Well, here is my latest project. I have a link below to a set of headers that I just made out of U-bends. As my first attempt they are not perfect, but they should flow much much better than the shorty headers I was using before which are also pictured for comparative purposes. Look at the close up pictures of my old shorty headers. I never realized that the tubes were SO small (1 7/8"). You can see that the header manufacturer (sanderson) actually heats the tube up and stretches it to fit the exhaust flange. The exhausts port in my heads are actually a little larger than the square flanges shown in the close up photo of the shorty header. Ed from headers by ed thinks I was leaving 150-200 rwhp on the table with the shorties. My new headers are 2.25" primaries, 4" collectors, and 3" reducers to my exhaust. The two things I have not done yet is added my O2 sensors and making cutout flanges and fittings for my electric cutouts. I will take them right off of the collectors and they will act as pressure valves for when my dual 3" full exhaust cannot flow enough at high boost levels. I have to check them again for leaks, make the cutout flanges, and send them away to be coated. Let me tell you, those headers had to turn and twist exactly like you see them as there just wasn't any room for error... what a pain!!!! Do any of you have any ideas as to what type of coating I should get? I know of jet hot and swain coatings. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Tony D.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/tonynt...e2.jpg&.src=ph

 

Damn Tony, you are quite a craftsman! They look damn good for a first timer!!

 

Tony
that header look awsome and impressive weld for the first timer. It gonna flows... for the big boy

 

Thanks guys.. Do you have any recommendations for coatings? Something tells me that price tag is gonna hurt just a little.

 

you could try the jet hot 2000 or swain tech coating as Bruce has suggested.. also a company called HPE coating.. they also do great work for many local turbocharged applications.

Chris

 

As others have said, great Job tony. That should really alleviate some backpressure + heat.
Im kinda partial to the swaintech coatings myself, but there are literally dozens out there now. We have tried several around here on our sleds, dad's truck, Dirtbikes, tractors w/gt40's, my car etc.
Northwest coatings (I think that was the name) has a nice silver based coating that they gauruntee for life- and we have held them to it. It didnt like to stay on dad's blown SBC but egt's were easily in the 1500+ range. It has stayed rust free on the snowmobiles without problem, but did look really flat when exposed to high heat.
Swaintech will take absolutley any heat you can throw at it. Probably up to the melting point of steel and stay on. But it gets dirty easily and has a rough sandy white finish. VERY effective though, probably the only one we've tried around here that you could really tell a difference in engine compartment temps.
http://www.swaintech.com/header.html#price
According to this page your headers will be about $275.
You still having problems keepin that monster cool?

 

Thanks Chris, I'll check those out.

 

Thanks Rick. Well, Ed the header guy said that my block hugger headers can make an engine run 20-25 degrees hotter. I'm not sure about that but it makes sense that they would certainly add some heat by running so close to the block. I think I will still put a radiator in the back like you did for added insurance. I plan on running the piping through the rocker panels, more or less like the turbo guys do on the C5s. I think currently with my motor being so big and the intercooler being parked right in front of the radiator, there's just not enough airflow to cool it in the heat of the summer. I thought about putting a hole in the front fascia like a Callaway or maybe using a front license plate ram air, but I'd rather have a stock looking ride... Can't wait until this summer to surprise a few of those new Z06s....you know what I mean..!!!

Oh, and at work yesterday one of my extremely yuppie friends told me that he is going to buy a Porshe 911 (or whatever they call it now) and put the hurt on me...I asked him it if would be the turbo.. he said no...He knows about my car but apparently isn't very good at math.

 

Yea, the blockhuggers make sense. Besides there will be a temperature drop jsut due to the fact that your primary Dia is dramatically increased, greatly lowering temps (pressure) at the actual exhaust port.

Im still looking for the supplier to bombardier that makes all the finned heatexchanger extrusions. It's got coolant passeges built in and is only 11/16" thick. Making a flat bottomed car is a large step forward aerodynamically speaking to begin with. Combine that with putting your addded weight on the very bottom of the middle of the car does Wonders for CG. Also I wonder about the "sprint car wing" effect it might have due to it being heavily finned. If it works out for me I"ll pass it along. If I cant find the supplier I guess I can buy wrecked sled exchangers. I already have one goodbye 700mxz
The rockers- I had a tough time getting a 1/2" refrigerant line in there so unless you have aftermarket ones you'll be going into the frame.

porche 9s huh? Well he's in for an ugly suprise. Do me a favor, roll next to him until 60, then smoke the tires away from him. That one freakin kills me. almost as good as creepin up in 4th all quiet on someone in a convertible and dropping it into 2nd and burnout past them. Scares the bejesus out of them everytime.

