So I'm kind of stalled on the exhaust for my flathead right now in my car.... It used to be a stock car back in the 60's, and whoever built the car put a Chevy steering box on the inside of the frame, and well, now I'm having alot of clearance issues with exhaust. Back then they probably just hooked a bunch of flex pipe to it, but now it has to be a little different... The motor is an 8BA (Well 8RT..) and it's ina '33 Ford frame. The stock truck manifold fits it, but the exhaust dumps out right on top of the steering box so that doesn't help much. I've got a set of old tube headers I can cut up and modify, I'm just curious if there might be a different set of manifolds or something that might work? Thanks for any help guys
isnt there the stock manifold that goes out the front of the engine by the water pumps to cross over to the passenger side....not at the shop to look....also the factory dual 52-53 was a center dump on the drivers side....think I have one of those too....
consider using the original steering box. My exhaust pointed at the box on my 39 Ford but I built a big C in the exhaust pipe to go around the box
Here's two things we do that may be of help. First, exhaust manifolds mig weld great with just regular wire; no pre-heating of special cool down. Sand blast to grey iron, put the outlet flange where you want it, and weld away. Second, on unusual applications we use defroster duct tubing ( or vacuum cleaner hose, vent tubing, whatever) and zip tie to short tubes on the header flange. This is routed about everything for clearence, kinda like old flex tubing, taped in place and then squirted full of the styrofoam in a can that Home Depot sells. A few holes punched in the tubing helps bleed any air pockets and gives a pretty darn rigid pattern. The tubes can then be unzipped and untaped to individual patterns that a muffler shop can then copy and give you four ( three for a flathead) nice smooth tubes with no weld joints. I like to make the pattern tubing one size larger than what the steel one will be so if the bigger one has clearence then the real one should have even more.
why not lakestyle headers, contact saltflatmatt on here from lakeheaders.com, /geardrive look great and price is awesome, fully tigged , send him the same pics, you put up here
Next time, i'm using coilover's method,..WAY cool !! My 8BA is in the '40 frame, with a vegamatic box,...the tube headers I had fit around it , although, it is a bit close. 4TTRUK
I had to read it twice to "get" it. But once the light bulb lit up over my head I realized what a great idea this is! Much easier to understand with the supplied pictures.
Thanks for all of the awsome advice guys! It's had me stumped for quite a while but now I'm got a couple real good ideas to go off of..... I've got one of those that dump out in the front, trouble is it dumps out right on top of the steering box so that doesn't help much. Sounds like the 52-53 manifolds might be an option though.... Thanks for the great advice! I might try MIG welding one of the manifolds I've got just for the heck of it, but if not, your other method is ingenious! Those too look real nice... Do you have a bender, or did you just have a bunch of pre-bent peices and cut + weld them? I am thinking that lakestyle headers are the way to go, especially for the race car look. I'll keep his name/site in mind though for sure, thanks
I am thinking that lakestyle headers are the way to go, especially for the race car look. I'll keep his name/site in mind though for sure, thanks[/QUOTE] I'm running Car Chemistry baffles and they quiet them down quite a bit, if that is a concern. One bolt and you can yank them out. Get a few more DB supression if you want to pack them with steel wool or cloth wad.
What do you guys think about my setup? I like the sound of the motor with the short Zoomys, but it's getting a little hard to take. I am thinking about making slip over extensions with internal baffles. That way I can quiet it down, but remove the extensions and be back to the present setup quickly. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2du5l7iQxM Thanks Jim
go to cowl steering-theres half doz. ways to get that box out of the engine area. study some sprint cars for ideas.its tighter- neater- gives the old school look. good luck
Realized I hadn't ever updated this thread with my solution to the problem.... I found a set of stock manifolds, which I think were 33/34 (kinda funny how the original stock manifolds to the car/frame are still the best fit now). No clearance issue at all on the passenger side, the drivers side the dipstick I made is a pretty tight fit, but it hasn't seemed to be too much of an issue yet. Both sides dump out right in the front, so I'll be able to run exhaust down and under the frame without too much of an issue. I had wanted to go out the sides like I said, but this will work better and I ended up finding the guy who built the car originally... He made his own headers for it, but ran the exhaust under the frame too, and had it exit in front of the rear wheels.
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