I really wanted a set of lake headders for my 41 , It's about as custom of a vechicle as you can get. I didn't think any pre-made headder was goingto fit. I called Matt ( Saltflattmatt ) Of Gear Drive Speed & Custom - He took time out of his busy day and talked with me. After telling him what I had going on he put a kit together for me. I chose the swept tubes as opposed to the straight tubes, the cost is a little more but look so much better. Matt aslo will pre-cutt the swept tube where it meets the cone which he charged 50.00 for but I think it's worth more than that- ( I probablly wouldn't have been able to do it without wasting a lot of time and pipe ) Matt also gives Alliance Members free shipping! The Kit Arrived within s week. I opened it up and was a little intimidated. It sat there for 2 more weeks untill I overcame my nerves an got at it. I shouldn't have let it worry me- Matt had marked the angle cuts for me with a sharpie, he also numbered the primary tubes for me. After he instructed me It would take the better part of a weekend to acomplish my goal, He assured me if I had a problem I could call him and he would walk me through it! I didn't end up needing help thought it's nice to have backup if needed. Here is all the parts - Notice the black marks in the middle of the J-bend on the lower right corner of the picture. That's the instructions! I am grouping this in steps , but each step is really several smaller ones. # 1 - SET THE VECHICLE ON JACK STANDS AND GET THE MOTOR LEVEL FRONT TO BACK AND SIDE TO SIDE This seemed like the logical first step - I used my magnetic angle finder and a small level ( both dirrections ) - I wanted this thing solid - I don't think the suspension compressing or the truck rolling would have made anything easier. # 2 - BOLT THE FLANGES TO THE ENGINE #3 - CUT THE U-BEND AND THE J-BENDS IN HALF I used my chop saw for all my tubing cutts. I removed the clamping screw, and used a large triangle magnet and a thicky gloved hand to hold th bends square ( or angled while i cut ) #4 - CUT ALL 6 J-BENDS TO LEGNTH AND THEN ANGLE CUT THEM - ANGLE CUT THE U-BEND HALFS AND SILDE THEN INTO THE CONES I measured Matts angles marks - But they were just rough ideas. I decided on 22.5 degree cutts. I also decided on 4 1/2" long primary ( Flange Half ) Tubes - Those are the 2 numbers I kept with for the whole project . #5 - TEST FIT THE #1 TUBES, AND CONE, DETERMINE PROPER PLACEMENT OF THE CONE. This took about 4 hours. It was a very slow process - I made sure to do both sides at the same time - I used jack stands , angle magnets, short 4x4 chunks, and some 3/4 washers ( standard and fender ) To hold everything in place. For measurement - I used tape measures, t- squares, and the angle finder. I am not going to get into all the little details but to make it simple - just measure, measure, align, measure, measure, align, measure, measure, measure, ect. at this point I tacked the front j-bend sections to the u-tube sections , but not to the cone or flange. after each tack I rechecked everything, and then rechecked it again . It's also important to note the drivers side exhaust ports are roughlly 1" farther forward than the passenger side so I made the drivers side headder 1" longer so they would exit the same spot on the cowl. #6 - CUT AND FIT #3 TUBES - I placed the rear j-bend sections in the flange with one hand and slide the #3 pre cut section down the and determined the proper legnth , then cut them to legnth . At this point it put them in place and tacked them in onlt 1 spot and rechecked everything, when happy with the allignment - i tack welded the swept tube to the j-bend and that to the flange, I then rechecked everything and welded the #1 tube to the flange. I DID NOT WELD ANYTHING TO THE CONE - I did both sides the same way - #7 - CUT - FIT & WELD THE #2 TUBES. This was easy - it look about an hour . and as before I DID NOT WELD TO THE TUBE #8- MARK CONE - CUT CONE - WELD CONE ON I marked each cone for side and position on the #1 tubes with a black sharpie. I also marked the 4 holes that would need to be cut for the #2 & #3 tubes - I then removed the cone and cut the holes ( remember to cut about 1/16" inside the lines ) Matt recomended a plasma cutter which I don't have so I used a hole saw, a step drill, a cut off wheel , and a die grinder with a carbide cutter- Trim the # tubes down near the marks ( about 1/2" from the mark. ) - I then slid the tubes back on - checked allignment and tacked it on real good. I will remove the headders and take to a buddy who is a good tig welder ( cummins64 on the h.a.m.b. ) - He'll make them look good! I realize they arn't done, but so far I only have 8 hours in em. Pictures Really cna't show how nice these turned out. These things look killer. My camera just can't capture how swoopy these look.
Its really hard to tig over welds like that and have them look nice, too much porosity and carbon. Its going to take a lot of grinding, Hope you guys are still friends after this.
Here are the profile views - Passenger side Drivers side ( My daughter, Hope is doing a burn out or something ) And here are the headders off andready to head to 64cummings shop!
Those look great! I had a couple bucket owners ask me where I got my headers. I gave Matt's number with pride. Can't go wrong dealing directly with the "man".
Yep - I am really glad I went with Matt's kit. Now for the price of a set of pre made ones - I have a set that fits perfect, and enough money left over for baffles and turnouts! The best part is I can say I built them! ( from a kit of course )
thanks for the write-up, Very timley as I will soon be making a set for my Model A with a Y block. Great idea not welding to the cone untill all the primary holes are marked.
The Jalopy Journal
