Well....here goes all or nuthin.

[Pete]

Well after a lot of adjusting my cad model I just could not make the primary tubes mandrel bender friendly so I am back to welding segments. Having the cad model still makes it easier to see what I need to do. I decided to take the plunge with the icengineworks mockup kit. I needed to add extra straight lengths so I improvised with pvc glued to the ABS pieces. It's coming along.

 

[Pete]

and the another pic..

 

[Woody]

Good work Pete
Those headers do look tight but very cool. It will be a good feeling to stand back and look at them finished:thumbsup:
How did you get on with fitting your rack. What make did you end up going with.
Woody

 

[Pete]

Thanks to your dimensions Woody (thanks again to you and Bill) I was able to zero in on the key adjustments needed to make it work. The tube dia. for my primaries will be 1 7/8. The pipes are tight right out from the heads but after that it gets easier. Hopefully I'll have both sides mocked up by the end of the weekend. This is the easy part. the fit up of the metal is going to to be tedious.

Pete

 

[Bill Musarra]

Be careful about the first turn of the pipes. I had one hell of a time getting to the nuts to tighten them. I Had to grind down some of the studs and beat the header pipe a bit to get a wrench on them. They were all 8 point arp units. Very little room between header and nut.. Hardest ones were the no. 2 & 3 cylinder on both banks on the inside of the radius.

Bill

 

[Pete]

Good point Bill. Still working out the routing. These pics are the first stab. Fortunately I don't have to contend with spark plugs between the ports.

 

[Pete]

passenger side is mocked up. A little tweeking and it looks better. Plus all the bolts are clear.

 

[Dalton Veitch]

I like your approach, Pete

 

[Pete]

Thanks Dalton, too bad this isn't the end of it.

 

[Pete]

there......the driver's side is done! All I have to do is sprinkle 6.4 oz precisely of water and the ABS will instantly turn into stainless.:stunned: One can dream can't one??

 

[40 Bud]

When faced with wrench clearance problems on hex head and 12 point cap screws, consider using allen socket heads. With a ball end hex wrench you can get into some pretty tight places.

 

[Bill Musarra]

Bud,
I'll second that thought. The cap screws in particular on the exhaust are a B***ch to get to when you have all the bends and twist right at the exhaust take off. I have 2 that I had to grind down the stud and the wrench head just to get them on and then had to knock the header tubing in to get the collar of the cap screw to tighten down. Just not much room to work with. Will add that to my to-do list when I get around to a big tear down.

Bill

 

[Seymour Snerd]

Bud,
I'll second that thought. The cap screws in particular on the exhaust are a B***ch to get to when you have all the bends and twist right at the exhaust take off. I have 2 that I had to grind down the stud and the wrench head just to get them on and then had to knock the header tubing in to get the collar of the cap screw to tighten down. Just not much room to work with. Will add that to my to-do list when I get around to a big tear down.

Bill

On an FE, at least, this is all a good reason to use hex-head fasteners on the bottom (either screws, or nuts on studs), since you can easily reach in with an open end wrench, but not a socket or box end. 12-pt fasteners look cool, but I don't think they're worth it here since you can't really see the lower fasteners anyway. On the FE headers there isn't a problem with the diameter of a hex head. Don't know about SB or Windsor though.

 

[Pete]

Is there anything on a GT40 that's easy to get to.....I think not. So we do the best we can.:sweatdrop:

 

[Pete]

so I woke up from my nap and threw this together.....only 6 more to go. The collectors I bought from SPD. the pipes pointing towards the back are my engine cooling mock ups.

 

[TimB]

Nice work Pete. Curious what you have in mind with the engine cooling piping. I have done that cooling mod on a couple modulars but always routed it back to the waterpump pipe running in the valley of the motor. Are you going to run a separate rad in the rear?

 

[Pete]

Hey Tim

Thanks,
I'll be running the coolant out the back of the heads as seen here and joining the two pipes back together, then run it back up front to the radiator. Of course I'll need to put a vent at the highest part of the manifold water port for venting. This coolant routing will allow for better flow through and a less crowded front of the engine at the bulkhead.

 

[TimB]

Great idea Pete

 

[Pete]

A little more progress......

 

[Woody]

Hi Pete
Its been a long road but your nearly there and doing a good job keep it up:thumbsup:.
Did you find the ICEngineworks kit usefull in the end, I was thinking of using it myself. It looks like it takes a lot of guess work out of a tricky job? But Ive never used one before.
Cheers
Woody