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Screw SRD....I'll make my own header!!
Topic Started: Sep 27 2014, 10:07 PM (812 Views)
Robertfrank
Member
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So I've been searching our beloved site for ideas on a header...The only two places ot seems to het a decent header for our little motors is either MM or SRD. MM has been out of commission for a bit and from what I've read it's a hit or miss with SRD. Plus there is NO WAY in hell will I spend upwards of $250 for a header for this damn car if I know I can make my own for pennies.

So here is my plan...
Get a 1/2 inch flange made that is 10 5/16 inches by 3 inches long made. I can buy the steel locally for next to nothing and either cut ot out myself or have a local water jet company make it.

Next will be getting six 1 inch EMT bends from Lowes for 6 bucks a piece.I have a pipe expander to widen the primaries to match the flange. I'll soak them in some muratic acid to remove the galvanization so the fumes don't kill me lol

Then I'll go to either Vatozone or O'reilly's and get a 2 1/8 to 2 inch adapter to mate the pipes for a collector. I have a spare O2 bung in my tool box.



All in all I should have an investment of about $50-$60 dollars in my header. So what do you guys think? Will it work???
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iveyjh
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Absolutely, go for it, read up on length of primaries for torque peak that you desire. Good luck, you can do it probably better than you can buy.
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punkozuna
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I'm not a welder but I don't know if I'd risk it. Cadmium fumes are bad. I don't know zinc is any better.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/emt-for-exhaust.88375/
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fireflyin


all i can say is your going to have exhaust leaks cause there is no way u can weld it 100% fully i mean S&D its all done by machine and the staff dose touch ups i'd rather buy a header then make one u can make one cheaper but also the welding is the biggest problem unless u have a stick or tig welder then your should be fine
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t3ragtop
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Turbo3 and Twincam Tweaker

fireflyin
Sep 28 2014, 12:53 AM
all i can say is your going to have exhaust leaks cause there is no way u can weld it 100% fully i mean S&D its all done by machine and the staff dose touch ups i'd rather buy a header then make one u can make one cheaper but also the welding is the biggest problem unless u have a stick or tig welder then your should be fine
now there's some unqualified bull shit. :smackface

imo, srd's header is hand bent and hand welded 10 at a time in some sweat shop in miami. in part, that is what makes the quality and fit so random. they are the only source for a 3 banger header. no after market manufacturer has tooled up machine manufacturing to crank out headers for the g10. the market for a g10 header has been so small that nobody can make any money at it.

you can build your own header but the emt you are proposing won't hold up for very long. exhaust gas temps are very high on a g10 and the thin tubing will burn out creating holes at the first bend. also, the exhaust manifolds are susceptible to normal corrosion from the heating and cooling of the pipes, condensation from natural cycling through the vapor pressure point (dew point,) and exposure to road spray from wet roadways. wrapping headers with heat tape makes them rot even faster.

you would do better by using schedule 40 pipe bends. prepare the ends by grinding a 45 degree chamfer and then when joining the pieces, make a first pass in the vee to form the root weld and then make 2 side by side passes on top of the root to complete the weldment. ;)

the factory cast manifold is really all that bad anyway. with port matching and gasket matching the oem casting is really a pretty good manifold.
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Murf 59
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t3ragtop
Sep 28 2014, 07:48 AM
fireflyin
Sep 28 2014, 12:53 AM
all i can say is your going to have exhaust leaks cause there is no way u can weld it 100% fully i mean S&D its all done by machine and the staff dose touch ups i'd rather buy a header then make one u can make one cheaper but also the welding is the biggest problem unless u have a stick or tig welder then your should be fine
now there's some unqualified bull shit. :smackface

imo, srd's header is hand bent and hand welded 10 at a time in some sweat shop in miami. in part, that is what makes the quality and fit so random. they are the only source for a 3 banger header. no after market manufacturer has tooled up machine manufacturing to crank out headers for the g10. the market for a g10 header has been so small that nobody can make any money at it.

you can build your own header but the emt you are proposing won't hold up for very long. exhaust gas temps are very high on a g10 and the thin tubing will burn out creating holes at the first bend. also, the exhaust manifolds are susceptible to normal corrosion from the heating and cooling of the pipes, condensation from natural cycling through the vapor pressure point (dew point,) and exposure to road spray from wet roadways. wrapping headers with heat tape makes them rot even faster.

you would do better by using schedule 40 pipe bends. prepare the ends by grinding a 45 degree chamfer and then when joining the pieces, make a first pass in the vee to form the root weld and then make 2 side by side passes on top of the root to complete the weldment. ;)

the factory cast manifold is really all that bad anyway. with port matching and gasket matching the oem casting is really a pretty good manifold.
:gp You might go back and look at the MM thread when he was working out how to make his out of stainless. The SRD quality blows. And do it in stainless.
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Robertfrank
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punkozuna
Sep 27 2014, 11:38 PM
I'm not a welder but I don't know if I'd risk it. Cadmium fumes are bad. I don't know zinc is any better.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/emt-for-exhaust.88375/
That's why i'd soak the pipes in acid to burn off the coating first. From the research I've done as long as the coating is removed, the pipe can be welded safely.
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Robertfrank
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t3ragtop
Sep 28 2014, 07:48 AM
fireflyin
Sep 28 2014, 12:53 AM
all i can say is your going to have exhaust leaks cause there is no way u can weld it 100% fully i mean S&D its all done by machine and the staff dose touch ups i'd rather buy a header then make one u can make one cheaper but also the welding is the biggest problem unless u have a stick or tig welder then your should be fine
now there's some unqualified bull shit. :smackface

imo, srd's header is hand bent and hand welded 10 at a time in some sweat shop in miami. in part, that is what makes the quality and fit so random. they are the only source for a 3 banger header. no after market manufacturer has tooled up machine manufacturing to crank out headers for the g10. the market for a g10 header has been so small that nobody can make any money at it.

you can build your own header but the emt you are proposing won't hold up for very long. exhaust gas temps are very high on a g10 and the thin tubing will burn out creating holes at the first bend. also, the exhaust manifolds are susceptible to normal corrosion from the heating and cooling of the pipes, condensation from natural cycling through the vapor pressure point (dew point,) and exposure to road spray from wet roadways. wrapping headers with heat tape makes them rot even faster.

you would do better by using schedule 40 pipe bends. prepare the ends by grinding a 45 degree chamfer and then when joining the pieces, make a first pass in the vee to form the root weld and then make 2 side by side passes on top of the root to complete the weldment. ;)

the factory cast manifold is really all that bad anyway. with port matching and gasket matching the oem casting is really a pretty good manifold.
I also had all this in mind, I know the pipe won't last forever but at the cost of making it, replacing the tubing is a simple and straight forward affair. If I wanted it to last longer I've had pretty good success with the ultra high tempm paints/coatings.
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vr4


I'll be surprised if it lasts 6 months
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fireflyin


well if u use VHT header paint along with a high heat primer it lasts Along time i seen it on horsepower tv and they ran it on a hemi block that was on nos or something it was roughly putting out 600+ temp and VHT did just fine and made it little cooler too
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Robertfrank
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Thats what i used on my headers for my Camaro. Actually it was a combanation of VHT 2000 degree and Rutoleum High temp aluminum with the high temp primer. Even after 3 years and a Utah winter they still look like i just sprayed them.
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