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Blue Jeep build

Think of it this way. A hose clamp is 1/2" wide. When you wrap it around a tube bend, only the exact center of the hose clamp is perpendicular to the tube. Both sides of the hose clamp are not perpendicular to the tube where they are positioned. On the inboard (tight) side of the bend, the side of the hose clamp is 1/4" from the center. But it's also 1/4" from the center on the outboard(wide) side. The outboard side has a larger radius. So a 1/4" step on the inboard side requires a larger step on the outboard side to keep the line perpendicular to the CLR.


The larger the CLR of the tube is, the less this will screw you up. Unfortunately, almost everything I'm dealing with is on a 2"CLR.


Here's a picture to show what I'm talking about with the hose clamp. Probably makes more sense than my jabbering.:flipoff2: The red part is the hose clamp.

Hose clamp.jpg
 
Thanks. I thought about it bit and figured that was the issue, just sucks when you have it all figured out and it doesn't work like your well thought out plan!! But hey that's the name of the game when you build stuff.
 
Slooooowly coming together. Tedious and frustrating for sure, but I'm still happy, so I may survive.

So far cyls 1&5 tubes all tacked together. Their not tacked to the flange stubs and just slid into the collector. When I get the other two cyls made up, I'll do a test fit on the engine and cycle the suspension before moving on.

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Just wanted to say I dropped in this thread after seeing the header pics.

Great job gt1guy ! Props for getting it done !
 
Bebop said:
Just wanted to say I dropped in this thread after seeing the header pics.

Great job gt1guy ! Props for getting it done !
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Thank you Sir. It's certainly a pain in the ass and frustratingly slow. But, I've never done this before, so it's also fun and I'm learning something new.


csutton7 said:
What's the rental fee on the header building blocks? Asking for a friend:grinpimp::grinpimp:.
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Once I have a set of finished headers that I know 100% will work, I can send everything to you. Shipping wouldn't be much, this stuff weighs nothing.👍
 
That'd be cool, but let's cross that bridge once I have an actual motor in to see what I'm up against, but more importantly your headers look like they're coming along nicely.
 
rattle_snake said:
Quite the project.... but also just some tubes and a lil welding. :laughing:
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I keep telling myself that. Then I think how easy it would be to bolt a set of manifolds on it.

And I cry:flipoff2:


Wisconsinite said:
You're killin it. I can't wait to see the finished product.
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Thank you Sir. Neither can I. That would mean it's time to thrash it and smash it up.

We have a dumb hobby and I think we're all partially retarded.


Got it off the jig. Flange still flat and the collectors just slid right off. Kinda made me nervous like there has to be a fuck up hiding.

2022-06-09 17.46.33.jpg
 
Two more tubes to tack together and it will be time to test fit the passenger side.

Walked out of the shop early today. I was putting on a clinic in blowing holes.:mad3:


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And this.:eek: Fuck me running.



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Passenger side fits good. I was amazed they could be dropped in from the top. Just had to remove the dipstick tube. Driver side header can only go in up from underneath when the suspension is extended all the way.


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Then it was time to cycle the suspension. Good news on that front, everything clears.

When I jacked the axle up in 2 wheel bump all the way until the nylon bump pads would be smashed, one of the passenger side collectors just kisses the upper link.


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I think I'll be fine with that since the axle will never actually get that high. That's like lawn dart from 10' of air territory with things starting to bend, the headers will be the least of my worries at that point. With everything bottomed out in normal fashion there's about .25" clearance.

Driver side has zero issues in full bump.
 
Exhaust looking tits!! What amperage are you running on your machine?
 
I've been thinking about how I was blowing more holes towards the end of all the tacking tube together.

I think I've figured it out. It wasn't until Simple'72CJ asked what amps I was running, that it sunk in. Cause I've never changed the amps since I started.

After I make the cuts on the band saw, I knock down the rough edge on the outside with a 120grit flap wheel. It seems I was getting a little heavy handed doing that towards the end.

What I was doing was creating a little bevel on the ends of the tube, which made the tube thinner at the point where they touch together.

You can see in the picture of my mess that I posted earlier. Those tubes are touching, there is zero gap between them. But because of my heavy handed clean up on the outside edge, it looks like a groove weld.