 

I have a feeling that you would not have to shift down to anywhere near 2nd. gear to do a burn out past them.

 

Wow Tony, very nice. My headers are custom built as well, not near the size of yours, but still fully custom. My headers are 1-7/8ths primaries into 3-inch collectors. The primaries are all exactly 34-inches long. Point is, although I didn't do the fabrication, I was about as close to the job as I could have been short of doing the cutting and welding, so I understand how much time, effort, and patience went into making those headers, probably more so since they are bigger and had less wiggle room under the hood.

I think the coating recommendations are about covered. Mine were jet coated for $275, not bad considering they were the only place within a 50-mile radius that do coatings. It's been almost 4-years now and so far, so good.

I would only recommend that after you install these headers and use them for a short while, inspect the weld joints around the flanges to ensure its holding up. How did you weld the primaries to the flanges? Did you mate the primaries to the face of the flange or did you slip the primaries into the flange? Let me know if your not sure what I mean.

Good work!

 

Thanks, I appreciate it..

After making sure that my collected primaries are absolutely square with each other (make sure that they form a perfectly shaped rounded square while building the header or your collector will not fit over them) I got the torch out and heated up the primaries and squeezed/pinched them together to form an intersection in the middle. I then tig welded the intersection basically making a big plus sign. After that I built up the v-portions where the primaries meet so there would not be any valleys to fill in after the collector is mocked into position. I then slipped the collector over the primaries exactly where I wanted it and tacked it into position at the corners upon the collected primaries. Then the torch came back out and heated the collector portions that meet with the collected primaries and tamped it down a bit to make a better seal between the collector and primary tubes and the slight valleys. After that, it simply took more tig welding to complete the job.

Does that answer your question? I'm new at this but it seemed like the right way to do it at the time...

 

they do look very nice!!!

i wonder if the yuppie is a gambling man, if he is i would LOVE to get a peice of that action!

 

Not sure if he wants to bet. I drove my car to work last summer a couple of times and he was always just too darn busy to come out and look at it...besides.. it's not a Porshe or anything worthy of his time. I have a feeling that someday when he hears it fire up and hears that motor thumping and the blower whining (mine is pretty lound) he may just forget about trying to put the hurt on me. But if not... well ya know..

I'm not sure if my headers look good, but I can get them in and out without talking any of the front suspension pieces off or loosening the passenger side motor mount. The new set slides right into place and I can even remove the starter without removing passenger side header. I'm really happy with them, even though the tops of the collectors are only about .750" inch from my bellhouse saftey blanket. I may have to wrap some heat reflectors around the lower portion of my blanket.

 

Cmon Ton - that the best you can do?

 

Well, I actually specialize in building headers for big stroker LT5s. Now those are works of art. Perhaps I could make a set for you for use as a coffee table or something.. Your new bride would LOVE that!!!!! As I'm sure you can understand, it's really hard to get motivated to work on my POS!!!! I just sort of slap stuff together.. if it works fine.. if not.. whatever..

 

I hear ya - maybe you need to paint that motor a dull red/green combo - seems more appropriate for the ghetto image that you like to put forth!

I will take a set of those headers for a coffee table, but only if they cost $2000.00 per header. Got a rep to keep up you know!

 

One set of headers coming up!!!!!!!!!! Don't worry, they wil surely fit into your "motiff" as my collector's edition headers for the LT5 come with a special "shake rattle and roll" custom gold flake coating!!! Throw in an extra $500 and I'll sign them with a fine tip felt marker, your choice of color. For another $500 on top of that I'll send a picture of me posed next to the headers with my welding torch in one hand and a bud light in the other, all expertly framed in a handmade commemorative decorative frame. Sure to be heirlooms!!! I think I finally found my purpose!!!

 

Would this be done by you personally, or through our subsidiary, Unicorn Racing Inc (URI)?

 

Right, I'm kindof the Boyd Coddington of URI...

AS you well know, all of our products for the LT5 come from URI