I've read the few posts referring to Fenton headers in a '48 Ford and it seems that no-one has ever done it. There's talk of doing it, but no pictures. When I put them in, I followed the instructions by shimming the front motor mounts to clear the steering box. In this instance, it was 3/8ths of an inch. There's no way those shims could account for where the exhaust comes out in relation to the X members. The original single exhaust ran through all the holes in the right side of the frame all the way back to the rear axle where it made a 180-degree bend over the axle and then ran on out to the rear bumper. To get the passenger's side to fit will require the removal of part of the X member whether running the original routing through the holes in the frame. The driver's side either needs two very tightly radiused 90-degree elbows or needs to drop down under the frame. Has anyone ever used the Fentons on a '48? Passenger's side. I cut out the section in yellow. Passenger's side Driver's side Can't get two 90-degree Ls close enough to get into the frame and line up with the next hole back
Way back in 1959 i put a 283 in my 48 coupe in the auto hobby shop at my A/F base, used the rams horns and connected those to the mufflers with flex pipe, worked good till I got out and back home were I took the car to a pro muffler shop, they did agreat job until it was time to push in the clutch and it hit the pipe stopping it from engaging. Some ugly work with some 90* els around clutch and frame they solved the problem. Iwould be careful cutting frame, cut the wrong place and the strength is compromised, in fact looking at your pics I would say you have some serious problems with rust. Good luck
Cutting your frame will weaken it . Not a good idea. Take car to a pro exhaust shop and have them fabricate what you need.
My 48 tudor had Fenton headers on the flathead before I went with a 302 and 5 speed. I'll see if I have some pictures.
My 302 took some work to get duals to clear on the driver's side with the clutch pedal and such. Not exactly pretty but the car is low enough it isn't seen. What size exhaust are you trying to fit?
I appreciate your comments, but I have the room above the frame on the passenger's side and the capability to bridge that cut once I see where the 2" pipe is going to go. In regard to rust, there is a massive amount of undercoating on that frame. It's a half inch thick in some places. The sections of frame where the undercoating has fallen off have surface rust only. Evidently you have better exhaust shops where you are than around here. I went to three different shops and when they saw the stock, pitted, rusty exhaust manifolds, none of them wanted to touch it. They were afraid of breaking a bolt and trying to get it out. I figured if they were scared of that, I couldn't afford to have them work on my car. Once I get the header pipes located, I'll definitely have someone else bend the back sections of the pipe in order to go over the rear axle. Surely one of those three shops can handle that. As I stated in my answer to @Ralphies54, I have the capability to reinforce the frame over that cut. Somewhere, I have a stack of paper from different Boilermaker and Pipefitter companies saying I'm damn good welder, so that's not a problem. My main concern is if the pipes have to go below the frame, are they going to be too low? The car is at stock ride height with a 1 1/2" rubber rake. After reading the header installation instructions and seeing that these headers are supposed to fit a '48, they are way off the mark. I was hoping that someone had done this particular set-up before.
Is a '47 Sedan Coupe the exact same frame ?, I remember welded verses riveted center but I think that was a '46 to '47. I have original Fentons on my '47 with 1.75" pipe with the stock frame I can take pics this weekend if needed.
Yes it’s the same frame. and at stock hight I would say you could run 1.5” exhaust under the frame take the wheels and tires off the car sit it on the ground and still have pleeeeeeeeenty of room. I’d tuck it under that leg of the X member and put it back up after. Avoids your pedals and clutch and gets you down the road. the next time you see coverage of a big traditional gathering, say trog or the Pasadena roadster run, take a look under about the cowl of nearly every car. 90% of the time you’ll see the exhaust dip down, under the pedals and back up. very very common
I have a 47 Ford Coupe, it has original Fenton headers, offy 375 heads and dual strombergs, absolutely no shimming on mounts required , clears steering box with extra room and runs thru frame using stock holes on passenger side no problem. I will try and upload some pictures if I can get it to work.
Here's all the pics I have on my computer, I can get better ones or more this weekend (car is at my Moms). Most are from the drivers side, since that was the tricky part to get around the pedals and frame. You can see the pass header with the motor out and both pipes thought the frame with the motor out.
@1oldtimer, sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. Thank you very much, those shots of the driver's side are exactly what I was looking for. The passenger side has its own problem, mainly there is only about an inch and a half from the end of the studs to the frame section I cut out.
Glad to help. The shop had to do the drivers front twice, as the clutch pedal hit the pipe the first time. Let me know if you need more.
Thanks again. Now I can go back to the muffler shop I wanted to use and tell him, "See, that's how it's done".
Fenton made starter pipes for the headers. wonder if anyone has any pics of em. I seen a NOS set for a truck recently.
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