Exhaust system

ok i've got the engine built. heres my little delema. i want to run side pipes on my 65 coupe. yeah i know it's going to look funny but it's all about being different. i'm think about using cherry bombs and i'm wondering should i use and x pipe or h pipe. which one will give me a bit more power?
i've seen the corvettes with side pipes and a few other classics..maybe even a mustang i like the look thats what i'm going for. i also know if i do this i have to move the fuel line because of the heat. those problems i already have figured out. again all i'm wonder is which pipe off the manifolds..h or x
thanks in advance...mechanicguy i look forward to your response the most  

x pipe = more power but i think they make it sound funny , h pipe works real good and doesnt sound funny and we are only talking a few horses.a friend had a black 66 fastback with cragar ss wheels and brushed aluminum THRUSH sidepipes and that looked so cool !!  

thanks shift...sounds like a plan. i'm gonna be putting the pipes along the rails under the doors. thats where the coolness part comes in. but i'm debating on having the tail pipes swing back in and out the back side of the rear tires or near the rear quarter panels. guess i'll try one then the other...find out what one i like and looks better. been a long time since i've seen anything with side pipes  

my friends Thrush side pipes had built in glass pack muffler cartridges and he came off the street hookup and had an S shaped pipe and didnt go way back to make the connection. some side pipes come with built-in mufflers.  

Saw my name there ,,,, you know I am not much of a believer in these trends. H pipe , y pipe, x pipe whatever pipe. The purpose of exhaust is to deliver the remnants out from under the car. Tuning by scavenging is a dicey thing because it works at one rpm and not others. If you have a race engine and your running consistently at 6000 rpm then tuning may be of interest. Beyond that for a street engine the less backpressure the better and that can be done with pipe size. I know this will cause concern to some people but backpressure does no good in a 4 stroke engine. Yeah I know, it can lower peak pressures and affect tuning and carb adjustments and so on but the less backpressure the better for efficiency. That said, you also need a reasonable velocity in the system to entrain the water and combustion products and deliver them out the back. Remember how they used to say big pipes would knock down your low end,,,,, its street legend brought about by looking at big intake manifold runners that do knock down your low end,,,,, however once its outta that combustion chamber the bigger the better(to a point of course). Most of the exhaust sytem lore comes about because someone saw a dyno article where they gained 3 horsepower at such and such rpm with this system and that may be true but your street engine has to run at a wide cross section of rpm's so it isnt really cost affective in my opinion to base a purchase on 3 hp at 5500 rpm in an engine unlike what you have. Its just my opinion but I buy a good quality system close the factory size but with a good non factory muffler like a flowmaster or quality performance product. Your sidepipes are a good idea and you may not have room for an x pipe or an H pipe, but dont worry it will work just fine, there is no particular reason to connect the two pipes other then to lower your backpressure which you will do with a little bigger pipe size,,,go for it, I think it will look cool.  

thsnks gents...good input and i appreciate it. i found the orignal pipe from when it went to a single exhaust. i'm gonna cut the pipe and run a flex line under the car to where i want the side exhaust to begin. i'm thinking more along the lines of using cherry bombs if not i'll go with flow masters. hehehe wonder if i could get away with just running straight pipes  

I have about a 12 year old set of the " Original " style Edelbrock RPM mufflers that were basically straight pipes when new and once the fiberglass packing burned out are as loud as straight pipes and thats what I run. 2.5" in & out ! LOUD !!! They have a lifetime warranty but the Edelbrock mufflers that they would replace them with don't flow qiute as much and are a lot quieter so I'm keeping these ,they are 409 stainless!!! Yep ,the cops said they heard me coming 15 minutes before they saw me !!!