Not many of us can say we have Cthulu exhaust, especially that we welded ourselves.
-- A
-- A
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.
'72 K5 - Greg's @MightAsWellK5 Build
- Thread starter Greg72
- Start date
This is the build description. I will improve this later. (GB)
I guess my father gave me the thought that is wasn't, even when I was a kid he always said that sounded like "no hp and junk mufflers". He would say real hp you can hear even if its muffled. So by the time I got to high school and a lot fo my friends had poppy glass packs and thought it was cool to downshift and make it "bark", I thought it sounded like crap. When I was 14 my brothers truck had a 468 that my father and I built together as he taught me(we call that the whore motor now because we've swapped it in 8 or 9 different things over the years....cars, trucks, boats, etc). Anyway, he made an exhaust by hand and put some big 2 3/4" bare pipe and some free flowing mufflers and painted the bare pipes black on the cheap, and it sounded deep and mean and not extremely loud. Every since then thats the way I've been. I like a deep crisp tone without barking and popping, but hiding some ponies.
I saw that too, interesting, I wondered if it would have more of an effect if the primary pipes were almost too small. Then again, if those are regular hooker super comps for a SBC they are probably 1 3/4"? Don't know if they ever said, but 1 3/4" is actually not big at all for that power level.
Yeah...saw that one. Left me feeling conflicted....
On the one hand, it made me feel like primary tube routing and shape is pretty forgiving after all... So the fact that my primary tube lengths are sometimes almost 6" different from each other (worst case) my engine will still start and idle properly.
But is also left me feeling like I spent 100 hours building "eye candy" that won't perform any better than if I'd screwed together a bunch of black pipe and cast iron elbows from Home Depot.
-G
Don't fret too much Greg, although your headers will perform nearly identical to a std set of long tubes, they will greatly outperform manifolds. I think you could lose apporaching 100 hp if you put manifolds on that beast. And no factory long tube headers would fit your front suspension. Yes, a stock old engine might not gain a ton of hp with headers, but once you tweak it a little (or even a factory modern V8 like an LS), long tube headers are a huge improvement. Check out this article, if a relatively mild performance 350 loses 70 hp(and 68 ft-lbs) from manifolds, a healthy >500 inch big block would likely lose more.
http://www.superchevy.com/how-to/49178-headers-power-increase/
Also, I've seen a mild 420 hp 355 lose 40 hp going from shorty headers and a Y pipe to long tube headers with 3" collectors. So you don't want to choke that BB off with shorty headers and a Y pipe to clear your suspension either. The engine sees the total package, and the vehicle, chassis, and exhaust are an important part of the total package. I think you did great with your custom long tube headers.
2016.06.27 - UPDATE! - FLEX TESTS AND A SHORT CEILING...!!!
Since the remaining 30' of stainless tubing for the exhaust is about one week away from being delivered, it made sense to do something else in the meantime.
The idea of messing around with fender arches / shapes seemed like a good one, so I decided to max-out the articulation with the fenders installed and find out where my inferences are with the new wheels (with extra backspacing vs. H2s) and my 107" wheelbase.
I did some quick math (my first mistake) and figured out that if my truck has a 26.5" belly height (static ride height) and I want to allow the suspension to fully droop out to the limits of the ORIs I would need to add roughly 10" to that belly height to be safe. My rear struts are setup with 9" of droop from static ride height and the fronts droop a total of 8"..... seemed logical.
So the first step was getting the truck 3 feet up in the air safely so that I'd be willing to cycle the axles without worrying about being crushed to death. My HF jackstands were too short even at full-extension, so I built some platforms out of old 2x6's and screwed them together. I even cut a fancy 22.5* angle on some trim pieces so that I could "lock" the jackstands down to the pads to prevent them from ever slipping off.
After carefully picking out good locations on the frame that wouldn't interfere with the links as they cycled, the 4 jackstands were placed underneath, and some additional boards were screwed to the perimeter of those bases to keep them from wiggling around, or falling over. Then... a slow process of jacking up the truck and going up 1-click-at-a-time on the jackstands finally had the truck all the way up in the air.
The unfortunate part of this setup and the location of the jasckstands is that since the front of the truck is SO heavy compared to the rear.... the "balance point" of the truck is basically right where the front jackstands are. I can just about teeter-totter the entire truck with one hand..... and THAT doesn't scream OSHA-approved safety standards to me!!!
Fortunately (and unfortunately) at about that same time, the truck was SO high up in the air that the back of the rollcage hit the ceiling joints. This allowed me to use the ceiling to "push down" on the back of the truck so that it was actually resting on all 4 jackstands instead of just 2. But as you will see.... I came up just a little short as a result.
