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Tri-Y header fab. The really hard way.


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So, in my E36 suspension swap thread I touched upon how my motor made 370 at the wheels. Significantly lower than I was expecting. This was through ebay block hugger headers and a poorly executed (me) dual 2.5" exhaust. 

 

Then I got bored around christmas and bought a summer 1-3/4 header build kit, some V-bands and bought a copy of PipeMax software. 

 

Here are the subsequent advancements in my Z exhaust. 

 

Disappointing dyno

 

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pjhptq by peej410, on Flickr

 

Motor. ooo shiny. 

 

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Swageing(SP?) tubes before

 

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After

 

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Many

 

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DIRTY FRAME RAILS MAKE ME ANGRY

 

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MMMMM interfacing

 

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Untitled by peej410, on Flickr

 

I have since welded a ground lug to the body... 

 

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Untitled by peej410, on Flickr

 

ugggles

 

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Untitled by peej410, on Flickr

 

 

Megaphones?

 

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Untitled by peej410, on Flickr

 

 

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Untitled by peej410, on Flickr

 

 

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Untitled by peej410, on Flickr

 

 

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Untitled by peej410, on Flickr

 

 

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Untitled by peej410, on Flickr

 

 

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Untitled by peej410, on Flickr

 

 

Embarrassingly enough, I mixed up the center two primaries, (which is what I get for working on it 2hrs at time) and am fixing it tonight)
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Untitled by peej410, on Flickr

 

And I want to change the 3rd primary in this photo so its not as sharp. Its very hard to build them in the car but no choice really. 

 

8738748172_0b8f370b0c.jpg
Untitled by peej410, on Flickr

 

Close up of the secondary collector and megaphone. Some day Ill fix the transition from the secondaries into the collector choke but for now they remain as is. 

 

8738753906_bd3c8db01e.jpg
Untitled by peej410, on Flickr

 

Shot of my fugly floors 

 

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Untitled by peej410, on Flickr

 

The X pipe fits nicely right in front of the diff. its location is not yet fixed. The idea is to make the exhaust behind it parallel so I can slide the X pipe fore and aft to fine tune the position. 

 

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Untitled by peej410, on Flickr

 

Finally out of the car for modifications and final weld. 

 

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Untitled by peej410, on Flickr

 

 

I made the center section near parallel so that If i need extra muffles I can put two offset 3" mufflers in the middle underneath the driver and passenger. 
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Untitled by peej410, on Flickr

 

Money shot

 

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Untitled by peej410, on Flickr

 

Mounting will be with these powerflex jobbers 

http://powerflexusa.com/exhaustmountsexhaustmountsuniversalexhaustmount-exh001.aspx

 

Mufflers I haven't 100% decided on yet 

 

This is what you can do with a strong background in fabrication, a new sawzall, good blades, a vise and some various hand held air tools. 

 

Criticisms welcome!

 

 

 

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I love it. Awesome job. Making my headers in on my bucket list. I'm learning to tig weld currently and it's fun. When I feel like I'm proficient enough I'll tackle something like you're doing. I can't wait to see yours all welded up.

 

Rob

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There are certain tricks that worked nice. I cut slots into hose clamps through the ribs to position and reposition tubes and be able to tack weld the center through the clamps (start with wide clamps!) Make sure you are well grounded and your tungsten is sharp though. The ark likes to jump to the clamp because of its sharp edge. 

 

The other is marking tubes so they are cut square and plumb. I used a combination of painters tape. the clamps and actually found that you can slide a roll of painters tape right over 3" tube allowing you to give a nice round marking line to cut on. 

 

I hope to have it making noise by next weekend!

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Fathers day update! I lost my pops a few years ago and last night had an odd energy push into the late hours of the night. This was the result

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-QlYpB2D6HQ

Thanks for the nudge pops!

 

I am trying to figure out where to put the mufflers. I may have them come out of each rear quarter like most setups but getting between the tires and the fuel cell will be difficult. I could just dump them in the center and put the mufflers under the tank but it would defeat the whole diffuser plan. Any input?

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Input: for my system I have a 2-1 system to a turbo muffler in stock location with improved hangars. I chose my mufflers based on the limited space available and it is fine (not too loud) for the street. I assumed this would be fine for racing too. But, I'm finding more road courses, drag strips and autocross clubs are using sound meters T trackside. They disqualify you and send you home if you are too loud. If I could redo my exhaust I would have a v-band clamp at the end if the stinger where I could clamp on another super quiet muffler for those tracks. Maybe sling it crosswise under the bumper? With the V8 we have plenty power to weight to sacrifice power in order to gain the privilege of driving on these noise-sensitive tracks. I'm traction limited (and sound limited) but not power limited.

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Well in my car (heavily cut up) if the two mufflers dont cut it, i plan to hog out either floor under driver and passenger respectively to allow for two more mufflers before the X pipe. The problem so far is that the mufflers that are available ruin my total tuned length goal. I need mufflers that the exhaust reacts to like it would straight tube, not an expansion chamber like most good sound attenuating mufflers offer. I really want to cut the floors anyways, but the season is nearing the half way mark and I really would like some track time!

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I have looked at it for sure. Trouble is, I dont know if it would be positive or negative results.

 

This is a good article to read prior to messing with your exhaust systems.

http://www.popularhotrodding.com/enginemasters/articles/hardcore/0505em_exh/viewall.html

 

That and a copy of Pipemax software is all I needed to design the system. In a few weeks we will get on the dyno!

Edited by peej410
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I have looked at it for sure. Trouble is, I dont know if it would be positive or negative results.

 

This is a good article to read prior to messing with your exhaust systems.

http://www.popularhotrodding.com/enginemasters/articles/hardcore/0505em_exh/viewall.html

 

That and a copy of Pipemax software is all I needed to design the system. In a few weeks we will get on the dyno!

I had to bookmark that article, way too much info for me to digest in one sitting!

Thanks!

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8948716429_baf0673509.jpg
Untitled by peej410, on Flickr
 
 Tig welding the aluminized header kit just plain sucks. Even grinding it clean inside and out it wont weld clean. 
 
 

 

 

Not sure if it would have helped but you might have tried either purging the inside or painting it with Solar Flux. I know it works good on stainless but not sure about mild steel.

 

http://www.solarflux.com/Pages/Productinfo.html

 

with this thin of a weld you are penetrating to the back side and you don't have shielding there, so that may affect the weld.

Edited by Chris Duncan
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Chris,

 

The welds on the insides are nice and flat the primaries are 16ga so I wasnt burning through often. I also used .40 filler rod so I wouldnt need too much heat. In the puddle though, you could see contamination (which Immediately thought to back-purge) once it cooled it was obvious it was dissimilar metals you could see a mix of aluminum speckles and mild steel. I tried a lot of options aside from grinding deep into the material there wasnt anything I could do that wasnt going to take minutes per weld joint.

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