For those who have wondered how an amateur was able to create his own headers, with a specific diameter, of equal lengths, meeting properly in their merge collectors, and all that with aesthetically pleasing lines
I'll disclose how I did it.
I used the "Icengineworks" exhaust header mockup system. Without this, it would have been absolutely impossible to achieve this result in a first attempt. Bear in mind, I have never done this before. Here is a story on the system, or go to their website:
http://horsepowersports.com/icenginewor ... ike-a-pro/There is plenty of info on the web now, including youtube videos. And no, I have no business relation with them
With my firsthand experience I can say that it made it possible at all to do this myself, however, it still did take time and was a challenge. Partly perhaps, because I decided not to buy a metal band saw and the special cutting templates/tools as I knew it would be a one-time project. So I cut the stainless tubing all with a normal hacksaw, guided by a home-made device to ensure precise radial cuts. Strong arms were a great side effect of this
The first photo shows the final layout - after trying many variants. Important: There should as many sections with equal radius and orientation as possible. This will result in fewer sections, i.e. less welding. I decided on 1 3/4 " diameter headers and bought the appropriate kit for this:
Then the plastic segments are labelled, taken apart, and transferred to the metal:
Then I cut the sections as precisely as possible - and radial of course:
The result of that are precise dublicates of the plastic mockup segments. And a hurting right arm
Then, the segments are clamped together with the special "tack clamps". They hold the pieces together, fine adjustments can be made, and they leave room to tack weld everything. Caution here: Final welding will distort the material and will move the tube ends out of their place if not held there during welding:
I then had a pro do the welding - too much work went into this to botch up everything with a bad welding job:
So, as the result shows, it really works. And it would work better for me now, after this first project. If I'd do it again, I would buy the cutting tools, work with a bandsaw and provide for a more rigid fixing of the tube ends (where they meet into the collector) and try to weld ON the car.