DIY Headers

That'll be a cool custom item.
There could be a small demand for such a specialty item.

 

Yeah. I figured the FordSix guys and the SWF members should get a first look. I'm sure it can be refined.


I hit a small snag. My bandsaw is sort of locked in with a bunch of parts, so I got some other pending stuff done, instead of shuffling them around.

I already had my front lower control arms restored, except for replacing the old ball joints, so I did that and a few other tasks. I'm using the empty and pending upstairs floor space for a warehouse for all the finished parts, so now I've got manoeuvering room to pull the bandsaw and its bench out and get to work.

 

Norm no need to nip out any part of the collector. What you will need to do is try and set up your header first with your primaries pointing into the best position that will accommodate your 3 way collector, but also keeping in mind that you will need to leave enough room for your secondary pipes to then mate with the collector before you introduce a bend or two to them as well. Have a look at this set up I did a few years ago. This is a 1965 (XP model in Australia) Falcon with a "170 pursuit" I6 engine with the same generation engine as yours. Note the added complexity of the R/H drive steering box position and also the clutch operation in this car. This was one of the reasons I was documenting this header at the time.


Ok look at where I have positioned the three pipe cluster on the rear three pipes. Note the rotation of this cluster so that it provides the best clearance around the steering box. Also you can see what I mean about running No2 pipe down the face of the block and then creating the valley needed to nest the No3, in this shot of the furthest away grouping of pipes. You can even see (sort of) No3 sweeping forward and then curling back to line up into position with the No1 and No2 pipes. Lucky for me I do not have to allow for A/C like you do though!


For me, the most important part was creating enough clearance past the steering box and drag link (while maintaining enough clearance around the starter motor), so I was committed to finalising the path for this collector on the rear half of the header first before I could worry about the front half of the header. Here in this shot it actually looks a little too close to the steering box,


But here you can see where I was able to correctly place the collector to maximise the area I had to work around.


Here you can see where I have attached the secondary pipe once I had enough adequate clearance from everything around inside of the engine bay that I needed to consider.


Now the reason I am showing you all of this is, this is where you need to be set up to before you begin to worry too much about the secondary (or tail) pipes. Just make sure that you have picked the right line for everything to pass evenly through. While you don't have the added problems of the R/H drive configurations (like I did in this example), you will still need to keep back checking your design in your car to make sure that the line you are working on is in the best position, especially around the starter motor and firewall.

Once you get to this stage then we can work on the secondary pipes. I will be able to supply more relevant pics as well.

 

Mike, the pictures aren't showing up. I get the general sense of what you're saying, but the pics would help clarify.

 

Hi Norm, did this work? I took a bit of time writing this up, and I thing the manage attachments must have timed out before I press the submit reply button. I think that this has happened to me once before as well!:banghead3:

 

Yes! I'll go through it and comment tomorrow. I made some steel test parts for the No 1 and No 6 ports today, so I'll tack them up and post them tomorrow. It midnite here.

Thanks again.

 

... You made the PICS WORK!!!

Okay, I am 100% focussed on the primaries. The weather is warming up enough that I should get my engine in later this week or by early next week. I'll try to make the long tubes come within 4 inches of the firewall, or the length I calculated as the correct length (32.25") to maximize the engine's torque and HP. I say that because the unibody frame is only 3" below the floor, and secondaries will need to be bent at about a 30 degree angle to stay at least flush with the frame bottom, and allow the final collector to be in front of the transmission cross-member, to hook up with the exhaust system.

I'm glad I don't the right hand drive issues.

Yes, I'll be making sure that the primaries line up so that each Tri-Y faces properly.

Should have the No 1 and No 6 steel port trial exits tacked up later today.

Thanks for all this guidance.

 

Just found the posts where I got the tube lengths from. Page 9 of this same thread on my header project. I'm only shooting to get up to 150 HP, from the current 85 HP, and of course, beef up the torque commensurately. MPG, and trailer hauling power are the goals, as well as better acceleration at city speeds. Some folks drive like they're strolling in a cemetery or some open air market.

http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29338&page=9

 

I got recruited into a Mexican Grocery with the SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed ), so I didn't get to tack those parts together today. I will tomorrow morning.

The wife is from Mexico, and when she gets a recipe in her sights, she's GOT to HAVE the original ingredients! We've got one store on the bus route that carries most of them, and another that fills in the missing goodies.

