Just looking around at what I’ve got on hand and was curious what these shorty headers would look like or these opened up 2.5 exit ram horns. This is the aftermarket speedway ram horn that looks more like a Y block manifold Corvette style ram horn Short tight fit header Either way the intake will be round tube and welded and not a cast aluminum piece sonim also trying to keep that in mind with the overall look
I like the look of tjis one the most- and the intake is easy(er) to change later on, if you should find one, that fits your taste/exhaust manifold/ wallet.
Yeah the high arch manifold is pretty cool looking but I’m surprised how much I like the header. I thought I’d hate it, just a bunch of sit and stare over here for now. That’s what happens when I can’t get in much garage time lol
Ron Brown ---I was thinking of his car and lowering thread when you described your build Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
@Tim it just occurred to me that I got a rams horn laying under the stainless shelf in the garage. When that tie rod comes over the rams horn can leave for a trial fitting.
Yeah I’m between the speed way ram horn and the header. What I’m considering right now is 1: we won’t see the engine from this angle but more from the top so this really isn’t what I’ll see when I look at it in real life. 2: the speedway ram puts a lot of mass up higher and I’m really concerned with it looking busy/ cluttered when viewed with the master cylinders. It’s a bad case of OCD and friends who build super clean choppers sorry guys I promise I’ll eventusly stop rambling about some minor part
@porknbeaner I’ve got a set of hogged out Vette ones laying under the blast cabinet but thanks for the offer
Make you a deal. You obsess I'll think about 18 different things at once and somewhere in between you'll get your A built and I'll well I'll still be thinking about 18 things at once.
Each option is about the same amount of work, I’m leaning towards the short header currently. Most of the ohv conversions I see either run a lakes style header or a long tube headernwith very few bends in it before the collector. I’m running the exhaust under the car so a lake header is out and the straight long tube header make me think of the spindly headers for a pinto motor so it imediatly turns me off. I have most of these options sitting in the garage so ultimately I’ll jist mock them up and see what’s what. Just have a few more things in the Que before mocking up exhaust is reasonable.
I think Clifford still makes a tube header for these. On eBay there are sometimes both intake and exhaust steel flanges for making both manifolds for the 230-292 sixes. With slight changes and a few leftovers they'll work on the four.
Thanks for the info I’ve seen the Clifford’s header and it never really did anything for me, also it would appear you can’t buy it with out buying the intake with it as a package if I recall correctly. I’ve access to a cc plasma table so I’d planned on having some gaskets traced more or less for anything I need out 1/4 plate
Good lord right when I thought I was threw with this lol Because like any good hot roder when any one texts and says “ya want rusty old junk?” I say hell yes bring it over! I’ll either use it, give it to someone who can use it, or trade it for something I can use. This time a friend is gutting a Nash metro for some really cool upgrades and dropped some parts off. Some of which were the intake and exhaust. I love it! It’s got a weird cast iron donut on the collector end that makes me think of a v band style clamp, it’s almost a bolt on but it’s like 8/10 scale to what I need. If I slot the end holes a little it will actually bolt on but the ports are tiny and the center is only a single. I think the plan is to clone this in tube and to use this one as a mock up place holder. Just because I know some of you like seeing what sorts bolts to a 153 here are more photos Cast iron donut coupling Outer exhaust ports Center port is bigger than ends Intake ports are so small my wedding ring is wider across! Sitting on a vette ram horn to see how close they line up. The very end holes are about 1/4” off to the inside but the actual hole is the same size Guess I took a photo of that too kind of hard to see but the sbc intake ports way over lap that center port. The 153 port spacing is the same as a sbc so I used it for a quick comparison
Got some others nash bits that I think I’ll either use or use as inspiration later on. I love looking new at older uncommon engines to see what they use. I feel like most hand fabricated things made today feel to race car/ contemporary and not “old hot rod/ race car” Maybe it’s because I grew up with race cars not race cars from the 50s haha. Either way excited about some new ideas.
There are so many old parts out there that almost fit or would fit with a little work. You can make yourself crazy looking at them. I know. I'm now trying to work out a trans adapter-bell housing-flywheel-clutch thing using old V8, aftermarket, and newer 2 bolt starter and153 tooth flywheel. It almost works.
At the risk of looking even more neurotic i posted those photos for you because I figured you’d get it lol. Half way threw dinner I thought “maybe I can just cut the center ports off the 153 manifold and weld them to this nash manifold?” Crazy talk lol.
But ain't it fun. I often think back to the scene in Apollo 13 when the guy holds up the air filters and dumps the stuff on the table and says, "We have to make this fit this using this. "I turned to my wife and said,"See there is a place in the space program for hot rodders! That's what we do all the time."
I wonder if a 50s corvette full length chassis header would work. They're really short but go under the car with a collector. Very sanitary looking if you could get it to work.
So I’m thinking I could make that nash exhaust in tube with a sbc flange and two of the pre made bends speedway sells that have a U on one end, a straight and a 90 on the other end. The 90 is the same radius as the 180 so it’s got a nice bend that’s not to abrupt. It’s less organic feeling because the cast iron piece has got a ton of diameter changes and compound bends that aren’t realistic for me to replicate but I think it works. The only other spot I think I will change is to make the collector larger than the primaries. I think I may merge the two end tubes together in a way that makes it a 1.5 of the primary diameter. Just seems like a bottle neck to have everything be that small size all the way out. I guess readily available flathead headers are like this though? Just want to make sure I’m not making it breath worse in Trying to make it look nicer.
The black widow. Just remember where you saw it first. All small block headers could work. It's not quite as easy as it looks but easier than what you laid out above.
Not all sbc headers just the ones that don’t block the path to the intake runners Looks like if you did some creative slotting and used the stock hold down method it could go on with out to much head ache. Love seeing that gasket photo that helps a bunch
It would be easy enough to build a Black widow style header, like half a try Y. I probably would not Siamese the center two ports. Good idea. I like the Nash pieces that @Tim posted as well. I am not a big fan of the heat riser, my school of thinking is not in that vein. But the header intake could be cloned easy enough in tubing, and with bit if 18-16 gauge the heat riser could be added. That would make the inline crowd happy. LOL Now the problem becomes what to do what to do. LOL
Yeah no heat riser for me, I’d actualy thought about cutting the center exhaust ports and heat riser off the Nash piece and welding on the center ports from the 153 manifold but sounds like a bigger head ache
The Nash type header would look roughly like this And because @Six Ball said any sbc header I drew this lol Front tube slanted back to clear charging system and rear tube pushed foreword to clear the firewall. Cone from sbc kit cut short
I don't know why that gasket has no divider on the center exhaust ports the head does. I do have a head with siamese ports. I think it is a very early one. I'm trying to decide whether to try and use the stock type tie downs or use an adapter plate between both manifolds and the head. The plate would give me room to fit the ports better than without it. Or possibly just an adapter on the exhaust with stock tie downs.
The Jalopy Journal
