Side Exhausts

[Balidey]

Its been done, there was a guy writing for a kitcar mag a while back called (IIRC) Nigel Dean who had an RV8 engine in a (IIRC) a Westfield seight and he routed the pipes under the car, not sure if they followed the prop ?
And as for reducing ground clearance, yes, but the sump clearance is only about 10cm, so as long as you are at sump leve I don't see it being a major problem. As I said, its been done.