labrat Posted March 16, 2004 Share Posted March 16, 2004 Well, I'm trying to ditch my old restrictive ram's horn manifolds and replace them with headers. This is a 350 in a 280ZX (no setback plates) with the recirculating ball power steering. Center exhaust ports to power steering gearbox on driver's side has only about 2 inches clearance. I'm having a heck of a time running my 1 5/8" mandrel bent tubing to even fab up a set of headers, much less buy some that will fit. And my $79 wal-mart campbell hausfeld stick welder is doing a great job! If it's job is to burn holes in $20 sections of mandrel bent pipe! Sorry about the rant, just had to get it off my chest. 4 hours of work and I have 1 section of pipe tacked to the flange. At leat I found a buddy who would mig them up after I tack em together. And only for a case of beer! Oh well, back to work! Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
80LS1T Posted May 5, 2004 Share Posted May 5, 2004 Hey dont give up! For starters you need a MIG welder! I tried to do what you are trying to do with a sticke welder......ah no not possible! All I did was burn through too. After I spent about $700 on a MIG welder set up I could weld perfect on those thin pipes. Plus now I have a nice MIG welder Take a look at the pics on my site and you can see how I did mine. Yeah My headers dont flow evenly but with a nice H-pipe up as close to the collectors as possible, the engine will never notice the different lengths in the pipes! Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zxgts-4 Posted May 5, 2004 Share Posted May 5, 2004 Hey guys Do your US 82-83 280ZXs run power Rack and pinion because the box is beside the rail not above it like the drag-link type. This should provide more clearance if the steering shaft angle doesn't get in the way. Neil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 570Z Posted June 3, 2004 Share Posted June 3, 2004 Don't worry about it man, you'll get it. We built my entire 2.25" dual exhaust with a Sawzall and a mig welder, just hope you don't have to deal with that look at the bright side, thats just that much more horsepower you were able to pull out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dot Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 It was possible to do mine with a stick welder. I used stainless pipe and rod. It is still a pain though. I had the odd hole as well. A MIG would have been better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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