the stainless 16v header build

[alex g]

finally got hold of the bends and gear to get a start on the header,306 stainless 1 3/4 primarys to 2 inch secondarys to 2 1/2 exhaust.

it was quite hard to get started but once i had a start i e general shape and length depth it went quite well, will be finishing welding it soon

enjoy

a few hundred dollars worth of bends
and a watercut flange



it got easier from hear

[alex g]

[h100vw]

Big effort there dude, I commend you for spending the time to do this yourself. You'll reap the benefits, good manifold on a mk1 16V install is easy worth 10 hp if not more.

I built one in 96 and used a manifold made by Ashley, not that well put together but the Supersprint alternative was twice the money and LHD.

Gavin

[Oneofthegreats]

Nice work. Hat's off to you for having a go that's for sure.

The only thing I'd recommend is after you've finished all the welding it to have the header flange resurfaced due to heat warping the face. This has happened to me on a couple of turbo manifolds.

[Golf Loon]

Sweet job bro, good to see you posting again.

Watch the clearance on the steering rack. Thats where all the aftermarket ones catch.

[evorobin]

Awesome work. Been looking at some headers now...

[DVR68U]

hey alex nice work cant wait to see your car
cheers brenton

[aussieg60]

That is excellent, never really seen the method for making custom manifolds !! Great, whats the thickness of the steel your using ? What does T306 signify ? Sorry with the dumb questions

[alex g]

306 is the grade of stainless it is a middle of the road general purpose easily polishable easily weldable, the wall thickness is like 1.5 mm so it is thin but not to thin.
the welding is 80 percent done and with a little stretching and warping its all looking good

[Bluerex]

That welding mask looks familiar... did you publish a series on the Vorvex a while back?

C

Damn fine work BTW

[alex g]

the header is all finished and just working on the secondary's

[GoLfMan]

beautiful piece of exhaust spaghetti mate

[silverMK1]

they are gonna rip man... thin stainless generates heaps of heat though.. its not a turbo so doesn't matter as much. good work, looks heaps different than other exhausts ive seen, 2 flex joins with the 2 long pipes.

[golf3]

That's awesome!
If I didn't have turbo plans, then that's the way I'd definitely like to go!

[blackgti1.8]

Nice work mate. They reckon that headers are not as hard as they look, but I've never suscribed to that theory
Very long secondaries - much longer than I've seen before.
Is this your own design, or is it a published spec?

About from the steering rack (as Loon mentioned), the other thing to watch
is that the downpipes don't get too close to the inner CV boot - too much heat