L head Header and intake

That thing is looking good!

 

Thanks for the replies everyone. I hope this thing works out well...I'm a little concerned about clearance, but that's why it's just tacked together. I put time into measuring things and making templates, so I'm hoping to find that it paid off. If I do have issues I can make minor mods here and there to make it work I'm sure. I'm hoping to have pics of it on the 3A this weekend...then I'll get the final welding all done and get it coated in the near future hopefully.

Does anyone have a pic of their flatty, with an L head, with a saginaw swap? What I really am looking for is a pic from the top, over the motor, looking down on the exhaust/intake side. I know W3srl has done the swap and still runs an L head...maybe you have a pic like the one I'm looking for? I just want to see if I can align the header so it would work with a saggy swap... I still run a ross box, and just tightened all the steering up last fall, so I won't be doing a saginaw swap anytime soon, but it'd be nice to get an idea of whether or not this design will clear in case I decide to build a few more.

Also, w3srl, did you end up building that intake for a webber? I'm still debating on what to do for my intake, and going back and forth with carb choices.

 

No he doesn't have it finished, he still waiting on me to finish the flanges.

 

still moving forward. I pulled the intake/exhaust off and checked the header for fit. It fit surprisingly well...although I had to add some more tubing to step the header away from the drag link. It fit originally, but I wanted to center it more between the drag link and the frame rail. Here are a couple pics. The tubes coming from the flange will probably be cut a little shorter, but as of now everything clears! My brother is coming up to visit next weekend, and bringing his welder (which is much better than the one I've been using). With any luck next weekend we should have it all welded up and maybe we'll even have a little video with sound to share :evil:

 

looks great. the L and F exhaust manifolds arent different are they? Maybe you could fab. some more of these for other members? For a price of course.

 

wow, what a weekend. My brother and I worked on the Jeep for hours and hours...but it paid off. The header and intake manifold are done and on the jeep...and it runs great! Noticeable difference. I haven't been able to drive it down the road yet, but just from starting it I can see the difference. I needed to turn the idle down and adjust the air/fuel mix after installation. Throttle response increased a lot. It was worth it just for that.

We decided to go with the solex. It works well, and I decided not to mess with it for now...so this header has a home made solex intake welded on. I do plan to make another header with a couple slight differences when time allows (for fun, and possibly to sell a few) but that won't be until sometime in the summer...for now this header works great, and I like the pieced together look of it. I will still bead blast this one and coat it, but leave the weld beads and everything because it's a prototype and I like it that way.

Only issue with fit was getting nuts on the outer most studs. I have to get some allen bolts or something. Nuts barely clear, so getting a wrench on them is nearly impossible...so I'll just use allen bolts on those.

Check out the pics.

 

That's an awesome job. Congrats on a job well done!

 

thats great! what does it weigh compared to the stock manifolds

 

I need one!

 

Looks great ! Glad it is working out for you and your getting noticeable performance improvement.

Now, get out and :driving:

 

I'm a newbie but I believe the JP article that some were referencing was in the March 2006 edition, page 68, entitled Old School. The cover has 25 MOST ASKED in bright orange letters-upper right.

Gary Hooker built the headers for the guy in the article.

 

Thanks for all the info on the fab work.
I think the resounding question is "can you make more?" do you feel that when you are through you could go "in production"??
Donnie

 

Very cool. That is something to be proud of for sure. Now I have a little VW in my blood and this where this comes from...looks perfect for a dual solex set up.

 

<thinking> .....DUAL Solex set up......8) :twisted:8)

 

Drool over these: http://48cj2a.com/performance.htm

 

Thanks everyone for the comments!

I spent some time over the weekend thinking about building a few more of these. I do believe that I can make some that I could sell, however it'll be a while. The header I built seems to work pretty well, and I'm really happy with the finished product, but if I was going to make more to sell I'm going to want to make a few changes. This one is just a prototype. The way I built this one makes it impossible to use the stock intake manifold, it just doesn't clear...so I want to address that on the next build by turning the #2 and #3 primaries down quicker, so they stick out from the flange less. I also need to come up with a good way of making a collector that couples to the stock exhaust better. I had a custom pipe bent to fit between my collector and exhaust (I have 1 3/4" exhaust run in the factory location). Also, I built a ball/socket sort of joint there and used springs (sort of like a snowmobile or motorcyle exhaust) to hold the exhaust tight to the header collector. Check the pic. I did this in case of flex, or if I drag the exhaust over rocks...but it might not be necessary, I just did it because I thought it was cool. On the "production" units I might just use a flange. So long story short, I do plan to build more of these, but it'll be a couple months before I have time to start on the re-design because I've got a lot of projects on the plate...I will be sure to post when the next one is built, and see what people think of that one...and I'll go from there.

 

Yup,
The springs are cool for sure.
We appriciate the time spent and pics of the project.
Let us (read "me") know when you decide to make up some more!
Oh and buy the way..... you have that dual webber intake manifold finished yet??????
Donnie