seems like i recall a thread long ago about someone building a set of headers using cast iron exhaust manifolds on their flathead V8. has anyone done this? are there any drawings or plans? any ideas or comments? thanks.
Did they cast their own? Or cut/paste/weld /whatever together? What's the advantage to a cast header?
i don't recall that they cast theirs, it seems that they modified stock ex. manifolds and welded them up to fit their setup. as far as advantage goes my only knowledge is i have run fentons on my flathead and they sound so much better than tube headers.
I am kind of curious on your choice of words here as well. "Building" with cast iron? Not using any tubes? I wonder what you would use as raw material to fabricate these? Cast iron is not the easiest material to weld I'm told.
Could he have used schedule 80 pieces from the Hardware/plumbing supply? Don't they repop Fenton headers for a Flathead?
i have a friend that welds cast all the time and does a great job, it isn't all that unusual. i had a set of fentons on my 41 Ford and really liked them much more than a set of tube headers i had on my 52 F1 years ago which sounded kind of metallic/tinny. as to my choice of words using building i might have used fabricating i guess, not to worried about getting scored on my english i guess. my friend just got through splitting the manifod on his 47 chevy truck for duals and it sounds great. he is considering splitting the exhaust on my 53 pontiac straight 8 motor so i can run duals on it. he told me to look for another manifold to use for this. i don't know that he would use tubes and have never heard of schedule 80 hardware/plumbing pieces but will check it out. thanks for your comments but i was hoping to hear from someone that actually built/fabricated an exhaust setup on a flatty.
I think what the question is, "Building implies that you are fabricating a set of headers from scratch. Most of the time when stock iron exhaust manifolds are used the person is "Splitting" the manifold. Making it duals. Not building headers" It's a little hard to understand what it is your asking/planning because of the way you asked. Are you building headers or splitting your exhaust manifold? Couple of pictures of headers
I still don't understand the advantages of using the cast iron manifold instead of making headers? An appearance thing to give it an era look? I'm a certified welder, who works with metal for a living. I've never tried to weld cast, but I know some pretty damn talented welders that will say that yeah, you can do it, but the results are not perfect every time. Take a good look at this site: http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/welding-cast-iron.html That guy really knows his stuff. Mathius
wow. guess i'll just drop it, my original question seemed simple enough until semantics took over. thanks for the comments.
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