Manky's Pop.

[triker_Chewie]

the reduced baffle effect would make it louder too

[Manky Monkey]

I did wonder that, & whether some turbulence in the collector would produce more back pressure, but I've learnt not to question my brother Brock, for he is indeed the knower of all things.   
Collector funnel tapped on using a block of wood & a mallet & welded where it touches for now. To clear the chassis, I had to fit it right up against the bends of the down pipes. On Rover V8s the 2 banks of cylinders are slightly staggered. The left hand cylinder head's further forward than the right, so we'll have a little more room to play with on the other set of pipes, but this side's kinda snug.
Inside the end of the collector is a seperate 2 inch bore pipe with a flared end, which allows us to angle it where we need it before we weld it up. To clear the chassis outriggers under the cab, we've angled it as low & as inboard as we can.
After checking everything worked, the collector now needs fully welding to the down pipes to make it gas tight.

[Manky Monkey]

The 4 pipes are suprisingly springy & have spread slightly with the heat of all that welding, meaning we had to pull 'em back into line with a small ratchet strap to align the bolt holes. They're not really under tension -no worse than most motorcycle 4 into 1 pipes I've fitted, but we're thinking of adding a stainless tie strap between each one a few inches from the flanges, to keep them where they should be.
 

[Manky Monkey]

Next step is to splice a short length of 3 inch bore pipe into the side of the collector. When hotrodding began in the 50s in the States, guys would only have one car, which would be their daily driver during the week & taken to the race track at weekends. So they'd run a street legal exhaust system under the car for road use, but have a second pipe, straight out of the collector, with a blanking cap bolted on the end, which they'd remove for racing.

[Manky Monkey]

Of course, that'll completely bugger up any gas flowing we've achieved with the spikey things, but we're doing it for show more than anything else, so we can uncork the headers at shows for a bit more rumpitty rumpiness. We only need about 6 inches of pipe to clear the bodywork, so we don't leave sooty streaks down the sides of the doors, (mind you, that can look cool on the right car). Originally we'd planned to cut a scallop out of the bodywork in front of the doors for the pipe to exit through, but it's worked out that it'll clear the body anyway. You can see the A post repair panel, supplied by "Pop Browns" here, which replaces the rotten bottom corner of the body. We'll angle the 3 inch pipe back & downwards at about 45 degrees & make up some stainless or aluminium blanking caps, which we'll attach by welding a 3 legged "spider" in the end of the pipe with a centre captive nut & a wing nut on the outside.
As I said, mainly for show & just because we can.

[Manky Monkey]

I'm pleased with the way the headers have filled the space between the front wheels & the body. A lot of this car has just kinda fallen into place & we've literally made it up as we've gone along. When we started, we pushed the front axle further forward than it would normally be, meaning the wheels don't sit centrally in the original opening. That meant we had more room to fit the engine, so the gearbox hasn't ended up filling the cab as it does in a lot of rods. We also had more room for the steering linkages. In turn we have more room for the exhausts & stuff & they fill the wheel openings quite nicely. 

[Manky Monkey]

Remember the plastic Matchless badge I fitted on the bonnet? Cost me 20 quid for a pair from the States. I welded on a small raised lip to support the top edge cos it didn't follow the curve of the grille shell, then very carefully screwed it in place. Don't know what's happened to it, but it's disintegrated. We've only run the engine for a few minutes, but I'm sure it's not vibration from that. The screws definitely weren't over tightened, but for some reason the plastic's broken up into half a dozen bits. Maybe it was the cold in the workshop overnight? No idea.
Anyway, I removed it today & flushed off the welded lip. We've decided not to bother with a badge & just run it plain. But Tony Oily Bike's found these Matchless stickers on Ebay for 2 quid a pair. Maybe worth a look at. Wonder if they'd work on the double curviture of the grille shell. I might order some & find out. If not we might find somewhere obscure to use them, like the diff housing of the back axle maybe. I may drill some hotrod holes or dimples in the end of the shortened grille shell trim to match those in the tailgate handle. Hopefully we can have this trim rechromed.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MATCHLESS-Motorcycle-Stickers-G2-G3-G12-G5-G80-G9-CSR-/170031482424?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts&hash=item2796aa8638

[Manky Monkey]

A busy Saturday afternoon at the workshop with Loony flatting down a fibreglass drag car body ready for paint, Archie & his mate re-working the exhaust on a VW & Flap building mudguards for his trike. So lots of welding, grinding & sanding going on & guys queuing up to use the workbench.
Managed to more or less finish the header though. I marked around the 3 inch bore side pipe & chopped out a big chunk of the collector with the grinder & a file. Before cutting the hole, Loony fully welded the angled 2 inch pipe, which will hook up with the silencer under the cab floor.
In this handy cut away model you can see the Searing Hot Spike of Death, gas flow device inside, welded to the ends of the 4 down pipes.

[Manky Monkey]

3 inch bore pipe, (not sure if there's a proper name for that -"big sticky out side pipe" doesn't sound right somehow), welded in place.
We've angled it back & down a bit, partly so there's no sharp bends to impede the gas flow & create hot spots, but mainly cos it looks better that way.
It'd be almost impossible to get a file in to smooth out the welds here, so we'll settle for just tidying them up as best we can. A couple more welds around the front of the collector to do & a bit of a spruce up & this side's done. Once the other side's sorted, we'll move on to fitting the silencers, which will mean welding flanges to the ends of the 2 inch pipes to bolt them to.
It's taken several weeks of afternoons to put this together, but we've never built exhaust headers before, or welded stainless steel, so a lot of it's been thinking & experimenting time. I also spent over a week of that time just filing the welds smooth in the pipe joints & around the top flanges, which most people wouldn't bother with. As we've said though, we're only making one set, not a production line of them, so it's worth spending a little extra time to get them right. 

[Tony oily bike]

Of course, that'll completely bugger up any gas flowing we've achieved with the spikey things, but we're doing it for show more than anything else, so we can uncork the headers at shows for a bit more rumpitty rumpiness. We only need about 6 inches of pipe to clear the bodywork, so we don't leave sooty streaks down the sides of the doors, (mind you, that can look cool on the right car). Originally we'd planned to cut a scallop out of the bodywork in front of the doors for the pipe to exit through, but it's worked out that it'll clear the body anyway. You can see the A post repair panel, supplied by "Pop Browns" here, which replaces the rotten bottom corner of the body. We'll angle the 3 inch pipe back & downwards at about 45 degrees & make up some stainless or aluminium blanking caps, which we'll attach by welding a 3 legged "spider" in the end of the pipe with a centre captive nut & a wing nut on the outside.
As I said, mainly for show & just because we can.

"Sooty streaks down the sides of the doors"

I've got this horrible metal picture of a glove puppet running naked along you rod!!!!!! (lucky you  )

[Manky Monkey]

Depends who's hand's in the glove. 
I've just emailed this photo over from my computer to Taz's, which I'm sharing with her at the moment. Labelled the email "Sooty streaks" & her security programme flagged it as possible porn spam!

[Manky Monkey]

Header hung back on the truck & bodywork repair panel taped roughly in place. Now I need someone with a lathe to machine me a pair of aluminum end caps. I'm thinking 10mm thick, with a 5mm lip cut around the edge, so they sit into the ends of the pipes.
I'll trim the side pipe back by another inch or so, (you can just see the white line I've scribbled around it). It'll still clear the bodywork, but with less chance of us ripping our ankles on it as we walk past.

[Manky Monkey]

.

[gnasher 6]

Lookin very impressive mm

[Cabman77]

That`s starting to look decidedly like a road going vehicle Andy !!!!