by "MM54" (mm54mk2)
Published 10/01/2017 at 22:57
by "MM54" (mm54mk2)
Published 10/01/2017 at 22:57
Tags: '71Chevelle
STARS: 14
I was going to make a more detailed post, but it’s late, I’m tired, and most of Oppo doesn’t even read my posts about this project (vs my others) so too bad.
The Summit-brand long tubes are in (not without quite a fight though, which involved things like turning the steering wheel so the flat of the shaft was right, removing valve covers, bending the dipstick tube, and other “this shouldn’t be this complicated, this is why I didn’t want long tubes” tasks while inserting the headers from the bottom. No way they’d have gone in from above, and I used every last inch below the car to get them in). Other than #6 (which is a disaster) plug access is very good, and they don’t hang down too low which is also good.
The drivetrain is fully assembled, having adjusted the clutch this morning and pumped the z-bar full of grease (or at least close to it, got tired of pumping and may have run out part way through). In theory it could be started and driven right now, though it would be loud and otherwise unpleasant - especially the rear half of the exhaust banging around.
The interior is all back together (though I realized about an hour ago I put the shift boot on wrong, but this car won’t see rain anytime soon so it’ll be okay until some other time). I still need to take the pin out of the column shifter, and attempt to connect the speedometer (99% sure the cable is too short, going from driver’s to passenger’s side sender). Probably should put oil in the trans, too.
Mainly though, all it’s waiting on is getting the exhaust back together. I have a plan so it should be doable with minimal fuss, if things go well the test drive should be mid-week.
"BvdV - The Dutch Engineer" (dutchengineer)
10/01/2017 at 23:15, STARS: 2
Nice to see you found a way to solve the problem with the previous headers. Great work! (I’ve been enjoying the posts about the Chevelle, but have not been very active in starring/posting replies, sorry)
"Birddog" (maintmgt)
10/01/2017 at 23:41, STARS: 0
Nice! It’s shaping up well.
Why all the work for a set of headers though? They’re horrible on street cars. A set of ported log manifolds would’ve worked just as well.
I’m not judging. I’m just a header hater.
"lone_liberal" (token-liberal)
10/02/2017 at 00:01, STARS: 1
Fighting headers is never fun, but you won!
"merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc" (merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc)
10/02/2017 at 01:27, STARS: 2
Engine masters did a nice video showing how clearancing headers by bashing them doesn’t impact performance, so if you need a bit extra room, bash away.
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"Tristan" (casselts)
10/02/2017 at 02:33, STARS: 1
Excellent! Certainly an optimistic turnaround from your recent sense of hopelessness on this project. I’ve personally manual-swapped a ‘68 Mustang, a ‘93 Mustang and my ‘97 Cherokee, so I understand how difficult all the fiddly bits can be. It’ll all be worth it once you get it out on the street, though!
"BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires" (biturbo228)
10/02/2017 at 05:59, STARS: 1
I’ve seen that a couple of times, and what that suggests to me is that the headers were either oversize to begin with, or there’s another part of the system that’s restricting flow even worse than the bashed and dented headers such that they still flow well enough to maintain the same hp...
Still, does indicate that a little ding or two shouldn’t do very much at all...
"BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires" (biturbo228)
10/02/2017 at 06:00, STARS: 1
Header-hater? How come? What’s the issue on street cars?
"BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires" (biturbo228)
10/02/2017 at 06:01, STARS: 1
Neat :) the thing with tricky exhaust installations is that I can probably count the number of times I’ve had to ever remove an exhaust manifold in normal maintenance on the thumbs of one hand. So long as you can still get to everything, if you get it in once then that’s usually it done barring exceptional circumstances.
"nerd_racing" (nerd189)
10/02/2017 at 10:03, STARS: 1
Looks great man! I hate headers so much, fought many battles with my 64 barracuda to get long tube headers to fit. I ended up losing that battle though. Glad you won!
"MM54" (mm54mk2)
10/02/2017 at 18:37, STARS: 0
Pretty sure the passenger’s side will have to come off if I need to change the starter, but that was the easier side!
"MM54" (mm54mk2)
10/02/2017 at 18:38, STARS: 1
Oh yeah, if I have these off for some reason, there are a few spots getting a nice ball-peen dent before they go back on for sure! They were hard enough to get in place I didn’t want to pull them back off to dent, and there’s no room to do it in the car.
"MM54" (mm54mk2)
10/02/2017 at 18:40, STARS: 1
I like the mid-length ones I had on there, but they didn’t work with the clutch linkage. I could put the manifolds back on (they’re in the shed) but then I still have no downpipes and lose any sort of performance gain, so long tubes it is!
"MM54" (mm54mk2)
10/02/2017 at 18:41, STARS: 1
No worries, sometimes I look through my previous posts to see what Oppo likes (because if you guys don’t like it, I’m not going to waste time writing it!) and it seems this sort of post gets fewer views/comments/stars than ones with the FB or other musings. Certainly not disliked, but not the most popular topic :)
"BvdV - The Dutch Engineer" (dutchengineer)
10/02/2017 at 19:05, STARS: 1
True, same goes for event write-ups and extensive reviews. People only seem to click a lot on FB style short posts and such, like you also concluded.
I used to like writing event write-ups, but now I just limit myself to dumping like 10-15 photo’s with a short discription, any more and people just seem to not bother. Which is a shame, as it brings down the level of content, compared to how it was when I joined about 1,5 years ago.
"BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires" (biturbo228)
10/02/2017 at 19:22, STARS: 1
I’d be happy with that as a compromise :) easier side, and it’s not as if starters are needing to be replaced frequently (hopefully anyway).
"crowmolly" (crowmolly)
10/02/2017 at 22:15, STARS: 0
Glad to see it all came together!
"MM54" (mm54mk2)
10/02/2017 at 22:35, STARS: 0
There’s some sort of black magic going on with the exhaust / h-pipe but tomorrow evening I should it it together (or very close). After that, weather will determine the test drive. It’s been dry for months, and of course supposed to rain the rest of the week.
"Birddog" (maintmgt)
10/04/2017 at 01:32, STARS: 0
On a typical cruiser the gains are minimal compared to the negatives.
Just my opinion though.
"Birddog" (maintmgt)
10/04/2017 at 01:35, STARS: 0
I am loving the the manual swap in a sedan. You’ve been doing some awesome stuff with a car that doesn’t get a lot of love. You want headers? Headers it is! I’m following along either way.