With the arrival and installation of the new wheels and tires (which establish final ride height and wheel diameter and location) I can now move forward with testing the fender and running board design I have in mind. However, before I can proceed with the running board mock up I need to do one more thing...build the headers for the car. Since the headers will extend into the area of the running board I need to make sure that the two elements work in tandem and that they flow together and do not interfere with one anther.
I am using a set of Patriot “weld up†sprint style roadster headers. According the measurements provided for the same set of headers pre welded at the factory, they would not be wide enough for the collector to run along the outside of the cowl as I wanted it to. By welding the headers myself I can hopefully adjust the header length and angle so that they will clear the side of the car.
Welding your own headers is no walk in the park. In fact, it took me a day just to get up the nerve to start cutting the tubes. I first assembled the headers in their approximate locations, with the tail ends of the tube in the collector and the tubes lashed together tightly with nylon ties to keep them in position. I could then do a very rough mock up, as shown in Photo # 1, to see how the tubes would need to be cut.
I then marked the flange end of the rear-most header tube to the length I needed so that the collector would end up approximately 1 ½" outside of the cowl. Ford exhaust ports are rectangular rather than round so the end of each header tube must be not only cut to length but bent into an oblong shape to fit into the header flange. Thus, everything must be lined up correctly before you start bending the tube end. because there is little room for error once the end of the tube has been reshaped.
Once the tube was cut, made oblong, and correctly positioned, I tack welded it to the flange in four spots. I then moved to the next header pipe and followed the same procedure. Each header pipe gets more and more difficult to do because you have less and less fudge factor available as the prior pipes are welded in place. Each pipe must not only be fitted to the flange on the head end but must also be perfectly alined at the collector end so that the collector pipe will slide on and off the assembled pipes. Photos # 2 and # 3 show the passenger side headers tack welded together in their final configuration.
Photos #2 and #3 also show the rear fender and “nerf bar†running board being mocked up. I’ve taken to calling this a nerf board for lack of a better term. It combines the look of old circle track racer side nerfs and a way to mount and tie the rear fender into the rest of the body, basically so its just not hanging out there in the breeze. The mock up will give me a good idea of the additional fabrication work I need to do on the rear fenders to tie them into the body and the nerf board. BTW, the rear fenders are from the local Fleet Farm and are normally used as trailer fenders. They are about $18 apiece...less than what it would cost me in sheet metal to try to shape them myself.
I am using a set of Patriot “weld up†sprint style roadster headers. According the measurements provided for the same set of headers pre welded at the factory, they would not be wide enough for the collector to run along the outside of the cowl as I wanted it to. By welding the headers myself I can hopefully adjust the header length and angle so that they will clear the side of the car.
Welding your own headers is no walk in the park. In fact, it took me a day just to get up the nerve to start cutting the tubes. I first assembled the headers in their approximate locations, with the tail ends of the tube in the collector and the tubes lashed together tightly with nylon ties to keep them in position. I could then do a very rough mock up, as shown in Photo # 1, to see how the tubes would need to be cut.
I then marked the flange end of the rear-most header tube to the length I needed so that the collector would end up approximately 1 ½" outside of the cowl. Ford exhaust ports are rectangular rather than round so the end of each header tube must be not only cut to length but bent into an oblong shape to fit into the header flange. Thus, everything must be lined up correctly before you start bending the tube end. because there is little room for error once the end of the tube has been reshaped.
Once the tube was cut, made oblong, and correctly positioned, I tack welded it to the flange in four spots. I then moved to the next header pipe and followed the same procedure. Each header pipe gets more and more difficult to do because you have less and less fudge factor available as the prior pipes are welded in place. Each pipe must not only be fitted to the flange on the head end but must also be perfectly alined at the collector end so that the collector pipe will slide on and off the assembled pipes. Photos # 2 and # 3 show the passenger side headers tack welded together in their final configuration.
Photos #2 and #3 also show the rear fender and “nerf bar†running board being mocked up. I’ve taken to calling this a nerf board for lack of a better term. It combines the look of old circle track racer side nerfs and a way to mount and tie the rear fender into the rest of the body, basically so its just not hanging out there in the breeze. The mock up will give me a good idea of the additional fabrication work I need to do on the rear fenders to tie them into the body and the nerf board. BTW, the rear fenders are from the local Fleet Farm and are normally used as trailer fenders. They are about $18 apiece...less than what it would cost me in sheet metal to try to shape them myself.
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