Topic: Home made headers

[miraclepieco]

Hotwheels got me inspired by building a set of Lakes headers for his current project.  He  accomplished it so quickly that it made it seem pretty feasible.  Plus it can be done at home without the time and expense of a trip to the exhaust shop.

The Scrap Rod exhaust runs under the frame back to the stacks. Since lowering the rear of the truck two more inches, the head pipes are now the lowest point on the car and in grave peril of being destroyed.  So I decided that, instead of routing the pipes under the truck, I would keep them on top where they'd be less vulnerable. This essentially necessitates a whole new exhaust system.

The Scrap Rod was a simple build, intentionally that way to combat the ridiculous complexity, perfection and expense that I'd watched street rodding turn into.  So I didn't want to make an elaborate set of headers; I wanted to keep them pretty utilitarian. But I also wanted a unique set, like no one else's. So I devised a design that is both simple yet different. You might call it stupid and ugly     but here is the project step by step:

First, I made the 45-minute trip into town and had a muffler shop bend up eight 1 1/2" 90-degree elbows. Sure they're crush bends and not mandrel bent - boo hoo, I didn't want them to be in any way like a street rod or a HAMB-mobile so I think that's COOL! They even have number stamping all over them - GOOD! And they're plain steel, not stainless - GREAT!   All the more ratty!!!!!

I could've cut head flanges myself, but geez that's a lot of work with an angle grinder, so I simply bought some from Bob's Rat Rod Parts just up the road from me in Salem, Oregon. He also has an Ebay store and his stuff is top quality.

By the time I was done with all these preliminaries (including removing my old exhaust), all I had time to do was cut the primaries to length and tack them to the flanges. Like everything else on the Scrap Rod, spacing was mostly eyeballed.  A wise pro builder once told me, "If it LOOKS right, it IS right!" Tomorrow I will weld them up and start working on the collector.  That's where this set will be different  - kind of a low-mount lakes header.

All the materials for this project totaled $88. Here's pics of about two hour's progress, including my preliminary sketches.

[Dustin Arnett]

Sweet!! I'm looking forward to the end result


~Dustin

[Greybeards Customs]

that looks good , the way you have the pipes turned down you don't even see the crush bends . The cost of the parts is cheap enough to go ahead and build me a set 

[hotwheels]

Great job man.......can't wait to see the completed project. Great price too, 88 bucks plus your time......that equals priceless.

[obama]

Way to go, keep us posted.

[lowboy]

lookin good 

[miraclepieco]

Today I welded the header primaries into the flanges. I welded them inside, then outside too just for strength - plus it seemed like the easiest way to deal with the tack welds I'd put out there instead of meticulously grinding them off. Then I drilled some holes in the collector and slid the header tubes into it and tacked them in place. After that I pie-cut the end of the collector, allowing it to point outward at the same angle as my cab cowl. By doing this instead of buying turnouts from Speedway, I saved $54!  Tomorrow I'll finish weld the primaries into the collector and then figure how I'll deal with the excess length in the front. BTW all the towels draped all over the car in the pics are to keep weld splatter off of stuff.

Yeah, they ain't the most graceful, but trying to show off what a bitchin' builder I am just ain't what the Scrap Rod is about. Simple, functional, ugly, cheap, different and unpretentious are my watchwords. If you haven't read my blog to get my version of the rat rod philosophy, check it out:

http://scraprod.blogspot.com

[Dustin Arnett]

That thing is wild, I love it!!


~Dustin

[oldskool49]

Kool. Inspiration = creativity = something unique. Plus who knows where it will lead to?



 

[miraclepieco]

That thing is wild, I love it!!
~Dustin

Thanks Dustin!

Kool. Inspiration = creativity = something unique. Plus who knows where it will lead to?
 

Well, I just sent resumes to Greybeard and Cornfield Customs   

[oldskool49]

That thing is wild, I love it!!
~Dustin

Thanks Dustin!

Kool. Inspiration = creativity = something unique. Plus who knows where it will lead to?
 

Well, I just sent resumes to Greybeard and Cornfield Customs   

Good Luck. I know SSI aint enuff to support this habbit...........



 

[hotwheels]

Pure art.........love it

[miraclepieco]

Well, here's the finished product. Doesn't look much different than yesterday, other than I trimmed the excess off the front of the collector, capped it, and finish-welded everything.  Next comes the exceedingly difficult task of routing cutouts under the body back to the stacks, but I won't bore you guys with the details of that.

$88 home made headers in the rat rod tradition - cheap, home made, unique, ugly.

[Rust T Nuts]

Looks real good, cool you did it your self..


Visit me on Facebook @Rat Rod America

[Greybeards Customs]

I know that you had to crank it up at least one time with the new open headers  , how did it sound ? And by the way they are pretty awesome looking .

[46gmc]

LOOKS SICK, LETS HEAR IT?!

[lowboy]

man those look great hope they sound as good as they look

[zpi28]

Those look great, nice work.

[miraclepieco]

Side Two.

And yes, I will video a test drive with the open headers before I route the new pipes back to the stacks.

[Greybeards Customs]

 I thought you had both sides finished the other day that's why I was asking how it sounded . But anyway glad it's done  , they look great .

[Dustin Arnett]

Sweet!!!


~Dustin

[miraclepieco]

Plumbed my homemade headers into my stacks today.  As typical, I used the simplest solution: 90 off the collector, straight alongside the frame to a piece of flex pipe (to absorb expansion and engine movement), then a curvy piece that mates up to the stacks. Here's the pics:

[hotwheels]

Wow, that turned our really good......Where did you get the pipe shield?

[Greybeards Customs]

Check another project off the winter improvements list . What's next on the scap rod ?

[miraclepieco]

Finally got the Scrap Rod out of the garage for some photos with its new headers. The baffles work great - they attenuate the noise and provide sufficient back pressure to force about half the exhaust through the stacks.  I think that's just right, so I'm going to leave them that way with no caps.  I was in a rush to get this all finished because Friday it gets driven about 60 miles south to be in an indoor car show - representin' RATS!  Sure wish I had a RRN sticker on it - how do I get one of those?