Another frikken Volvo ?

[NONHOG]

Had a moment of clarity.
Was overthinking the head pipes. My goal was not to have to lift the engine to install head pipes. Decided to remove the rear A arm mount and see how that went. Still really tight. Mocked (hacked) up a head pipe just to see if I will follow through with the 2.5" which is pretty tight but I could always ding a bit where needed.

So the big question: Run 2.5" and ding (dent) as needed.
Or..........................Run 2.25 and no dings(remains to be seen)

Input welcome.

HP is not a big goal, but hey Hot Rodders gotta Hot Rod!

[NONHOG]

Not much happening that is post worthy. Some boring steps but needed steps.
Pulled the injectors for cleaning, waiting till its just about ready to start.
Pulled the fuel tank as the gas it had was around 10 years old. Felt the need to rinse the bits and pieces floating around in there. And take a look see what shape it was inside. Happily it was very good!

Fought with the Mustang headers and ended up messing up the ball flange
with my cutting and welding. Bought some block huggers and may have a "shorty" on one side and a "block hugger" on the other.
I would not have been able to sleep at night with that thought when I started this build. Now I'm good with....whatever works.
Heck look at some of the factory log manifolds they worked o.k.

If I end up with a shorty I'll chop off the ball flange and add a V-band clamp.

We will know soon.

[Jonboy]

Originally Posted by NONHOG

Had a moment of clarity.
Was overthinking the head pipes. My goal was not to have to lift the engine to install head pipes. Decided to remove the rear A arm mount and see how that went. Still really tight. Mocked (hacked) up a head pipe just to see if I will follow through with the 2.5" which is pretty tight but I could always ding a bit where needed.

So the big question: Run 2.5" and ding (dent) as needed.
Or..........................Run 2.25 and no dings(remains to be seen)

Input welcome.

HP is not a big goal, but hey Hot Rodders gotta Hot Rod!

I have had quite a few Mark VII's, and the tailpipes neck down smaller than 1 3/4 in the tailpipes. If you can run the 2.25 and make it fit well, it shouldn't affect performance. On the VII, it is quite an accomplishment to fit 2.5 all the way out.

[NONHOG]

Originally Posted by Jonboy

I have had quite a few Mark VII's, and the tailpipes neck down smaller than 1 3/4 in the tailpipes. If you can run the 2.25 and make it fit well, it shouldn't affect performance. On the VII, it is quite an accomplishment to fit 2.5 all the way out.

I think the Explorer had 2" down pipes going into a single but don't recall the size. I was wanting 2.5 going into a single 3" exhaust but that would be overkill and harder to route. It'll be 2.25 going into a single3" (because I have it) then down to 2.75 or maybe 2.5?

I installed the block huggers last night, had to trim the LH mount mount bracket. Still need to "ding" the header so the steering yoke can make it all the way around. I'm very happy with the ease of fitting these compared to the shorties. Big plus is the downpipes will be so much easier to run.

The Summit headers are not as nice as the BBK. But should swork out just fine.
Bout time something goes right on this build!

1st pic shows the LH BBK "shorty" and the "block hugger"

[NONHOG]

Block huggers would have saved me countless hours of cutting/welding and the big time waster...... Head scratching!

Many mods I did for the shorty headers are not needed for the block huggers.
Live and learn! It was fun, Not out of the woods yet. Trying to figure out the dip stick routing. Wont follow the same area anymore.
Also the starter nose is really close to the collector flange.

Dent got bigger but still o.k. in my book.

[NONHOG]

Bought some mandrel bends in 2.25. Finally had time to build some decent (IMO) header pipes.
I had to make a protractor to figure my cut angles (stole the idea from someone on the HAMB) Seems to be going my way. About time! I was getting use to every darn thing fighting me.

Now I have to wait till I get a Y pipe to finish running the exhaust.
Seems to fit pretty tight.











New shop name? "Blue tape Fabrication"

[NONHOG]

Not done (exhaust) but getting closer.
Working under the car while on jack stands is no way to build an exhaust system. At least for a guy pushing 50.

[NONHOG]

Redoing the Y pipe. Heck I redo everything else I've done on this car so why not?

Cut about 60* out of the 2.25 pipes then tacked together. Cut off end that'll dump into a short section of 3".
More this weekend! (If anyone cares )