Yo, Here is a rough mock up of the split header I am thinking of running. What do you think? I am mostly going for sound, and a little bit of cool factor, being that most homemade split manifolds look like shit. Do you think this set-up will provide any gains? Or be damaging?
Cool Fu. I don't see any problems with it. You simply totally split the manifold. LOL. Eliminates the need for a separator plate to be welded between the front and rear ports. You're kinda making your own "Fentons" from a stock manifold...I've never seen that done before...unique. You should have goooood sound with it. Looks pretty cool too. If you lived in a colder state, I'd say the only drawback would be the possibility of carb-icing in the winter. But...seeing you live in Arizona, I highly doubt that will be a problem.
That looks cool. I doubt there'd be any problems. How about putting the outlets on the ends where the manifold is split?
I thought it would be better kind of in between the 2 upper ports, then just cap off the ends? Plus, give it more equal flow, and aesthetically be more pleasing? That was just my guess though. I really have no idea what I'm doing. Other than making it sound righteous. I gotta wait until Monday to weld it up, I ordered some mg200 welding rod for the job. Supposedly takes alot of the headaches out of welding cast.
I picked this split manifold up from another guy on the H.A.M.B Its got the heat riser(I'm in Maryland gets pretty cold here in the winter).I love the sound!You will to!I like how you did it .Before I picked this one up I did a lot of searching on here,your looks very clean.Good job man.One of the best Ive seen.I got to take my car out last weekend and really hear what a split manifold on a 6 sounds like.I'm still smiling....it turned heads and its laud! and Im still smiling!Yup still
You may get away with no intake manifold heat in Arizona. But, on a stock 216, in New England on a warm summer day I have seen frost on the outside of a carburetor that had enough ice inside to choke off the engine. It did have a stuck heat riser valve. Clifford makes water heated intakes for a reason.
looks like you have a good plan for making something unique and you will have ~$250 left for something else.
It will "work", but exhaust gases don't like going around sharp 90 deg turns (at the transition between your manifold and your new exits). Would work better at the ends of the manifold where it is already cut like mentioned earlier. This is where the gases want to flow by the nature of the manifold. But for what you are after (sound) it will work. Have fun disturbing the peace with that WHOOOOOOOO-BAAAAAAAAA (thats the sound it will make, hehe)
Point made. Let me ask this. Do you think performance wise it will be better than stock? I do have another manifold I could cut up. What if I did the same thing, but moved both outlets all the way to the right? so the exhaust is coming out the ends? Or run them both out the middle do kind of a U bend on the rear one? If this is just a matter of splitting hairs, I'll run as is. If coming out the ends will be infinitely better, I'll do another one. What ya think?
Looks more like a custom header than a split manifold. I see no remnant of a stock manifold that has been split. I think it'll work at least as good as stock, though as was mentioned I'd put a little more thought into flow out of it. The forward one looks like cake to get good flow. The rear one may be the one that takes a little more effort.
Looks good. I have done both header and blockoff style and IMO those pipefitters elbows are the way to go. I never found a source for flanges so made my own and will do another batch one of these days. Sound and performance should improve enough to make the effort worth it.
Curt B, I gotta retract what I said about homemade split exhausts looking like shit, That is some clean work!
I split my Plymouth flat six manifold and two others for friends. I found some old Chevrolet V8 manifolde at the swap meets that had an outlet angle and length that I could use. I used my angle grinder to remove them, then shaped them to fit the bottom of my existing manifold. Then marked around them, subtracted the material thickness from the outline then drilled a bunch of little holes to knock the plug out, smoothed up the cutout, beveled the edges of the new outlets. I make a jig out of 3"x3"x3/8" angle to bolt the manifold to with fingers that come out and hold the outlets in place. Heat in gas fired BBQ pit then weld while keeping hot and bury in 6" to 8" of sand top and bottom to cool. I have had good luck doing it this way in the past. Good luck with your project.
On sound: As shown, will be smooth noise. Anti-social elements once used to do uneven splits, resulting in more staccato/nastiness, the smaller the number isolated the rappier the noise. Police and normal human beings will delight in retribution.
Fu- It'll almost certainly wake up performance a bit at the top end, assuming it was 2-bolt (2") manifold. If it was a 3-bolt (2.5") going to 2x2", it probably won't be noticeable. Sound will be a lot different, depending on what mufflers you plan to run. However, I do think you'll run into problems without any heat to the intake manifold. As was mentioned before, it's possible to build frost on a manifold or carb even on a hot day given the way gasoline will chill the walls of the manifold. You MAY be able to pick a heat plate from Langdon's Stovebolt and run water heat to bottom of the stocker though. I have water heat on my Offy 4-bbl, and the only time I run into trouble is if it's below 40* and the engine isn't warmed up yet.
One of my friends had a very irate wife after he put tubing headers on the 230 in the '65 C-10 she was driving every day, and it took her 45 minutes to drive 10 miles to work, at the rate of about 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile at a time, after which the carb would ice up and it would die.
Most exhaust headers and split manifolds dump out the bottom. I wonder if yours will be hindering flow by exiting the side
My buddy Leo sent this photo of a Chevy 6 exhaust from a stock car in Argentina. They don't get many V-8s down there so the Stovebolt 6 is raced heavily. Many time F1 champ Manuel Fangio was a famous stock car racer there long before he went to Europe after WWII. I believe he road raced a 1936 Chevy coupe.
I've requested the info. I think the outfit has a website. Leo & his car builder father Carlos are visiting Chicago at the end of July so Leo can drive one of my midget race cars. From what we can determine no one from South America has ever driven a midget up here. If you google "midget racing in Argentina" you'll find links to video of their very wild home built cars. Chuck Schultz Winfield, Illinois
damn curt those homemades look killer!! where do you get pipefitter elbows? and when are you making another batch of those flanges? i'd be in for some...
Thanks Fu and Rob, <O Ask for 2 long radius 90 degree heavy wall (schedule 80) carbon steel elbows at pretty much any gasfitter supply. The flanges are made from a strip of 3 x 5/8 flatbar. </O http://www.hybvalve.com/pipe_fittings_elbow.html<O</O <O The heavy wall pipe allows for a generous radius on the inside where the elbow meets the casting (up to ¼).<O</O <O</O The primary function of the heat riser system Chevrolet put there was cold start driveability/performance and retaining it for good performance at startup is only reason I didnt just buy a set of Fentons.<O</O <O</O <O</O
A cheap and easy way to do this: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=365906&highlight=low+buck+split
Victory Headers carries the flanges for the 216-235-261 Chevy 6s. Fenton headers come with bungs so you can still pipe heat into the intake, or you can get a plate from Langdon's that allows water heat to get pumped into the intake. That's what we used in my wife's '51 and it did pretty well. Splitting the stock manifold is probably the most "traditional" way, but Fentons run a close second. Crestliner split a manifold for me once, but I don't know if he's still doing it. Turned out really nice. A place in Kansas used to do it, but they don't anymore.
Some cell phone pics of the engine prior to install. I don't think There's gonna be an icing problem at all. Drove it around the block, and I am gonna say it runs hella better than a stock exhaust! LOL. She sounds very very angry. LOL.
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