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'72 K5 - Greg's @MightAsWellK5 Build
- Thread starter Greg72
- Start date
This is the build description. I will improve this later. (GB)
I blame the lag in this thread, and the idiotic 15 seconds between posting. Thanks for noticing, and giving me another reason to send everyone emails. 
Thanks for noticing, and giving me another reason to send everyone emails.
No problem. I'm here to help out where I can.
I like it better when it's one notice til you check in again. I just had 50 some odd emails.
chulisohombre
1/2 ton status
I want to see the progress here from Greg. Just not a reply to Every post. If that's the only way I guess ITurn notifications off. No more email problems.
Live with it for now.
The inmates were running the asylum yesterday afternoon.....
Tomorrow is a garage day, with any luck I should be able to finalize the DS header design and get a few new photos for everyone to criticize!
-G
No shenanigans today...promise. 
2015.10.27 - UPDATE! - UH-OH!! I JUST RAN OUT OF TUBE!!!
It finally happened. Even with almost $1000-worth of tubing (including 16 U-Bends!) I came up short on material to get this header project finished.
Guess that's what happens when every primary tube takes "the long way" to the collector!!!
Here's the progress on the driver's side, while I still had material left.
On the bench with the first 3 primaries roughed-in. Cylinder #7 is still notably absent!!
From the back side... here you can see how I was trying to keep sparkplug access to the #5 cylinder as clear as possible, but there just isn't much room anymore.
Generally when I'm building headers, I try to get a feel for the routing of the tubes, and then tack-weld at least the first few segments in place on the exhaust flange to create a starting point. Otherwise, there are SO many taped joints that the whole thing just flops around and you don't get a realistic feel for the clearances or dimensions anyway.
Here is where I put those partially welded tubes back on the truck and did a lot of work to get the #7 figured out since I hadn't even done a mock-up of that one previously. As it turns out, not only did I find room for it but it ended up being over 34" long!!!! Pretty close to "perfect" and impressive considering how close it is (in absolute distance) to the collector.
So....with LOTS of 3M Green Tape and sample bends I finally got all 4 primaries in place in a believable way...
From that template, there are some small tweaks that I will do in the final design. I want to clean up some of the angles as the 4 primaries come into the collector so that the whole thing looks a little "cleaner" and more tight, but generally I can see that the routing works.... the individual lengths are all within very close tolerances of the 36" target values and the whole thing sits high enough that the tire sidewall won't rub against it under extreme articulation!
It was time to disassemble the primaries and start building it FOR REAL... I like to start on the two rear tubes first (the ones closest to the framerail) since they are the hardest ones to reach later on, and ultimately they establish the clearances from the frame that I need to work with anyway. Here's how #1 and #7 went in (I put the steering shaft in there quite a few times to confirm clearances)
Once those were fully tack welded, I dropped #3 & #5 back into the mix for a sanity check:
... but that's right about the time when I realized that there weren't enough U-Bends left to finish up the last bits of this header. So I called up Cone Engineering and had them send me another 4 bends.... hopefully they will arrive by Saturday, and I can keep this project moving along.
-G
It finally happened. Even with almost $1000-worth of tubing (including 16 U-Bends!) I came up short on material to get this header project finished.
Guess that's what happens when every primary tube takes "the long way" to the collector!!!
Here's the progress on the driver's side, while I still had material left.
On the bench with the first 3 primaries roughed-in. Cylinder #7 is still notably absent!!
From the back side... here you can see how I was trying to keep sparkplug access to the #5 cylinder as clear as possible, but there just isn't much room anymore.
Generally when I'm building headers, I try to get a feel for the routing of the tubes, and then tack-weld at least the first few segments in place on the exhaust flange to create a starting point. Otherwise, there are SO many taped joints that the whole thing just flops around and you don't get a realistic feel for the clearances or dimensions anyway.
Here is where I put those partially welded tubes back on the truck and did a lot of work to get the #7 figured out since I hadn't even done a mock-up of that one previously. As it turns out, not only did I find room for it but it ended up being over 34" long!!!! Pretty close to "perfect" and impressive considering how close it is (in absolute distance) to the collector.
So....with LOTS of 3M Green Tape and sample bends I finally got all 4 primaries in place in a believable way...
From that template, there are some small tweaks that I will do in the final design. I want to clean up some of the angles as the 4 primaries come into the collector so that the whole thing looks a little "cleaner" and more tight, but generally I can see that the routing works.... the individual lengths are all within very close tolerances of the 36" target values and the whole thing sits high enough that the tire sidewall won't rub against it under extreme articulation!
It was time to disassemble the primaries and start building it FOR REAL... I like to start on the two rear tubes first (the ones closest to the framerail) since they are the hardest ones to reach later on, and ultimately they establish the clearances from the frame that I need to work with anyway. Here's how #1 and #7 went in (I put the steering shaft in there quite a few times to confirm clearances)
Once those were fully tack welded, I dropped #3 & #5 back into the mix for a sanity check:
... but that's right about the time when I realized that there weren't enough U-Bends left to finish up the last bits of this header. So I called up Cone Engineering and had them send me another 4 bends.... hopefully they will arrive by Saturday, and I can keep this project moving along.
-G
Looks trick.
At least you know why you ran out of tube...
At least you know why you ran out of tube...
chulisohombre
1/2 ton status
The spider exhaust is together. Definitely a artistic piece as well.
Looks good Greg.
Looks good Greg.
You know....... this project started back in mid-July and was really only to support my initiative to get the 502BBC running.
It's been SO long, I almost forgot that part!!!!
-G
It's not spider exhaust dammit. It's "the kraken"
- Joined
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Medusa headers.
nead a turban and a flute....
Snake charmer!
Snake charmer!
Bigblue7-2
1/2 ton status
Looks awesome! Lots of trial and error to get this all to work. You are definitely a good motivator to not rush things... do it right do it once. Kind of my motto right now.
Kind of my motto right now.