I drooped out the rear wheel on the driver's side to the full 16" dimension and had a couple of inches of daylight underneath. Then I started to lift the passenger side wheel to stuff it into the wheelwell..... unfortunately, as the DS tire started angling, it went lower and lower until it finally hit the floor and started to resist and began side-loading the truck against the jackstands. I threw a couple of rachetstraps on that side to lift it up another inch or two until it was floating in the air again and was able to continue stuffing the passenger side tire.
It all went pretty well, but since there is SOME axle-steer at the extremes of the suspension travel, the axle starting moving back toward the rear bumper and the tire eventually hit my mock-up fender location. (Good thing I decided to do these tests, eh?
) In the interest of progress, that section of fender was removed and the axle was brought ALL THE WAY to the maximum articulation. I liked that the top of the tire actually "tucked in" behind the fenderlip instead of hitting it. The only bummer was that on the droop side of the axle I ended up about 1" short of getting full-droop... so the angle of the axle (and it's relative clearance with the frame /fenders, etc. is not 100% accurate.
BTW: That rear tire has 20" of clearance from the floor!
Parting shot at the end of the night.... played around with the "Panorama" option on my phone and ended up getting a cool fish-eye lens effect!
So, I guess I will probably end up moving the entire truck forward about 12" in the garage to clear the ceiling joists.... or I could just remove the wheel/tire on the drooping side. Kinda wanted to see the whole effect with 4 tires on the truck.... but I guess that might have to wait for another time.
-G
Since the remaining 30' of stainless tubing for the exhaust is about one week away from being delivered, it made sense to do something else in the meantime.
The idea of messing around with fender arches / shapes seemed like a good one, so I decided to max-out the articulation with the fenders installed and find out where my inferences are with the new wheels (with extra backspacing vs. H2s) and my 107" wheelbase.
I did some quick math (my first mistake) and figured out that if my truck has a 26.5" belly height (static ride height) and I want to allow the suspension to fully droop out to the limits of the ORIs I would need to add roughly 10" to that belly height to be safe. My rear struts are setup with 9" of droop from static ride height and the fronts droop a total of 8"..... seemed logical.
So the first step was getting the truck 3 feet up in the air safely so that I'd be willing to cycle the axles without worrying about being crushed to death. My HF jackstands were too short even at full-extension, so I built some platforms out of old 2x6's and screwed them together. I even cut a fancy 22.5* angle on some trim pieces so that I could "lock" the jackstands down to the pads to prevent them from ever slipping off.
After carefully picking out good locations on the frame that wouldn't interfere with the links as they cycled, the 4 jackstands were placed underneath, and some additional boards were screwed to the perimeter of those bases to keep them from wiggling around, or falling over. Then... a slow process of jacking up the truck and going up 1-click-at-a-time on the jackstands finally had the truck all the way up in the air.
The unfortunate part of this setup and the location of the jasckstands is that since the front of the truck is SO heavy compared to the rear.... the "balance point" of the truck is basically right where the front jackstands are. I can just about teeter-totter the entire truck with one hand..... and THAT doesn't scream OSHA-approved safety standards to me!!!
Fortunately (and unfortunately) at about that same time, the truck was SO high up in the air that the back of the rollcage hit the ceiling joints. This allowed me to use the ceiling to "push down" on the back of the truck so that it was actually resting on all 4 jackstands instead of just 2. But as you will see.... I came up just a little short as a result.I drooped out the rear wheel on the driver's side to the full 16" dimension and had a couple of inches of daylight underneath. Then I started to lift the passenger side wheel to stuff it into the wheelwell..... unfortunately, as the DS tire started angling, it went lower and lower until it finally hit the floor and started to resist and began side-loading the truck against the jackstands. I threw a couple of rachetstraps on that side to lift it up another inch or two until it was floating in the air again and was able to continue stuffing the passenger side tire.
It all went pretty well, but since there is SOME axle-steer at the extremes of the suspension travel, the axle starting moving back toward the rear bumper and the tire eventually hit my mock-up fender location. (Good thing I decided to do these tests, eh?
) In the interest of progress, that section of fender was removed and the axle was brought ALL THE WAY to the maximum articulation. I liked that the top of the tire actually "tucked in" behind the fenderlip instead of hitting it. The only bummer was that on the droop side of the axle I ended up about 1" short of getting full-droop... so the angle of the axle (and it's relative clearance with the frame /fenders, etc. is not 100% accurate.BTW: That rear tire has 20" of clearance from the floor!
Parting shot at the end of the night.... played around with the "Panorama" option on my phone and ended up getting a cool fish-eye lens effect!
So, I guess I will probably end up moving the entire truck forward about 12" in the garage to clear the ceiling joists.... or I could just remove the wheel/tire on the drooping side. Kinda wanted to see the whole effect with 4 tires on the truck.... but I guess that might have to wait for another time.
-G
That's some pretty snazzy zebra carpeting in your garage! Your truck is pampered!
That's some pretty snazzy zebra carpeting in your garage! Your truck is pampered!
