Not quite tech week worthy so I will post my Header building adventure on one of the slow times. I decided I wanted to put a hood and sides on my Studebaker powered Model A, so I had to get rid of the lakes style headers for some conventional headers. Luckily I have an extra engine on the stand where I could work after fitting them on the car
I got my materials through a combination of places: Headers by Ed http://www.headersbyed.com/ First round of mandrel bends 2.25” flanges to tie it in to existing exhaust system Some interesting articles on header theory Columbia River Mandrel http://www.mandrel-bends.com/catalog/mandrel-bends-34/ More mandrel bends 3 X 1.5” collectors that I had to modify. Hot Rod Chassis and Cycle (HRCC) http://www.hotrodchassisandcycle.com/ Flanges, first set they had made looked like the metal gasket, 3 pieces per side Another set of flanges, one piece this time based on a pattern I had from when I made the lake headers (been hanging on the wall for 10yr) After reading up on header design and the chatter on Racing Studebakers I decided to go with 1.5” and 1.75” tubes into a 2.5” collector, which will go into my existing 2.25” exhaust and mufflers. I did my best to keep them all equal length, at 34”, but didn’t quite get there due to stuff being in the way.
Started out with the flanges, since I wanted the headers tight to the block to clear hood sides I didn’t weld in stubs, but stuffed my bends into the flange. Welded them on the inside and filed the back of the flange flat. I have to do some clean up on the ports but my compressor is currently down and all my porting tools are pneumatic.
Round pipe in square hole, I knew my kindergarten teacher was wrong you just need a torch and a hammer. [/URL.
I didn’t want the pipes to crack at the flanges so I brazed a fillet on the outside to add some strength.
Routing pipes to fit around the starter, Motor Mount, and Steering box, and not hanging down too low is a tricky mix. You can see in the pictures I made a wood plate to hold the long tubes in alignment while I worked out the routing. All the tube welding was done with Oxy/Acetylene
After welding all the pipes and cutting them off square I did some work on the end of the tubes. I pinched the pipes and welded them into a “+” and about ¼ ” up the sides so I would have a good seal when I weld on the collector .
Next stop Collector Town. I bought a 3 X 1.5” collectors, so I had to open one hole up to 1.75” with a pie wedge and some persuasion (hammer).
I started on the pass side, I don't have a full flow block in the car now, but figured I better make it fit around the oil filter now so I don't have to change the pass side if I ever change motors.
Nice work, not exactly too many Studebaker headers even available to cut up and modify to fit. So building completely from scratch is about the best option.
Nice work! How close are Studebaker headers to the early v-8 Cadillac overhead valve headers? Not trying to take over your thread , just curious.
I can see your pretty proud of what may be your first set of headers and rightfully so. At this point of my life it's almost become the norm for me on most projects. Things get easier the more you do. Most often the next move today is to have them ceramic coated. Experiance has taught me to use spacers between the pipes right at the collector so the coating can get between the pipes. The hottest place on headers is right at the X inside the collector. If all the pipes make contact they can't get coatings in that aria. Just food for thought. The Wizzard
I have 2 places I've had success with. When I get to my Shop computer in the morning I'll post up there info. I'll also tag a suppilyer that has the best list of componnets there is. By far the best bends I've ever cut into,,,,no thin spots on the outside radi. All U.S. made and laser cut flanges. The Wizzard
Nice job flt blk, I had to make headers for my big nailhead in my merc and it is a big job, but gratifying. The ceramic coating inside and out will make them last a lot longer and looks good as well.
Motor completed, for break-in by Miss-B-Haven Speed Shoppe posted May 25, 2009 at 9:56 AM These are a set I made from some $5.00 swap meet headers that I cut up.
Sanderson will coat them... I welded in baffles in a set of zoomies , they did a nice job on the coating.. Reasonable cost and fairly quick service..
Very nice job! At one time, you could buy header plates for damn near any engine ever made as they were flame cut on a panograph machine. You could store a couple hundred patterns in a cabinet. After the SBC became the engine of choice for hot rodders, it made sense to set up tooling to stamp flanges at a considerable savings. It appears that those flanges are flame cut.
May want to fab some kind of heat shield for the starter. Heat goes up and with the collector going under the starter it is going to get hot!
So go check out S.P.D. Exhaust web site. Very high quality, high test stuff. The bends we get from "Hot Rod" targeted suppliers are cheep thin wall tube to start with and very thin on the outside wall of there bends. Also his merge collectors are over the top. I guess I would say that about all his stuff. For coatings I used to use Jet hot and had good results then found Brooks coatings more local. So far so good with 2 sets of race car headers. Here is a couple photos for you guys to pick on.
The Jalopy Journal