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So I basically fucked myself. 60 amps was perfect for full thickness, not so much for me being stupid:shaking:
 
I had a feeling the "bevel" was making your life difficult. I did this exhaust all out of .065" and probably used maybe 6" of filler on the entire thing (Not including v-band flanges). I had about 40 hours into fit up and tacking and I remember trying to rush a few joints and totally blowing them out. Just like you, I ran 60-65 amps and they pretty much needed to be air tight or I was fighting a wandering arc and cussing non stop.

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I don't need to tell you anything you have already figured out but the 120 flap definitely set you up to make your life harder later, I think a surface prep pad on a 3" pneumatic or even a 150ish grit on DA and a deburring tool on the inside would have served you (or anyone else looking to build headers in the future) much better. Other than that, the headers came out killer and the fixture work before hand was impressive. One thing that may help with tacking, and I may just be telling you something else you already know or are already trying, but doing a burst tac and doing it on top of the filler rod should help get those tacked up. Can't tell for sure but it looks like you're probably trying to add amps, wait for the shine, and then add filler before it parts like the red seas (a traditional tac). I didn't see what material thickness is but if you increase the amperage to say 150% of material thickness (90-100 amps?) and then lay wire longitudinally with the joint and then tac on top with a quick pedal stomp and release (a burst) it may work out better. Also may be helpful to hold the torch at a slight angle and try to wash a bit of the parent material into the tac where it is thicker and not sanded away. Hopefully that's somewhat helpful, I know how frustrating it can be to pour so much into a certain part and then have it fight you at the very end. Alternatively, just send them to SimpleCJ to finish, that shit is beautiful.
 
Simple'72CJ said:
I had a feeling the "bevel" was making your life difficult. I did this exhaust all out of .065" and probably used maybe 6" of filler on the entire thing (Not including v-band flanges). I had about 40 hours into fit up and tacking and I remember trying to rush a few joints and totally blowing them out. Just like you, I ran 60-65 amps and they pretty much needed to be air tight or I was fighting a wandering arc and cussing non stop.

IMG_20190321_150303103.jpg


IMG_20190321_145805817.jpg
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Now that I have a pile of all straight legs of the bends to practice on, I'll give the no filler a try. Though, air tight isn't a term I'd use to describe the quality of my fitting. I assumed you'd want to add "some' filler just to ensure you're not leaving the joint thinner than the parent metal.

pardyam said:
I don't need to tell you anything you have already figured out but the 120 flap definitely set you up to make your life harder later, I think a surface prep pad on a 3" pneumatic or even a 150ish grit on DA and a deburring tool on the inside would have served you (or anyone else looking to build headers in the future) much better. Other than that, the headers came out killer and the fixture work before hand was impressive. One thing that may help with tacking, and I may just be telling you something else you already know or are already trying, but doing a burst tac and doing it on top of the filler rod should help get those tacked up. Can't tell for sure but it looks like you're probably trying to add amps, wait for the shine, and then add filler before it parts like the red seas (a traditional tac). I didn't see what material thickness is but if you increase the amperage to say 150% of material thickness (90-100 amps?) and then lay wire longitudinally with the joint and then tac on top with a quick pedal stomp and release (a burst) it may work out better. Also may be helpful to hold the torch at a slight angle and try to wash a bit of the parent material into the tac where it is thicker and not sanded away. Hopefully that's somewhat helpful, I know how frustrating it can be to pour so much into a certain part and then have it fight you at the very end. Alternatively, just send them to SimpleCJ to finish, that shit is beautiful.
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Ya, I'm kicking myself for getting stupid with the flap wheel. I didn't really have any problem with the driver side, but I was paranoid about putting a bevel on the edge. I just slowly got lazy.

All my tacks are done stomping on the peddle. Guess it's a hold over from doing alum.

I like the idea of tacking on top of the filler. Going to try that. Thanks.
 
I would agree with the addition of filler to preserve the thickness of material, but I've done a few exhausts now with strictly a fusion technique with no issues so far at least lol I've never built a set of headers so I cant pretend I know, but the higher temps seen there may or may not create a issue with the fusion route. Definitely excited to see your exhaust take shape! 🤘
 
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