exhausts, and many more rave reviews… you can count this as a rave review.  Chrysler made less than 250 1936 C8 Airstream convertibles, and there most certainly cannot be more than 10 or so remaining based on what I have been able to find on the Internet and adding 30% padding for those who sit silently in collections… and yet Waldron made this exhaust system fit quite literally, perfectly.

 

The installation took about 3.5 hours taking my time and including removal of the old exhaust system, and there was absolutely no rocket science about the install.  Install each part, including clamps and hangers, snug but not so snug that you cannot adjust component rotations.  Rotate the components so that the exhaust system is exactly where it should be, and then tighten down everything front to rear.  I tightened front to rear since the first exhaust hanger is about mid-chassis and this hangar, and the rear hanger, can be used to fine tweak component locations 1/8” to 1/4” as needed.

 

Count me as one satisfied customer, and I am really happy I sprung for the extra stainless steel exhaust.  It doesn’t really look factory, but it sure looks clean.  We have a great deal of humidity here in North Carolina and It would bug the heck out of me to look at surface rust or worse, real rust inside the exhaust system.  Now I need to live to 100 or so to make it actually worth the expense.  🙂 

 

Joe

[leomara]

I approached Waldron's to make an exhaust system for my late 1920's Chrysler.  They did not have the ability to identify the correct exhaust system for my car.  They sent me a photo of an exhaust system for another 1920's Chrysler model and wanted me to approve the dimensions prior to any work being done.  Since my car has no exhaust system I was unable to comply and that is where we left it.

[Rusty_OToole]

leomara a local muffler shop should be able to fit an exhaust to your car.

 

And, I have a suggestion for those who are using plain steel exhaust and not stainless. Years ago I installed a Walker exhaust from the parts store on a Dodge pickup truck. But before I did, I gave it 2 coats of hi temp aluminum stove pipe paint I happened to have sitting on the shelf. I did not expect it to do much but was quite impressed. When I got rid of the truck 10 years later the exhaust was good as new without a spot of rust anywhere. The first 2 or 3 feet had turned dark gray from the heat but the paint never burned off.  No doubt today there are better high temp paints but anything is better than nothing. If you paint your exhaust when it is new it will last practically as long as a stainless system.

[F&J]

8 minutes ago, leomara said:

I approached Waldron's to make an exhaust system for my late 1920's Chrysler.  They did not have the ability to identify the correct exhaust system for my car

Maybe they never had the correct patterns identified for every model of late 20s Mopar?  Nearly 50 years ago, 1972-73, I ordered a system for 1929 DeSoto from the original founder, Burton Waldron.  Everything fit and bolted up fine, except the long curve going up to manifold was not the right curve radius.  I had to permanently remove the engine splash pan because the curved part of the front pipe did not line up with the exhaust hole in that pan.

 

that front pipe needed a tighter radius bend, but i think it would be difficult for you to use Waldrons measurements to be sure the curve has the bend in the correct spot.  The small hole in the splash apron leaves no room for even a slight error., so I don't know of a good way to make a pattern to send to them.

 

i never complained or sent it back as it was only $30 shipped US mail including muffler and tailpipe, without clamps.  I just wanted to be able to drive the car right away, and I felt that I got my moneys worth from Burton back then.  There were no local custom bent pipe places back then, so his system was far better than not having anything at all. 

[Professor]

No doubt this is a cost-effective solution... and I suspect that a coated exhaust would have outlasted me.

The only possible issue is rust from the inside since H2O is a byproduct of internal combustion.  I cut the old muffler and it was rusted on the inside too... but it had been on the car for a VERY long time.  The muffler was so rusted on the inside that rust was coming out with the first start in the morning and staining my concrete near the exhaust pipe in my garage.

 

I want to say that I paid $300 and change more for a stainless system from Waldron.  The non stainless system was in the $600 range.  Quite a difference from the $30 quoted by @F&J ROTFL.

 

Joe

 

1 hour ago, Rusty_OToole said:

leomara a local muffler shop should be able to fit an exhaust to your car.

 

And, I have a suggestion for those who are using plain steel exhaust and not stainless. Years ago I installed a Walker exhaust from the parts store on a Dodge pickup truck. But before I did, I gave it 2 coats of hi temp aluminum stove pipe paint I happened to have sitting on the shelf. I did not expect it to do much but was quite impressed. When I got rid of the truck 10 years later the exhaust was good as new without a spot of rust anywhere. The first 2 or 3 feet had turned dark gray from the heat but the paint never burned off.  No doubt today there are better high temp paints but anything is better than nothing. If you paint your exhaust when it is new it will last practically as long as a stainless system.

 

[TAKerry]

I have heard there is a difference in sound between SS and regular steel in an exhaust. Is this just another wives tale?

I have a stainless system in my car and it has an ever so slight 'tinny' sound to it.

