The Birth of Brandi's Twins [COTW 8/8/11]

[Mr Twisty]

It takes a patient man to fab headers from scratch like that.....

[SSE 4 2SS]

Originally Posted by Mr Twisty

It takes a patient man to fab headers from scratch like that.....

Corey and Justin both have the skills, but after some discussion, I think for the sake of time, Justin is going to run with this build. Corey brought him into the shop for his fabrication skills in addition to other skills he brings...

[CamaroSkooter]

And for clarification, when he says "Justin" he's not talking about me. I only wish I had fab skills like HPT Justin does.

[SSE 4 2SS]

Originally Posted by CamaroSkooter

And for clarification, when he says "Justin" he's not talking about me. I only wish I had fab skills like HPT Justin does.

I bet you could draw them up for data entry into a cnc mandrel bender...

[CamaroSkooter]

To be quite honest, I didn't know there was such a thing as a "CNC Mandrel Bender"

You learn something new...

[SSE 4 2SS]

One thing that was pointed out to me...

If you look at the first pic above, and note the burnt orange color... there's a reason it look like that... Seriously big back pressure holding way too much heat in... Those manifolds are literally cooked...The passenger side manifold isn't quite that bad but here in the shop, I can actually see the heat score marks on the manifolds.... There is no indication of excessive back pressure on the inlet pipes to the turbos.

There is also a large collection of carbon on the face of the exhaust manifold gasket surface... indicating that there is a substantial restriction to flow just into the manifolds.

This will all be fixed with the handmade manifolds.

The new V-band clamps have been machined to a custom fit, and in a little while Corey and I are going to get the material to build the jigs with.... It still looks nigh on impossible to me, but Justin here at HPT says it's no problem... He has commented there is tons of room so I'll go with it... There is tons of room to do this... Yeah right... Dude has skills...

I'll be documenting as we go...

[Mr Twisty]

Originally Posted by SSE 4 2SS

.... It still looks nigh on impossible to me, but Justin here at HPT says it's no problem... He has commented there is tons of room so I'll go with it... There is tons of room to do this... Yeah right... Dude has skills...

I'll be documenting as we go...

Does Kyle have his turbines in the same location? He had some good reference pics

[SSE 4 2SS]

Originally Posted by Mr Twisty

Does Kyle have his turbines in the same location? He had some good reference pics

He does, but his is a one off design. So, while somewhat applicable, it's not the same...

My turbos will remount in the exact same location as they were...

I got a few better quality pics to show the evidence of the back pressure heat being created by the restrictive manifolds... The manifold pictured here has been exposed to some very serious heat....

Note how the heat discoloration goes from just below the flange at the heads all the way to the turn down near the outlet... There is also evidence of carbon buildup where the exhaust exits the heads showing further flow restrictions.

[Redemption]

Wow. Not sure how I missed the part about using manifolds. those got a weeee little bit hot.

[SSE 4 2SS]

Originally Posted by Redemption

Wow. Not sure how I missed the part about using manifolds. those got a weeee little bit hot.

I'm curious... I'm going to find another set of those around the shop and see if that area that looks like it swelled out actually did... Glowing red to white hot and that much back pressure... It may just be the casting design but we'll see... Maybe someone can come in and state if theirs look like that or if that is deformed...

[RED DEMON SS]

Originally Posted by Mr Twisty

It takes a patient man to fab headers from scratch like that.....

Man that was nice, i was going to say it takes a patient man to look at rust like that and not change it out or something, till i read instead of just looking at photos. LMAO!

That's kind of an iffy statement "Heat Discoloration"????? So did you have any restriction through your manifold that you can tell or possibly see? Wonder why heat was holding up in that particular area?

Do you plan on going with ceramic coated stainless..

[Mr Twisty]

Originally Posted by SSE 4 2SS

I'm curious... I'm going to find another set of those around the shop and see if that area that looks like it swelled out actually did... .

Looks like an expansion chamber.

Originally Posted by Farthestnorth

Man that was nice, i was going to say it takes a patient man to look at rust like that and not change it out or something? LMAO!

That's kind of an iffy statement "Heat Discoloration"?????

I bet his rotors are all rusty too....

[SSE 4 2SS]

Originally Posted by Farthestnorth

Man that was nice, i was going to say it takes a patient man to look at rust like that and not change it out or something, till i read instead of just looking at photos. LMAO!

That's kind of an iffy statement "Heat Discoloration"????? So did you have any restriction through your manifold that you can tell or possibly see? Wonder why heat was holding up in that particular area?

Do you plan on going with ceramic coated stainless..

I think you ninja edited this...




lol, we are in the process of building manifolds from scratch... We got one of the jigs mostly finished today... Tomorrow we start fabbing the actual manifolds... When we get on e tack welded together and check it for fit, then we'll carry on with the other one...

Stay tuned



Still tuned in???

Ok, we got some scrap steel pieces and started building the jigs. We'll build both sides off the main base...

While Justin pictured below, a very capable and talented fabricator, was prepping some pieces, I marked, drilled and tapped the main base for the new flanges...

Justin drilled and tapped the side piece of which there will be two.. He used countersunk bolts so that the alignment will always be exact...

Here in these pics, you can see the manifold bolted to the base and one of the side pieces on it... We have the v-band clamps and the centering pieces in place... The next item is to build up and out from here to create the end points and alignment pieces for the turbo end...

I didn't understand the process at first due to never having done any of this kind of fabrication.... Now that I see it, it's making sense... I still can't do this but that's ok, Justin and Corey both can...

As for obstructions, nope, nothing other than the designed narrowing of the manifolds... bear in mind we are blowing a high bred 427 cubic inches of exhaust through a manifold designed for a more sedate 376 cubic inch engine.

We knew the manifolds were going to be the biggest restriction but I wasn't sure of the degree of it... These handmade manifolds were discussed when
I first met Corey, but we held off until we had some miles on the motor and everything else sorted out... We are still trying to get some things (fuel system...aeromotive frigg'in pump) sorted out, but we have a plan for that as well... Think Weldon pump with a pulse modulated speed controller and a sump/surge system.... but back to the manifolds...

When completed and test fitted on the car, we will then remove them and have them ceramic coated... and yes, it is a heavy wall stainless steel tubing being used....There will be no restrictions....

And yes, there is a bit more than heat discoloration... they are flat smoked... burned... torched.... seasoned... or any other descriptor you can apply to over heated and stressed cast iron manifolds...

[SSE 4 2SS]

In the following pics, you can see where Justin is extending the ends of the jig out to the discharge ends of the manifolds. The v-band inserts are welded on there and this creates with the above description the beginning and the end of the jig for this side. (drivers)

After everything is re-enforced on the jig, we remove the manifold and outlet pipe and then bolt the new flange on and start filling the gaps....

Again, this being the drivers side, we have to consider the steering shaft into the fit. So, all the filler pieces are tack welded and then we'll test fit it all prior to finish welding it... Then Justin will build the merge collector and I'm still not sure of that process so more on that later... He did mention it wont be a hammered into shape collector...