the stainless 16v header build

[alex g]

finally got hold of the bends and gear to get a start on the header,306 stainless 1 3/4 primarys to 2 inch secondarys to 2 1/2 exhaust.

it was quite hard to get started but once i had a start i e general shape and length depth it went quite well, will be finishing welding it soon

enjoy

a few hundred dollars worth of bends
and a watercut flange

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2006/12/header002-1.jpg

it got easier from hear

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2006/12/header005-1.jpg

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2006/12/header008-1.jpg

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2006/12/header009-1.jpg

[alex g]

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2006/12/header012-1.jpg

[h100vw]

Big effort there dude, I commend you for spending the time to do this yourself. You'll reap the benefits, good manifold on a mk1 16V install is easy worth 10 hp if not more.

I built one in 96 and used a manifold made by Ashley, not that well put together but the Supersprint alternative was twice the money and LHD.

Gavin

[Oneofthegreats]

Nice work. Hat's off to you for having a go that's for sure.

The only thing I'd recommend is after you've finished all the welding it to have the header flange resurfaced due to heat warping the face. This has happened to me on a couple of turbo manifolds.

[Golf Loon]

Sweet job bro, good to see you posting again.

Watch the clearance on the steering rack. Thats where all the aftermarket ones catch.

[evorobin]

Awesome work. Been looking at some headers now...

[DVR68U]

hey alex nice work cant wait to see your car
cheers brenton

[aussieg60]

That is excellent, never really seen the method for making custom manifolds !! Great, whats the thickness of the steel your using ? What does T306 signify ? Sorry with the dumb questions ;)

[alex g]

306 is the grade of stainless it is a middle of the road general purpose easily polishable easily weldable, the wall thickness is like 1.5 mm so it is thin but not to thin.
the welding is 80 percent done and with a little stretching and warping its all looking good

[Bluerex]

That welding mask looks familiar... did you publish a series on the Vorvex a while back?

C

Damn fine work BTW

[alex g]

the header is all finished and just working on the secondary's

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2006/12/header020-1.jpg

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2006/12/header019-1.jpg

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2006/12/header022-1.jpg

[GoLfMan]

beautiful piece of exhaust spaghetti mate :)

[silverMK1]

they are gonna rip man... thin stainless generates heaps of heat though.. its not a turbo so doesn't matter as much. good work, looks heaps different than other exhausts ive seen, 2 flex joins with the 2 long pipes.

[golf3]

That's awesome!
If I didn't have turbo plans, then that's the way I'd definitely like to go!

[blackgti1.8]

Nice work mate. They reckon that headers are not as hard as they look, but I've never suscribed to that theory;)
Very long secondaries - much longer than I've seen before.
Is this your own design, or is it a published spec?

About from the steering rack (as Loon mentioned), the other thing to watch
is that the downpipes don't get too close to the inner CV boot - too much heat:(

[alex g]

[QUOTE=blackgti1.8]Nice work mate. They reckon that headers are not as hard as they look, but I've never suscribed to that theory;)
Very long secondaries - much longer than I've seen before.
Is this your own design, or is it a published spec?

QUOTE]


yer they aint that easy, in theory they are but anyone who has had experience with metal warping and stretching and distorting through welding will know that lining up so many cuts and angles in a small area is quite hard.

the design was inspired by all the headers i could find out there it takes areas from a lot of systems, the long secondaries are similar to track style extractors and a little like the supersprint, i wanted to get some flex in ther so there was no chance of cracking.

it is going straight into a 2 1/2 in system with a backbox, does anyone have any reccomendations for a stainless backbox

[Golf Loon]

Measure the size of the space available for the backbox, space is very tight on a Mk1. Just got to that stage with my project and couldn`t use the original box I wanted.

Headers look great man. I love the twin flexpipe :)

[Valver.]

Awesome work!! They'll sound rather fine :D

[gotrice]

Just a question.....You could have gone 4 into 1 but went for 4 into 2 into 1. Why?

[ausgolfer]

"VERY NICE" in best Borat voice

[blackgti1.8]

4 into 2 into 1 are supposedly best for a road car - better spread of torque,
or at least that's what I've heard. 4 into 1 (I think) can give you more power, they need to be tuned carefully, because they come in at over a narrow band of RPM.
Maybe dubstarmk2 might like to comment on this...

[silverMK1]

"VERY NICE" in best Borat voice


"HIGH FIVE"

[Valver.]

"Jagshemash!!"

[mikinoz]

Bump this up for big respect on this DIY.

Where did these end up Al and how did they perform?

[alex g]

finished them many moons back,still sitting in thr garge waiting for the inevatable

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/10/xhaust007-2.jpg

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/10/xhaust010-2.jpg

[mikinoz]

Name your price and you can see how they go on my car! :D

Seriously though, that is some amazing work. Whats the go with the RHD exit on the muffler? What is the thinking there, I may need to head to your thread to check out what you were planning. (or you bolted it up back to front! ;) )

[alex g]

Side exit mik just in front of the rear rhs wheel

[alex g]

Did I mention I notched the sill so it sits nice and high a tight, and made my take on arch spats that double as heat shields