1970's exhaust stacks

[pimp74]

Hi all,
Why is it that rain caps on semi exhaust stacks were so popular in the 1970's.......but are almost never seen now?? I know that alot of the modern trucks now have curved or angled exhaust tips.....why the change??
Chris

[cfnutcase]

I think it is just one less thing to mess with now. I still kinda like the look of a set of straight stacks with caps but like you said you never see them any more. Jim

[Deleted]

I remember hearing those caps clanging on ideling trucks. Sort of sounded cool.

What's the best way to model those caps, anyway?

[pimp74]

I don't know......any ideas?? Does Spaulding sell anything?
Chris

[mullett471]

Kangaroo Decals used to make the rain caps & Spaulding had some for sale a while back but he hasn't had any since

The Kangaroo stuff is now rarer than rocking horse s@#t!

[78KW]

Sept 1, 2008 23:03:40 GMT -5 mullett471 said:

The Kangaroo stuff is now rarer than rocking horse s@#t!

Now that's RARE!! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

You can still get raincaps, but I think people got tired of the clanging sound. They do make them for the 45 degree angle Pete stacks.

[Deleted]

I heard a few older drivers say they were worthless in the winter. If your truck is shut down and try to start them the caps would be frozen shut. That was causing a lot of back pressure in the exhaust and was blowing the flex pipe apart along the line. Some got lucky before that happened when the exhaust melted the ice and the caps worked properly.

[78KW]

Oct 24, 2008 5:04:16 GMT -5 @tbuskirk said:

I heard a few older drivers say they were worthless in the winter. If your truck is shut down and try to start them the caps would be frozen shut. That was causing a lot of back pressure in the exhaust and was blowing the flex pipe apart along the line. Some got lucky before that happened when the exhaust melted the ice and the caps worked properly.

I never heard of that, but it seems like a plausible explanation. It almost sounds like climbing up and swinging them open at night might have been a good idea, but who would want to do that?

[78KW]

Aug 30, 2008 21:00:05 GMT -5 pimp74 said:

I don't know......any ideas?? Does Spaulding sell anything?
Chris

See Tim Ahlborn's site and check out the white R model Mack with the sleeper he built earlier this year. He scratchbuilt those raincaps on his truck.

See the truck here:
timstrucks.web.aplus.net/timmack.htm