[takid455]

Met with a couple companies at the PRI show & threw out the idea of making a run of the Tri Y FBody Headers. Similar to Tribal tubes. Since Ron seems to have stopped making these, perhaps this would be a nice offering. Looking to see interest if these were to be made. They would be 304 Stainless, 3" collector with V band option, All TIG welded, two (2) O2 bungs per side (narrow band & wideband for tuning), 1 3/4 dia primaries. O2 bungs would be placed to clear & still be accessible for 6 speed manual transmissions which are larger than any factory offering in this area. Price point would be on par with good modern muscle headers. These will not be cheap & may be one of the more more expensive header options. At small quantities (<100) sets, the $600 price point is unobtainable. These would be over 1200 but under 1800. Polished would be additional. Port shape based on most interest. They would be snug to the floor for low ride height cars, yet ample clearance so they dont hit the floor.

Depending on design direction, I may go the length of 3D scanning the body/ chassis, powertrain & existing header mock up so the deliverable will be all CAD designed.

I've played with 2nd Gen platform & various driveline configurations for decades. Used cheap 3 tube heads, Dougs, Hookers, Headman, Tribal tubes, modern engine swap headers, ect thus familiar with the nuances of each.

Looking to see if there's enough interest to make the R&D & investment worthwhile to provide a very high quality & excellent fitting piece to the market with reasonable delivery time.

You can email me directly at transam_engineer at yahoo dot com.

Had to break up the email as last time I used in it traditional format I received a few scammers.

[takid455]

Looks like its crickets on this idea. Maybe another time.

[Elarson]

I just found this post since I spend most of my time on the Race and Street sections.

I'm intrigued. Making a CAD model and snugging them to the floor is very attractive. Price is reasonable if they are a terrific fit (and you can prove it with CAD model cross-sections) although a lot of the potential customers will balk.

My selfish requests:

Fit around the Canton T-shaped road race pan.
Tuck the right side up and assume that the oil filter has been remotely located.
Round port.

I'd think if you make a CAD model, the price could be significantly reduced by having the tubes CNC bent, rather than all of the usual hand-fitting and welding small pieces together.

Eric

[takid455]

Excellent input!
RH sides always hung low on these. Remote filter assumption will be taken in consideration but not mandatory as that's a small percentage of builds. I know some race applications would like something off the self vs custom made. Would be nice to incorporate all builds, but business decision need to be made also. This has a min. 50k+ initial investment thus need the initial run to capture large audiences. Not sure is CNC tubing is an option due to some of the bend complexities. Looked into CNC tube bending in the past for other projects. Other inputs that would be in consideration. Will review that option though. Drivability & fit vs all out max effort. Obviously, we don't want to sacrifice power , but if it means capturing more audience (street vs drag) , I'm willing to give up a little power. Percentage should be small however. D vs RD port is solely be based on audience again. While I'm an enthusiast, I want to recoup the investment in a reasonable time frame. That is the overall factor as to which version is made. CAD & 3D modeling/ scanning will be utilized for this project.

[b-man]

Thread copied to Street, Race and Exhaust Tech forums for additional exposure.

[Elarson]

The tough part is that if somebody is spending that kind of coin, they're going to want to customize features. That might render the whole idea a non-starter.
But for the sake of optimistic conversation, here's some thoughts:

1) build your CAD model based on tube centerline and sized for 2" primaries. Then it would be possible to re-size to 1-7/8 or 1-3/4 without starting over.

2) build your model with the first few inches of primary tube as a separate entity that could be flip-flopped between d-port and round port (same interface to the downstream primaries).

3) design a welding fixture that is so well thought (locating blocks, tube clamps, etc) out that a good kid out of vocational school welding class could put a set together in a couple hours. (they're out there. We had one working on our funny car team)

These might be my latest bad ideas, but I hope this helps and I hope you pursue it.

Eric

[Elarson]

Originally Posted by b-man

Thread copied to Street, Race and Exhaust Tech forums for additional exposure.

Terrific, thanks!

Is there any way to link them so that a post on one gets populated to the others?

Eric

[b-man]

Originally Posted by Elarson

Terrific, thanks!

Is there any way to link them so that a post on one gets populated to the others?

Eric

Not that I know of.

However I will provide a link in each of those other threads to this original one.

[Elarson]

Originally Posted by b-man

Not that I know of.

However I will provide a link in each of those other threads to this original one.

Thanks for your help!

Eric

[Half-Inch Stud]

Tri-Y up top is very nice, but i would hope to move the design to be the dual-pair output, like old SD cast aluminum did. see a second part can take the pair to a universal/STD collector, or a equal-pulse header cross-pipe collector.

2:1 merged collector into 3" or 3.5" STd Collector flange.
And the opportunity to cross 1-pipe over to the other side for even-pulse (pulsetrain ) timing.
Such that the 2-4 goes straight to RH Collector. 6-8 crosses over to LH Collector.
And 1-5 goes straight to LH collector. 3-7 crosses over to RH Collector.

If you don't make em, i will make my own.

[takid455]

Good inputs again. All will be in consideration.

Keep in mind, these will be short run production made at this point. While I have the facilities to have a hired person make them in house, that is not the plan at this time. 1 off custom stuff would be a cost adder. If we were to make say 500 or 1000 units, cost would be lower. 180 deg headers are not in the game plan. Cool as they are & I missed out on a set, I don't see a large population buying them along with a custom oil pan. Not doing a traditional 3 bolt flange. Why, V-band is the new way to go . A no flange option would be feasible however.

[Half-Inch Stud]

Is V-band the stainless sleeve?

[takid455]

Originally Posted by Half-Inch Stud

Is V-band the stainless sleeve?

They are used on turbo plumbing and a fantastic way to attach the header to the exhaust system. Positive sealing, no gasket, easy to remove & reinstall. 1 bolt band camp (in shape of V) holds it all together.


https://www.google.com/search?q=v+ba...&bih=836&dpr=1

[tom s]

I use V bands on the head pipe to exhaust and to the H pipe and to the mufflers.EZ to take apart for pulling engine and trans.Tom

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Since they would be for 1970 - 1981 Bird cars
I think you should cross-post in the 70-73 , 74-76 , 77-81 subsections also to get the best amount of possible feedbacks and inquiries.

Lots more people willing to spend up for better aluminum heads these days,
should be good potential market for better exhaust options too.

Being able to cover Dport and Oport would be maximus so I agree with Eric to try and keep that equation in the initial design phases even though you just want to do one version for now.

High quality and great ft and great looks might catch on