Back in 2002, I was hustling to get my car to billetproof out in livermore. Dad and I hacked up a stock hudson exhaust system and stuck it on my car with some "Blue Streak" gl***packs. All attached to the stock desoto flanges. It sounded OK and worked to get us to the show, but ****ed otherwise. This summer I finally got tired of the headaches from the resonance and the scratchy throat from the exhaust coming in the car(the exhaust ended right under the back seat). I haked that old setup off and built myself a new system. I bought three 2" tight-radius mandrel bends and started to cut, grind and weld. I planned on having two 2" sections from each bank feeding into a 2.5" pipe all the way to the back. I also bought a 12"x12" piece of 3/8" mild steel to build a new flange, since one of them was warped badly from a bad exhaust leak and the goofy spacer we made to get the old exhaust to fit right. Midway through the new exhaust setup I realized that I would need to bend up some new transmission cooler lines. That set me back a little bit, but I think the new lines came out OK. I had to to do some crazy bends towards the front of the car to get the new lines though the core support. I think it turned out "ok" for my mediocre fabrication skills. I did get to practice more on the TIG and got a little better at that. From working on this project I realized that bandsaw would help a ton, but the good old hacksaw worked just fine and gave me some excecise at the same time. All told it took me about 3 weeks to finish, working on it evenings after work and some tiome on the weekends. Let me know what you think. Pics:
looks good from here! i'll hafta get you to help me out when i install the new engine in Jake's car...
*****in exhaust man! only one thing kinda gives me a "pucker factor" and thats your "kustom radiator hose retainer" you might want to think about putting a steel or aluminum sleeve over the hose so that the ziptie wont abraid the hose itself, AND, use a length of steel or aluminum strapping to attach it to the inner fender as well. i'd hate to see that come loose and get chewed up in the fan or get hacked through from rubbin on the ties. JM2CW. kewl post BIG time
Yorgi - No problem HudRodz - No kidding, things are really tight in there. RATBOY - Thanks, it should sound ok. I have to decide on a muffler as of yet, but will probably be using a old "turbo" style muffler that my dad has laying around. FiddyFour - When I got back from paso, the hose had been abraded by the fan. Not cool at all. I replaced the lower hose and clocked it out of the way a little more. Great idea on the sleeve. I'll move the hose apart and stick the zip-tie around the metal sleeve that is already inside the hose. It connects the 2 sections together. Thanks a bunch guys!
Dude, you've got more patience than I do. Looks like alot of work that will pay off. Nice job on the welds, also. Shouldn't leak a bit.
It sure does make things tight. You kind of have to get creative in there. When the car was up i the air I checked the wheel bearings and they felt loose. So I repacked the bearings and put it back together and snugged her up. Well... my kingpins are worn out. At least I have some new grease in there.
Nice Work! I've yet to figure out the exhaust on mine. I was hoping to go full duals, but it's not worth cutting up the unibody to get them, so I had been thinking along the lines of how you did it. That center-point steering looks like a ***** to work arround! Are you going to run a muff with dual outs and put two tail pipes on it? How is the ride/drive/steering in your Hud with the stock suspension and big engine? I have only gone about 5 blocks at the end of a 10-foot rope in mine.
Really nice work, I hope I do mine as well. I think those radiator retension straps come in black also
Moredoor - Thank you! I think you might be able to fit two 2" pipes under there, where the factory cutouts are for the exhaust in the unibody. I didn't check to see, but it might just have enough room. With my transmission setup I did not have the room to run two pipes, but I bet it would sound really good. I'm most likely going to run a muff with single in and out, but we do have two harley fishtail pipes laying around that I could hack up. That might look good. I'll see. As far as the steering goes, yes it was a ***** to work around but I had the right selection of bends to make it work OK. The suspension ****s *** right now, it floats badly due to the weight of the hemi up front. I need stiffer shocks and springs that are of equal rate and height. From the factory the p***enger spring is taller than the driver's side, due to the offset engine to get the crankshaft centerline right down the middle of the car. The stock six and eight have all of their weight on the p***enger side of the car due to the valvetrain on that side of the car. I think that with proper springs for the weight, stronger brakes and a larger sway bar, the car could handle allright. Scott - Thank you! Yeah they do come in black. We only had the white ones laying around at the time. I might go to a smaller fan to get it out of the way of the hose.
The Jalopy Journal
