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April 2002
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Exhaust Notes
Pipes From One End to the Other
By Ron Ceridono
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It's been said that no act of stupidity goes unpunished. Not long ago we had the opportunity to scientifically test that very theory by virtually destroying an entire exhaust system on our project SpeedRodder and found it to be absolutely true. But, in our defense, it wasn't one stupid act, it was three.
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Form and function come together: SpeedRodder's new SoCal Engineering headers look great and the MagnaFlow mufflers provide just the right sound.
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Our problem began with a small exhaust leak that developed in one of the headers on the '32. We were on the road, in the middle of nowhere, when the slight telltale exhaust leak caught our attention. A roadside examination revealed that a tiny hole had developed where one of the pipes joined the collector. It appeared an over-zealous polisher at the chrome shop leaned a little to hard on a weld (let's call this Act 1) and as a result a pin-sized hole developed; fortunately it was on the bottom of the pipe and could easily be repaired and remain unseen, so we thought.
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Continuing on our merry way to the next little dot on the map, we stopped at a repair/muffler shop and asked if we could borrow/rent a welding outfit. "No" was the response, but their "best man" could fix our problem, no sweat. Unfortunately, their best man wasn't all that good and by the time we stopped him the pinhole had grown dramatically (Act 2). Now we were stuck; the header had a huge gash that had to be mended (here comes Act 3).
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At this point the ace welder decided he was in over his head and offered to loan us the shop's torch (presumably so we could be blamed for his mess). To help close the gap and make welding easier, we loosened all the exhaust hangers. That did in fact make welding easier, of course by now the chrome was cooked and the weld ran almost all the way around the collector, but the worst was yet to come. In our haste to get on the road, we forgot to tighten the hangers. As a result of the entire exhaust system hanging loose, the strain on the headers caused several more cracks, and two out of the three hangers tore loose from the pipes, taking chunks of tubing with them. Our testing was completed, we had successfully destroyed a perfectly good exhaust system and stupidity had indeed prevailed.
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What makes SoCal Engineering's headers so recognizable is the way each individual pipe flows into the collector. To get the exaggerated flare, each pipe is cut from a U-bend.
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SoCal Engineering's Rick Carlyle begins construction of a new pair of headers by milling the flanges to match the exhaust ports in the heads being used.
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Rick has spent many hours and cut up lots of tubing to establish the curve necessary in each pipe for a variety of engines. This is the pattern for the front port of a big-block Chevy.
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