Living in Arizona, you wouldn't know this.... but when it's -10F outside in the winter, carpeting makes a BIG difference in my willingness to work underneath my truck!
(It's also softer to smash into when falling off a ladder.....allegedly)
-G
Looks good Greg, I agree. just remove the low side tire, its a lot easier.
I do think it looks cool all jacked up though, we need a side by side with the full extension and full compression next to each other.
I do think it looks cool all jacked up though, we need a side by side with the full extension and full compression next to each other.
The panorama option is cool. It makes my garage look a lot bigger! This thing is crazy.
I think the your going to run into all kinds of problem with the 22.5* angle on the trim, should have been 32*
If it was me, I would have to more the truck forward and lift it again just so I can see it to the full effect.
If it was me, I would have to more the truck forward and lift it again just so I can see it to the full effect.
2016.06.29 - UPDATE!!! - ADDING SOME MUCH NEEDED FLAIR (FLARE) TO THE BUILD!!!
A special thanks to Rob MacGregor at No Limits Engineering... he talked me through the process that he used to build the subtle (and tasty!) fender flares on his HellBoy truck.
For those who aren't familiar with it, here's a pic:
The concept is to create a fresh new arch shape (larger than stock)....attach it to the existing bedsides below the lower beltline. Then let it come out away from the truck at the top of the arch to form a subtle flare. This is subsequently filled-in with a second curved patch panel that sweeps around the curve at a gentle angle and connects back to the original bedsides. After getting an explanation of some of the finer points of the process, I dug in and gave it a shot.
Cut a 44" arch out of some black, 1/8" foam core board...
Then secured it to the truck at the lower body line... Turns out Gorilla Tape is almost a perfect color match for my black primer bedsides!!!
The trick seems to be that you have to land the arch perfectly at the transition-points where the fender arch normally turns and becomes a horizontal "style line" across the panel...otherwise you will never be able to blend the new with the old. I needed to shift my rear sheetmetal back about 1" from yesterday to make everything line up correctly.
At the end of the night I quickly threw some tape on the arch to connect it to the bedside to simulate how the flare would look. It's a bit "off" visually because I was rushing... but if you squint a little and bring the top of the green tape curve down maybe 1/4".... the shape gets a little rounder and the effect should be REALLY nice!!!
The result is about a 2" flare that looks a lot more "muscular" than the factory arch... and I think is more in keeping with the larger tires and overall stance of the truck. It would have been nice to push the flare out even further (3" or more) but I am afraid that the look will end up being too obvious and noticeable as an "add on" to the truck.
-G
A special thanks to Rob MacGregor at No Limits Engineering... he talked me through the process that he used to build the subtle (and tasty!) fender flares on his HellBoy truck.
For those who aren't familiar with it, here's a pic:
The concept is to create a fresh new arch shape (larger than stock)....attach it to the existing bedsides below the lower beltline. Then let it come out away from the truck at the top of the arch to form a subtle flare. This is subsequently filled-in with a second curved patch panel that sweeps around the curve at a gentle angle and connects back to the original bedsides. After getting an explanation of some of the finer points of the process, I dug in and gave it a shot.
Cut a 44" arch out of some black, 1/8" foam core board...
Then secured it to the truck at the lower body line... Turns out Gorilla Tape is almost a perfect color match for my black primer bedsides!!!
The trick seems to be that you have to land the arch perfectly at the transition-points where the fender arch normally turns and becomes a horizontal "style line" across the panel...otherwise you will never be able to blend the new with the old. I needed to shift my rear sheetmetal back about 1" from yesterday to make everything line up correctly.
At the end of the night I quickly threw some tape on the arch to connect it to the bedside to simulate how the flare would look. It's a bit "off" visually because I was rushing... but if you squint a little and bring the top of the green tape curve down maybe 1/4".... the shape gets a little rounder and the effect should be REALLY nice!!!
The result is about a 2" flare that looks a lot more "muscular" than the factory arch... and I think is more in keeping with the larger tires and overall stance of the truck. It would have been nice to push the flare out even further (3" or more) but I am afraid that the look will end up being too obvious and noticeable as an "add on" to the truck.
-G
agreed. Less is more in this case. Too much flair would certainly ruin the "stock" look you are going for.
Finally a bucket pic I can replicate!!!!
Does your locality have any issues w/ the tires being exposed?
Only the jerks....
I doubt that I'd have any issues with less than 1" of tire standing proud of the new fender flares as far as State Inspection is concerned.... but that doesn't mean that the cops won't pull me over for no mudflaps or whatever.
-G
Definately no longer stock, you need to sell the rig quick now.
You're probably right..... I'll start my Craigslist ad today.
"95% complete, just needs paint"
"Very rare factory optioned truck"
"Will trade for ATV, or Musclecar or Pokémon cards"
Stuff like that....
-G
I think I have 50$ sitting around. Need you to deliver though! 
In for the wheels and alternator bracket if you decide to split it up.