 

Nope! I'm not under a snow bank, other than a bunch of other immediate details I had to get done, to get back to this delicate project.

These are fabbed up from regular steel tube, identical in size and thickness to the 304L Stainless tube that the final header will be made of. I had to do it this way, to clear the stock York A/C compressor at Number 1, and allow about 3/4" cooling air space between the top and end of the starter. That space will also allow me to add a heat shield if I see that the air space isn't enough.

Number 1 and Number 6 parts will get a cap welded in and smoothed over that 'corner' cut. I cut it at a 45 degree angle at 1.5" from the inside corner, to maintain the correct diameter. The exhaust port itself is square on 1, 2, 5, and 6. while 3 and 4 are rectangular, so any exhaust 'congestion' will happen early in the gas exit to the mufflers. The stock manifold is much narrower inside, and every port is at 90 degrees, except 3 and 4. So I don't think it will have much impact on performance.

Feel free to correct me on that Mike, but I'm not shooting for much more than 150 HP with the 3 Carter YF, YFA carbs and a better cam. I doubt I'll ever run it up to even 4,000 RPMs. Its a daily driver, with a bit more OOMPH!

 

Hi Norm, actually that is pretty neat! If you are going to mitre some of your bends as you go, then cutting the tip off to clear your A/C like you have will cause next to no issues unless you were chasing every pooftenth of HP you could possibly make. I doubt that this small modification would even show up on an engine dyno on a stock engine either. But remember though, if you are still going to bend this part, the outside radius will also be shaped similar as there will be no tip similar to the mitred joint you have created that you will need to contend with. Also 3/4" is absolutely more than enough clearance from your compressor. In my experience, 10 mm or 3/8" is more than enough.

For a first timer, you are travelling ok! Cheers Mike.

 

Outstanding! Thanks for the clarification. I'm sure it gets hot in Australia, and we plan on driving down to Mexico. Most southern US states get over 40C and some Mexican states get up to 50C, so as cool as I can keep it, the better. We do get up to 40C up here in late Summer, on a few days, but mostly around 30C or less.

In any case, I run a clutch fan and a 3 core V8 radiator. If I find it gets too hot, I'll change to a dual electric fan system. I like keeping a cool tool.

 

Quick design sketch

Just drew this up for my cutting list:

 

Started fabbing the Number 1 and 6 port stubs out of my 304L Stainless tubes. The wall thickness is actually 20% more than the initial trial steel tubing. Pretty pleased about that.

I also do some fair quality hardwood stuff, but I don't have room for a decent belt sander, so I made up a jig to hold my Makita belt sander and do some wooden edge strips. Turns out it can handle Stainless steel tubing facing perfectly too.



The parts are numbered by exhaust port, from the flange downward:









The exhaust manifold face on the head is at a 35 degree angle, so the horizontal parts have to get the downward 22.5* angle offset off the centerline of the mitered corner. I did take all the measurements, but I didn't use them. Instead, I eyeballed them using my cardboard tubing patterns and marking the correct location.

My bandsaw isn't useful for cutting the tubing, so I cleaned off my Bosch table saw underneath, and got all the sawdust out, then changed the saw blade for a 6" metal cutting disc. These blades wear out at about 6 tube cuts per 1/4", but they're cheap enough to buy, and replace.

I also have a miter saw, but its up on the top floor for cutting partition studs and there's too much wood and saw dust up there to control away from metal sparks. The table saw does a fine job on miters, since I tune it once a week when I'm into woodwork.

I thought about buying a metal chop saw, but they get awfully pricey, for cutting discs, and are overkill for these small tubes. The 2 HP motor handles it nicely. I'm using 3/32" thick cutting discs. I do have 1/8" discs when these wear down too low for the tube at about 5.75" diameter. II'll use these for flatter light gauge metal and aluminum. No cutting fluids, just slow and smooth.

I'll weld them up tomorrow, once I finish getting the engine bay dimensions with the engine in there.

I might get the Header done by next Monday. Once you start, you get a bit less timid about proper angles.

I'm starting to enjoy how its coming together.

 

Cool, looking forward to see the first pipe in place, and then to see how you are going to organise the remaing two pipes to form the first cluster. Sometimes it helps to wire the collector in to place so that you can aim for that as you go. Cheers Mike