Mustang Headers

NixVegaGT · February 23, 2008, 11:39:00 AM

I thought that would get some attention! LOL! Peep this pic of headers for a mustang:

How close is the exhaust port location for the Buick/Rover head to the small Ford exhaust ports? I had a dream the other day that I used Mustang headers for my Vega project and they bolted right on. Obviously this wouldn't work but they might be close. Thanks for the input guys.

Richl705 · October 19, 2008, 10:22:32 PM

Nick,
Did you ever figure out if these Mustang headers would work on a 215? Richard

NixVegaGT · October 20, 2008, 01:41:23 PM

Thanks for asking man. I ended up fabricating my own headers. I guess it's something I've got to leave to somebody else. Might be worth working through though.

I built my own because it was a pretty tight fit and I'm glad I built a custom set. Might work on a different application than a Vega.

bplus · March 24, 2009, 10:27:08 PM

If we can agree that the buick/rover/olds heads
all have the same exhaust port shape and spacing
then the answer could be no. Just tried a mustang
header on a rover and olds head and it wasn't
even close to right.

NixVegaGT · March 26, 2009, 05:09:30 PM

LOL! Thanks for lookin'. I ended up fabricating my own. It took a super long time and I'm not totally done with them but it has been really fun building them. I'll post pix of them shortly.

NixVegaGT · March 30, 2009, 08:51:53 AM

OK So I finally finished the fabrication on the headers. It took a lot of work and a long time to execute but really fun.
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Moderator · March 30, 2009, 05:00:39 PM

Hey, that's really impressive!!!

Tell us more about them:
What diameter and primary length did you use?
Where did you get the bends?
Anything you'd do different next time?

rficalora · March 30, 2009, 10:06:10 PM

Nice work Nic! There's a lot of measuring, cutting & welding there & they look nice to boot!

NixVegaGT · March 31, 2009, 10:34:05 AM

I got a bunch of random bends from Stahl headers: http://www.stahlheaders.com/ They were about $160. Really great company to work with. I started out by asking for the wrong size. When they came and I realized they were way off I called them and they only charged me a restock fee of $15. They covered the shipping and everything! WOW!

Then I bought some old Kenne Bell flanges from Dimitri. Thanks Bro. I dropped in the empty engine and trans case and bolted the header flanges on the heads with some washers between the flange and exhaust ports. Then I formed the tubes into the square ports to match the heads and pushed them through until I could see them sticking out the gap I'd left with the washers. After that it was just cutting and tacking in the pieces one at a time. It was a fun puzzle to figure out. Especially how to run them so the lengths were as equal as possible. In the end, the front ports are about 1" longer. The one rear port on the right header, I needed to route over the adjacent port and down, is about 2" longer. (That was really frustrating) SO at worst it's within 2" and mostly within ≈1" difference. That was hard. There is one that looks way shorter and that is the last port on the left side but it is right on at 33" long. Optical illusion I guess.

I started out with the idea they would be relatively long 35" primaries. Then I changed the cam for something a bit more aggressive and so I shortened them up buy a couple inches to ≈32-33" long. The primaries are 16 ga. 1 5/8" and empty into 2.5" collectors. The collectors are about 16" long. Those will have a reducer flange to 2.25" for the exhaust pipe.

The flanges seemed pretty thick to me but most people that have seen them say they are too thin. My exhaust guy suggested I weld a thick bead around the ports and square the flanges up this way leaving some of the weld proud for better sealing. This morning I welded a thick bead around the ports and ground them somewhat flat. I'll report how it turns out.

They are all MIG welded and ground flat. I took my time and left as much material while smoothing the welds as best I could. Hopefully it will not crack after heat cycling and ceramic coating. I figured I'd use them on the engine dyno while breaking in the cam (20 min) and after tuning.

BlownMGB-V8 · March 31, 2009, 11:14:06 PM

Headers look real good Nick. One suggestion is to braze the back side of the flanges. This helps prevent cracking. Having tubes within 2" puts you closer than 90% or more of the commercially available headers on the market so I wouldn't feel too frustrated about that. Getting any closer can be extremely difficult and time consuming.

Jim

NixVegaGT · April 01, 2009, 07:46:39 PM

I've heard that as well. Is that because it spreads out the temps across the flanges or something?

BlownMGB-V8 · April 02, 2009, 08:44:56 AM

Apparently the brass is a little more forgiving at higher temps and allows just a wee bit of flex while the inner weld bead gives a solid attachment and a leak free seal. I've not done any testing myself, but Ed told me that was the best way to do it. (Headers by Ed)

Jim