[BMFH]

Hello All

Ah, the Stainless Steel Exhaust System

For all of those of you that are handy with Fabrication, a hack saw, a cut off wheel, Die Grinder, Disc Sander and a MIG Welder.

Current Application: 1969 Tempest Sprint / 4 Speed, Although any OHC 6 Sprint Can use this Application, Even the Lowly 1 Barrel OHC 6 Can use some of this information too.

I had a broken 4 barrel Intake Manifold where the exhaust mates to it that couldn’t be fixed easily or cheaply.

Solution: Grind off ALL of the section that seals to the top of the Exhaust Manifold, Bind bolts in the threads and Peen over the Bolts on the inside to Seal the 2 bolt holes left in the bottom of the intake manifold, then grind Flush

I also had an Exhaust Manifold that was missing the Heat Riser Valve and had badly worn tapers for the “Y” Pipe to Seal to.

Solution: Grind off ALL of that section that seals to the “Y” Pipes “FLAT”
Take a Die Grinder and a Rotary File Bit and Enlarge the Outlet holes to fit your choice of Exhaust Pipe you WANT to use. Its Important to keep the hole “ROUND” and just large enough to let the Exhaust Pipe in. (I used 2 ¼” O.D. Stainless Steel Exhaust Tubing) you will have to fabricate or purchase 2 exhaust flanges to mate up with the manifold, I used a metal exhaust gasket from and import, just had to enlarge the I.D a little, it gives a nice tite leak proof Seal too, keep the manifold FLAT for this to seal on.

Grind off ALL, or as much as you can of the mating surface that mated to the Intake Manifold and keeping the surface “FLAT” for Sealing Purposes. Fabricate a 3/16” plate the shape of this area, (use a new gasket as a template) Drill the boltholes needed, MIG Weld in the 3/8”bolts to the plate so that they look like studs sticking down and long enough to go through the Exhaust Manifold. Use a lot of HEAT in welding them into the plate, Bolt heads should stick a little through the plate when welded in, again use a lot of HEAT for good Penetration.

Bend the plate so that it has a SLIGHT Bow downwards between the Studs/bolts, this will give extra pressure on the gasket to help keep it tight and good pressure on it to help keep it from blowing out.

Use Stainless Steel or Brass Nuts on these Studs so that you can get it apart someday if needed without breaking the bolts.

Use some Good Quality Muffler Sealer Goop on the gasket and mating surfaces and bolt on your Fabricated Plate, Let it Set up for a day or so to make sure its hardened good.

Now for the Fun Part

Go out to your favorite Junk Yard, Pic-N-Pull or Auto Recycler for the PC crowd.

Don’t Tell The Guys at the Junk Yard that you want the piping only for the Mandrel Bent Stainless Steel Bends; otherwise the price may go WAY UP, just Our Secret. Check the prices for Stainless Steel “U” bends on the Net. Give them some lame story why you need so much Exhaust Pipe, Don't tell them because it is Stainless Steel.

Locate 1995 Dodge Neon you can go up and down in years and Chrysler brands, I just found allot of 95’s that suited my needs.

Look at the Exhaust System Piping, if you look you will see MANDRAL BENT STAINSESS STEEL EXHAUST PIPE.

MAKE SURE you don’t get the ones that are collapsed or distorted at the end of the bends.

Snag as much of the Exhaust as you can or might need, maybe 2-3 cars worth, you will have your 2 ¼’ Stainless Steel Exhaust System in Hand, there are Perfect 45*, 90* bends and a lot of straight pipe, and a muffler if you want it.

Take it home and start cutting and Welding as needed.

There are perfect bends that you can cut out and fabricate Dual 2 ¼” down pipes to meet at a joining of 2 of the 45 Degree bends with about an inch gap between them. Then take a piece of 3” Stainless Steel Exhaust Pipe from just about any Diesel P/U, Smash one end and make it Oval to fit the other “Y” Pipes.

You also need to reduce the “Collector” to the Diameter of the exhaust System pipes, take another piece of 3” Stainless Steel Exhaust Pipe of the length you will need, (Split it at the original Seam if you can see one) take the split all the way from one end to the other end less about 3/8”, Now get several worm type of hose clamps and put on the Exhaust Pipe and pull it together inside itself until you get the desired outlet diameter you need, mark it, remove the clamps, cut it with a cut-off wheel or hack saw, Clamp it again, tack it, Remove the clamps and Weld it up. Now you have the Reducing Cone.

You can Weld this onto your Collector or make a Disconnect point for open headers night, if you use the Standard Header Flanges, Weld them onto the pipes and tuck them up as far as you can so that they don’t Drag the Road or Ground.

Nothing worse that SCRAPPING YOUR HEADERS WHEN PULLING IN SOMEWHERE.

Now you have a “Y” Pipe and Exhaust Manifold and ENGINE that can “BREATHE”

MUFFLERS:
I used an Oval 426 Hemi Muffler Myself, used bushings at each end, Ran 2 ¼” Stainless Steel Pipe all the way out and Exited below the bumper.

It could use a Resonator because it Drones allot, but it sounds BITCH’N when Idling, sounds like it is a GTO setting there.

EXHAUST PIPES:
They are mostly a Cut, Fit and Weld general Fabrication process, the over the Axle is a Tuffy, weld the Exhaust with the MIG in a Spot Weld Type of welding so as not to get too much weld and wire inside the pipe.

After finished paint the exhaust system with Aluminum High Heat Header Paint and “Shazzam”, it looks like a new Aluminized Exhaust System; nobody will know it is Stainless Steel unless you tell them. Best part You Will Never Have to Do This “AGAIN”, and it will NEVER RUST OUT, Just change a Muffler maybe once or twice.

A GOOD, TIGHT, STRAIGHT, CUT/JOINT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO AID IN GETTING A GOOD WELD AND SMOOTHE WELD INSIDE THE WELD JOINT. Our main purpose here is to let our little Cammer’s “BREATH”

It is very important that the Car is setting on All 4’s and at its normal Designed Curb Weight during the Exhaust Pipe fabrication, especially when going over the Differential and trying to get the clearance from the Springs, Shocks, Tires, Diff Housing, Control Arms, Etc.

All I can say is that it made a TREMENDOUS DIFFERENCE ON MY SPRINT

An Extra Benefit is, that the new Air Gap between the Intake and Exhaust Manifolds lets the Air Charge in at a much COOLER Temp. You get some heat riser effect when going slow and idling, but at Wide Open Throttle the raw fuel and vapor laden air charge will cool everything right down just when you need it the most, at WOT.

Another Note: While off, I ported the Exhaust Manifold ports and removed as much of the obstructions as possible to help too, I reached way down in there too.

Sorry this got SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Long, Hope it works for those of you want to try it.

Also note that no “GOOD OHC 6 SPRINT PARTS WERE DISTROYED” There are a lot of damaged Sprint parts around to work with.

I used mine because I just couldn’t justify throwing them away for Scrap or as JUST “TRASH”. Now their RUNNING STRONGER THAT EVER.

Last note: this is a very time consuming project, takes allot more time than Money for those who want to do it. Hope your Wife or Girlfriend will want to help too, at least you will be spending time with them.

Take Care,

Dusty

P.S.
I did not alter my Original Sprint Exhaust System components, they are in a safe place, now if I can just remember where I put them, LOL