Building headers?

Any advise?

sometimes your money ahead and power ahead to buy them depending on your application, fab skills, and tools you have when all is said and done. imo.

what are you building then for?

I hope your a doctor cuz you will need lots of Patients.....


Randy

wheels123 wrote:Any advise?

This post has some good ideas...
http://www.460ford.com/forum/showthread.php?t=131136

Like was said it takes patients and alot of studying how you need to run the tubes I have 20+ hours in mine alot of time measuring making sure before cutting and fitting here is where I got my header kit http://www.speedwaymotors.com/429-460-B-B-Ford-Header-Kit,37279.html they have 2'' pipies with 3 1/2 collecter.

I bought some custom flanges from Jon Thee, Mike Duffy got me a set of collectors and a box of j and u bends, I spent approx 30 hours to put them together.

total $$$ with coating and all was 650.00 bucks, a lot cheaper than a custom set............my motor/chassis configuration is a one of a kind deal so this was the only option for me.

buddy of mine had a set made for a similar combo, so I had sort of a pattern to go by as how to route the tubes and such.

decent fab skills and the tools are a must.

There are so many different ways of Tig welding a set of headers, it just boils down to doing it the way your most comfortable with. Like Jon mentioned on the other site, Tig welding with both silicon/bronze & steel filler rods is a common option vs doing all the welding with just one or the other rod.

Some people weld the tube to the outside of the flange. Some push the tube through the flange and weld both sides. When pushing the tube through the flange some use a steel filler rod inside 100% (head side) & the silicon/bronze rod 100% outside. Some only stitch-weld the outside (with either the steel or bronze rod).

Some only use the steel filler rod just for tack welding the headers together, then do all the rest with the silicon/bronze rod. And some weld everything 100% with the steel rod and never have the expected vibration cracking ever show up.

Like I said the "right" way really depends a little bit on who you talk to, but mostly it will be the procedure that works best for you.

The last set we built was just with a wire welder.

We bolted the flange on the heads and placed our collectors (tack welded them into the car using bolts as spacers) where we wanted them and worked one tube at a time connecting the two.

I would say a weekend you could do it. Depending on your welding ability, I don't recommend coating them until after you have ran them and tested them for leaks. Most people have zero problems but I did learned this from a buddy.

To get them close in length I take 4 equal sections of brake line to mock each tube up approx where they go. It really saves a lot of figuring ad keeps the tubes as equal as possible and place the collector where you need it to be.

Just a little trick that was passed on to me.

Travis

I have done more than one set .It does take some patients BUT i wouldnt get all caught up
in trying too keep all the tubes equal length .We have a guy who races does a bunch of headers he
owns a exhaust shop that does all custom work he told me some of the untuned headers he made
made more power than the tuned ones??

get yourself a very good hacksaw a good belt sander and start at the back i know its
more than that but its time not rocket seince.The first set i made i mig welded and they actualy
lasted a long timebefore tire shake cracked them around the collectors

richter69 wrote:I bought some custom flanges from Jon Thee, Mike Duffy got me a set of collectors and a box of j and u bends, I spent approx 30 hours to put them together.

total $$$ with coating and all was 650.00 bucks, a lot cheaper than a custom set............my motor/chassis configuration is a one of a kind deal so this was the only option for me.

buddy of mine had a set made for a similar combo, so I had sort of a pattern to go by as how to route the tubes and such.

decent fab skills and the tools are a must.

Here is a picture of the set that Fabio built.

jts557 wrote:I have done more than one set .It does take some patients BUT i wouldnt get all caught up
in trying too keep all the tubes equal length .We have a guy who races does a bunch of headers he
owns a exhaust shop that does all custom work he told me some of the untuned headers he made
made more power than the tuned ones??

get yourself a very good hacksaw a good belt sander and start at the back i know its
more than that but its time not rocket seince.The first set i made i mig welded and they actualy
lasted a long timebefore tire shake cracked them around the collectors

I'm not a expert on this subject by no means,but i've found that using a tubing cutter gives you a nicer beveled cut to weld too. jmo

Curt wrote:

OK I laughed hard & damn near hacked beer up out my nose, what's the story behind the pic.

You''ll have to ask Jon. It's his creation for awesome power. They match up with the set of SBC heads that Shirley Muldowny ran in the 60's on one of her top fuel championship motors.

TravisRice wrote:To get them close in length I take 4 equal sections of brake line to mock each tube up approx where they go. It really saves a lot of figuring ad keeps the tubes as equal as possible and place the collector where you need it to be.

Just a little trick that was passed on to me.

Travis

Good idea. I have used 3/8 aluminum fuel line before to make bend samples.

Re-usable aluminum

Tubing cutters only work on 90% cuts and not were the header is bent to curve.I know what you mean .

You can also use that flexible aluminum tubing crap that older cars used to go from the exhaust to the air cleaner. Not sure what it is called but most parts stores have them. You can then bend and shape what you are thinking.

I like jasonf's idea! it is about the right diameter, and that will help with clearance issues. plus it should be able to re-use.

Measuring the length of primary tubes accurately (at the tube's C/L) on headers with a lot of bends can be kinda hit/miss sometimes. Depending in the diameter of the tubing used, you can sometimes insert golf balls (or racket balls for really big OD primaries) in each primary tube to get a better idea of it's actual length (or close to it) as measured at the tube's C/L.

If you have a 2" O.D. header primary tube that will hold 14.5 golf balls (at aprox 1.68" OD each) that's a primary length at the C/L of about 24.36". Of course you have to allow some amount of fudge factor depending on how loose the balls fit in the tubing.

Curt wrote:

richter69 wrote:I bought some custom flanges from Jon Thee, Mike Duffy got me a set of collectors and a box of j and u bends, I spent approx 30 hours to put them together.

total $$$ with coating and all was 650.00 bucks, a lot cheaper than a custom set............my motor/chassis configuration is a one of a kind deal so this was the only option for me.

buddy of mine had a set made for a similar combo, so I had sort of a pattern to go by as how to route the tubes and such.

decent fab skills and the tools are a must.

Here is a picture of the set that Fabio built.

You gotta be a talented A+ know-it-all racer to create something like that, thats the new max effort flow model I did for procomp to work with their heads.

richter69 wrote:thats the new max effort flow model I did for procomp to work with their heads.

Jon, you wouldn't by chance be stealing some of that damn tasty procomp R&D money out from under a certain banned forum member behind his back now would you? Shame on you!

money well spent!!!!!!
http://www.holley.com/12105HKR.asp

chuck wrote:money well spent!!!!!!
http://www.holley.com/12105HKR.asp

Good call!

I'll never build another set with out them.