# Exhaust Advice



## 69GTORAIV (May 13, 2015)

Hello everyone,
I am new to the GTO forum and to GTO's in general. I just had the opportunity to purchase a 1969 GTO Ram Air IV car and have a few questions about replacing the exhaust system. I have spoken with the people at Gardner and the people at Inline Tubing. Has anyone installed either system and can anyone comment on the better of the two? Both claim to be factory replica's or as close to original as possible. Maybe someone knows of another company that produces a factory style exhaust. 
Thanks
Tom

I should introduce myself. This is my first muscle car but I have grown up around muscle cars all my life my dad being a huge enthusiast. We found this car for one of our neighbours in 1997. It is originally from British Columbia, Canada (Empress Pontiac Buick). It was a super solid car with low mileage all original panels and just missing the original carburetor (I am still looking for one). The car is an automatic non-judge RAIV car with GM Canada Documentation and PHS documentation. The engine was just rebuilt and I have all the documentation of the stampings and factory numbers. The car went through a cosmetic restoration and the colour was changed to Verdoro Green with a black vinyl top. The interior is a dark green. The car was originally ordered with wait for it........ Expresso Brown with a Dark Green Vinyl top and Dark green interior and redline tires. (wow.. not sure what the original owner was thinking....very unique!). The car was very well optioned with 8-track, retractable headlamps, rear window defroster, rally gauge cluster tachometer, front discs, power steering, etc. It has 57,000 original miles.
I am not sure how far I want to go with the car in terms of restoration. I will add some pics. But would like to add some value in terms of a really nice exhaust and some redline tires. I think size 215/75R14 does that sound right?


----------



## 69GTORAIV (May 13, 2015)

*More Pictures*

Here are more pics of the car
Thanks
Tom


----------



## 69GTORAIV (May 13, 2015)

*Last Pics*

Last Pics


----------



## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

If you haven't already purchased the car, I'd recommend that you spend the cash to order the PHS doc on it to make certain it's a real RA IV car. I'm seeing a couple things that "bother me", and none of the photos show a really good view of the heads.

RA IV cars had warm air ducting into the lower pan on both sides. The one on the passenger side was a very short duct hose that went from the ram air lower pan down to a sheet metal shroud around the cast iron exhaust crossover that ran underneath the intake manifold. This car is missing that duct and the shroud on the passenger side. The way it's set up, it's the way the RA III cars were.

Check the heads. To be 69 RA IV they'll have 722 on the top of one of the END exhaust ports, not the center exhaust ports as in most other Pontiacs.

Maybe it's just the angle and the lighting, but that air cleaner lid looks like it might be chrome. Pretty sure that it should be 60-degree flat black, with no decal.

I also don't see the cast iron exhaust crossover that's supposed to run underneath the center of the intake.

Not saying this can't be a RA IV car, just saying it's missing some things that should be there - so make sure you check it out thoroughly before you pay RA IV money for it.

Bear


----------



## 69GTORAIV (May 13, 2015)

Bear,
Thanks for the advice. I see what you are saying about the passenger side duct hose missing. I do have pictures of the 722 on the top of one end of the exhaust port. The breather is chrome and I did notice on other pictures that they did come with a flat black breather but I didn't know about the no decal thing. It also has the correct XP stamping on the front of the block and it also has the casting number ground off and what appears to be hand stamped 9792506.

I wonder if you can send me a pic or describe the cast iron shroud underneath the center of the intake.

Thanks
Tom


----------



## 69GTORAIV (May 13, 2015)

Bear,
I also attached a PDF that I believe is the window sticker from PHS in the previous post. Is this correct?


----------



## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

Sounds like you've got all the provenance so you can relax some (and congratulations on finding a rare gem!). This is just a wild guess on my part, but I'm guessing a previous owner removed the crossover and blocked the openings in the heads off as a performance modification (reduces heat soak under the intake). This is good for racing, not so good for street drivability in cold weather. That's probably what happened to the passenger side ducting too because the shroud for it went around the (now missing) crossover. The hole for the ducting ought to still be present on that side of the lower pan though. RA III pans didn't have a hole on that side.
If you care about all that, reproduction crossovers are available, and if you're reasonably handy you could bend up your own shroud and make your own heat riser duct for the passenger side ---- and those parts too are probably available in reproduction (but anything "Ram Air", especially 'Ram Air IV' tends to be pretty spendy).
https://secure.amesperf.com/qilan/D...80S&order_number_e=MzYzNTEyMg==
&web_access=Y
https://secure.amesperf.com/qilan/D...78L&order_number_e=MzYzNTEyMg==
&web_access=Y
https://secure.amesperf.com/qilan/D...78K&order_number_e=MzYzNTEyMg==
&web_access=Y

Some photos


----------



## 69GTORAIV (May 13, 2015)

Bear,
Thanks for the links and the pics. That is going to be very helpful. I am going to get the car out of storage this weekend and will take a much closer look at the areas you mentioned and then post some more detailed pics. I am looking forward to learning much more about this car. 

Thanks
Tom


----------

