My poor old '56 Plymouth has been neglected for awhile, between trying to get caught up with other people's projects and a torn rotator cuff (boy, does that suck!! ). My friends Ratso and T-Bird have really come through, helping with mechanical stuff like changing out the rear end, brakes, etc. while my wing is out of commission. But the best part, at least to me, is the headers Ratso and I put together the other night. Trying to find a set of fenderwells for a 440 in a '56 Belvedere w/a '78 Chrysler sub-frame is not easy, I can attest to that. So we took an old set we got from a drag-racer friend, and...er.....ah..........ummmmmmmmm.......modified them. I'm sure some people will hate 'em, but they fit the character of the car. It's been stitched together from cast-off parts from many sources, hence the name "Frank". I'm re-habbing as much as the therapists will let me, trying to get where I'm more use, so we can get this thing on the road as sonn as possible. But, even if I have to work one-handed, with the help of my buds we'll be at the HAMB Drags in August. Here are a couple pics of the headers, before the collector extensions have been installed. Plans call for them to exit through the fenders. I'll post pics when we get them done.
Hey, I care...! I just don't show it that much I guess... Got any pics or topic where the entire project/car can be seen? I've been fabbin' some headers for my '64 Chrysler aswell recently. I used two sets of headers to make 1 'new' set. Maybe you should've tried a set of motorhome headers from summit. They go for $135,- so no big deal to cut them up. You are stuck with 1 3/4" primairies though.
Hey, no probs, just excited about getting something done. The headers we used were free, basically, so the price was hard to beat. The car is in a friend's shop while I try to finish some work in mine for a customer. It's a tight fit, so it's hard to get a good pic. Here's a look; I'll post more when we get it out of exile.
This varies greatly which one you look at... I didn't go for equal-length tubes with this attempt, I was happy enough I got all those pipes tucked away fairly neatly under there imo. I don't want to hyijack Animal's topic, but here's a pic of all the tubes hanging to dry the ceramic exhaustpaint. I dig the Plymouth Animal. "When is it ready..."
Thanks for the positive remarks, guys. I was just getting to the point where I could get serious about working on it, then tore up my shoulder. It's hard to be careful, but I don't want to make it worse, so I'm taking it pretty easy. I really want to get the car wired, get the cage in it, and the other seat (screwabunchainteriorandpaint) mounted so Ratso and I can make the Drags. I'll post pics as soon as something happens.
Here are the headers with the collectors. We notched the fenders to allow the collectors to exit outside the body without causing tire clearance problems. My shoulder is getting well enough to allow me to start getting some stuff done. Hopefully I'll get the car wired soon, so I can get it licensed.
Man, those look good! they remind me of some of the stuff we'd see from back in the '60's!! GREAT job!!
Yeah, the whole idea of this car was to create something a lot like what a bunch of guys coulda built in their backyard in '68 or so. Thanks for thegood words.
The Jalopy Journal
