180 degree headers?

Burninrock24

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On of my sponsors for my race car can do custom exhausts no problem and as part of his sponsorship he said he would do custom work for me in his shop. Would he just laugh at my request for some 180 degree headers? I was thinking of running the secondaries under the oil pan or under the bellhousing of the transmission, but I don't know if that would cause any issues. I know people that have shoved them into a C5 Corvette and a Fox body, but I don't know if it's possible on our cars? Ground clearance isn't a big issue, nor are performance gains really, I just want that 180 degree sound.

Here are some examples of the ones that go on corvettes.

Headers.jpg


007cr.jpg
 

ttocs

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he might laugh, don't know the dude myself but I think there might be a different idea in what you see as custom work and what he sees as a 2-day job.
 

OnyxCobra

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I was always curious as to how these made a different sound, seems like a crossover midpipe would basically do the same thing.
 

rz5.0

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Of they work in fox body they can prob work on a sn. Unless its the 4.6 might be to wide.. That would be cool tho..
 

MustangChris

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holy oil-pan cooker!

wow. i've never seen anything like this before. I beg of you, do it!
 
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Burninrock24

Burninrock24

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he might laugh, don't know the dude myself but I think there might be a different idea in what you see as custom work and what he sees as a 2-day job.

Exactly. I was thinking of maybe doing all the pipe cutting and test fitting myself and just having him fabricate it. They make custom header kits that just have a bunch of mandrel bent pipes at different angles at Summit. I can put in the hours to make sure it will fit right/lengths are the same, but I'm not confident enough of a welder to do it all myself.

I was always curious as to how these made a different sound, seems like a crossover midpipe would basically do the same thing.

I wondered this too but it's just because you are separating the exhaust pulses opposite of eachother (hense the 180* name) and keeping them seperate versus all the pulses being merged into one. It's actually a way of mimicking the firing order from a flat plane V8 like Ferrari made famous, because that's why they sound this way with just straight headers. Don't take that 100% as truth, it's just what I've read on a couple forums.

Of they work in fox body they can prob work on a sn. Unless its the 4.6 might be to wide.. That would be cool tho..

That's my fear, also that my convertible brace bar might cause some issues.

holy oil-pan cooker!

wow. i've never seen anything like this before. I beg of you, do it!

I read about them on a camaro forum and a jeep forum and supposedly as long as theres an air gap, and there's heat tape/heat shield and you don't go revving the piss out of it standing still the oil stays pretty cool.

Trust me I want to do it!
 

MustangChris

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heat extraction coating on the oil pan, ceramic coating inside and out on the headers ;)
 

OnyxCobra

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I wondered this too but it's just because you are separating the exhaust pulses opposite of eachother (hense the 180* name) and keeping them seperate versus all the pulses being merged into one. It's actually a way of mimicking the firing order from a flat plane V8 like Ferrari made famous, because that's why they sound this way with just straight headers. Don't take that 100% as truth, it's just what I've read on a couple forums.

Yeah i see what you're saying but they're still combined at the collector and then again at the crossover. I could see it sounding different on a car without a crossover midpipe, I'd really like to hear a back to back comparison with the same midpipe and catback on a car. That would be cool.
 
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Burninrock24

Burninrock24

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heat extraction coating on the oil pan, ceramic coating inside and out on the headers ;)

You're getting me all riled up here! This might just work... I'm renting a book at the library about header design. I know the basic principles of exhaust (long vs. short length, importance of diameter, and how it shapes the peak torque x RPM curve, but I want to see how important it is that they be equal length. It would be fairly easy to make unequal length headers like this, but some creative plumbing will be required if they *have* to be qual length to run/sound right.

Yeah i see what you're saying but they're still combined at the collector and then again at the crossover. I could see it sounding different on a car without a crossover midpipe, I'd really like to hear a back to back comparison with the same midpipe and catback on a car. That would be cool.

See but the beauty is that it's just a straight exhaust after the headers. These headers were first used on GT40s in the 60s because they didn't have room in the rear for a midpipe to help scavenge exhaust, so this design basically cancels out the need for a midpipe. So I don't expect any performance gains over running an X pipe, but I'm 100% in this for the sound. If I wanted power I would definitely be spending money elsewhere! haha.
 

OnyxCobra

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I guess I dont understand the extra hassle and money for something that might not make any difference over an X pipe. I can respect wanting to try something different though so make sure you let us know how it works out if you go through with it.
 

Addermk2

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it's never going to fit, you're just going to be wasting your money
 
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Burninrock24

Burninrock24

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it's never going to fit, you're just going to be wasting your money

If they can fit in a C5 vette and a fox, I'm sure I can get it to work somehow. I might have to tune the length to the 2nd harmonic for the header, which doesn't give the greatest *gains* (3rd Harmonic is usually best) but I won't see any losses from going to it from the stock header either.
 

Addermk2

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If they can fit in a C5 vette and a fox, I'm sure I can get it to work somehow. I might have to tune the length to the 2nd harmonic for the header, which doesn't give the greatest *gains* (3rd Harmonic is usually best) but I won't see any losses from going to it from the stock header either.

Your cost vs gain will be so bad, that you will have wished you just tossed in some prefab headers. Especially if you aren't racing in a class that requires a stock drivetrain, and disallows computer tuning.

Also, comparing a C5 vett to our cars is apples to oranges. Especially if you still have the stock k-member.
 

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