[31plymouth]

Can anyone tell me what they recently paid for shipping on their exhaust system from Waldron.  

I called a while back and the shipping was hundreds of dollars.

[neil morse]

I bought a system for my '41 Buick a few months ago.   I would have to look it up to check for sure, but I think the shipping was under $60, Michigan to California.

 

 I also had a really good experience with Waldron, and would recommend them to anyone.

[Tom Boehm]

I had a good experience with Waldron also. The original resonator on my car was gone. Evidently that was a rare option because they did not have a pattern for it. I supplied them with pictures from the shop manual and measurements from my car and in the end it fit great. They had a long lead time but the price was reasonable. Bad vendors get ripped to shreds on this forum and it is good to see the complements piled on a good vendor also. 

[Str8-8-Dave]

I've done business with Waldron's since 1971 and have had good luck with their products for 1931 Buick.  The car I just restored has a Waldron system on it.  I also made a bunch of exhaust parts for my car from the original Buick drawings.  I made the filler trim plate that trims the header pipe to the front of the splash pan, 2 head pipe to frame brackets, muffler inlet original style muffler clamp, muffler belly band, muffler outlet original style clamp, re-used the original kickup tailpipe hanger and made the rear tailpipe hanger and clamp.  The muffler belly band was fabricated from pictures of an original part on an original car (Dave Dunton's 31 8-66S). Pictures below.

 

Dave...

 

But wait- there's more...  Today, Waldron's is located in a modern building in Centerville, MI a mile up the street from the Nottawa address I got out of a paper printed Hemmings Motor News which had a fairly thick brown cover wrapped around on average 125pgs of Jap tissue-like newspaper.  Burton Waldron had an ad in the back of the magazine.  I called him on a rotary dial phone and inquired if he could supply a system for the project at the time, a 1931 Buick 8-86 coupe.  A few weeks later Burt called and said my system was ready for pickup.  I drove my school-teacher mother's 1970 Falcon station wagon that I ordered for her to make a trip to Alaska.  It was fun to drive, dark blue metallic exterior paint with nary a piece of stainless trim and Ford dog-dish hubcaps, blue cloth and vinyl interior, 351 Cleveland 2bbl V8 with C6 automatic on the column, 3.23-1 limited slip axle, power steering and brakes, AM radio, no air, to pick up that exhaust system.  Mr. Waldron, dressed in bib overalls and straw hat sat on a wood dining room chair in front of a one stall dirt floor garage with a Wayne Trail pipe bending machine in the middle and many lengths of exhaust tubing standing up in racks on one side of the back wall and piles of bent pipe on the other.  Burt fetched 2 exhaust pipes and a NOS muffler coated with black tar, the muffler I marveled at.  I asked where he got that from, and he pointed to an old Amish built barn about 100 yards across a cornfield and said there were a lot of them in that barn.  That was in spring of 1971 and it was the middle 90's and after Mr. Waldron's passing that I dealt with the new store in Centerville to get a system from a 1931 Buick 8-57S.  They are still there today, the system in these pictures was shipped from Waldron's in past year or so.

 

 

Waldron's original Buick 60 series head pipe

 

Trim plate with one attaching screw visible

 

Front head pipe hanger is a big heavy piec bolted right to the frame

 

Right to left- front headpipe hanger bracket, rear headpipe hanger bracket, fabricated front muffler clamp, Waldron muffler fabricated in Canada

 

Left to right- rear headpipe hanger bracket, muffler inlet clamp Waldron muffler.  I think half the job of the heavy duty headpipe brackets is to keep the muffler

from vibrating on the frame

 

The 31 Buick muffler is a long piece.  I made the belly band that attaches the muffler to a frame crossmember and the muffler outlet clamp

 

Muffler outlet clamp

 

The kickup hanger is shown in this picture and it attaches to a Delco Lovejoy shock bolt.  I reused this part

 

Another picture of the kickup tailpipe hanger bracket.  The left side of the 17-gallon fuel tank is just above the tailpipe a little further back

 

I made the tailpipe hanger and clamp from the Buck drawings.  I didn't know it existed until I saw one on Dave Dunton's original car.  Later I discovered a Bick drawing

 

I had lotsa fun bending these heavy brackets up with my Harbor Freight bench bender

 

 

 

Old style muffler clamps were not saddle clamps we see today

 

First try fitting the belly band to the muffler diameter

 

This drawing is for the kickup tailpipe hanger which I reused

 

Rear tailpipe hanger attaches at the top to the last crossmember on the frame before the gas tank and shield were installed

on the assembly line.  I found the 2 bolt holes in the crossmember a little inconvenient to access after the car was assembled

 

Rear tailpipe hanger clamp

Edited September 13, 2022 by Str8-8-Dave
Arrange pictures, captions (see edit history)

[Professor]

@Str8-8-Dave… this is some amazing work.  Those mounts look pretty darn perfect to me.  Inspiring!