Cheaper Than Therapy: A Build Thread

[ntsqd]

V-Bands aka "Marmon Clamps" or "Marmon Joints" are nice and tidy too. What I don't like about them is that they don't repeat rotational orientation unless you get tricky and key the flanges before you weld them on. Sometimes that lack of keying is a bonus, but it drives the anal part of me nuts!

I build exhausts in sections so that I can easily remove part of the system if it's in the way of working on something. I also use those bolts to attach the exhaust hangers. A hanger that I added to the existing system under the FSB "Snowball", the system has since been replaced but there's still joint there with the hanger.

My old Vintage Racing & Touring employer put me onto using brass nuts on exhaust systems. No lock washers, no all-metal lock nuts, just brass nuts on SS or carbon steel bolts. In almost 30 years of doing it this way I've never, ever had one work loose. The working hypothesis is that the difference in thermal expansion of brass vs. steel keeps them tight.

 

[nvrstuk]

Brass nuts.... I need a set of those sometimes on some of those off camber sections on Sand Hollow's "The Fallen" trail... I was so grateful Gordon was spotting me!

 

[nvrstuk]

You have room to go over the frame and in front of the body mounts. I did put a heat shield btw the two. I also run 3" pipes and cut the collectors shorter on my shorty headers. I didn't have a left shoulder when doing this and my exhaust guy didn't do the best job but it works great- just doesn't look great. V-band clamps work excellent for what I have but I exited the 20" long bodied mufflers and ran my pipes on top of the frame rails on both sides out the back. Only spot available for my build and works fine.

 

[ntsqd]

Brian, that calls for iron, not brass.

My experience has been that if there's airflow thru a tight zone it works a whole lot better than when the air in the zone is fairly stagnant but the gap is larger.

I've seen heat shields done in aluminum and in stainless. My own preference, based on nothing scientific, is for aluminum.
Unless you know it's going to get really, really freakin hot and frequently. Years ago I was part of an R&D team working on a new design of patio heater. The Infrared emitter was a sphere, and the spun 3000 series aluminum reflector was 6" away at the closest. When we put it together the reflector would dully ring when bumped. A couple propane tanks into heating the shop in the mornings er, testing the system I realized that the reflector was dead soft!!! Could re-shape it with your fingers, and with very little effort.

 

[Yeller]

Was told once that I must clank when I walk after driving a fullsize K5 up Devils Punch Bowl... I didn't think it was that big a deal LOL.

I too prefer aluminum for heat shields, mostly because I have a bunch of it and it is lighter than anything else that is effective. I love V band clamps on exhaust but I have found that rotation can be an issue, requiring more hangers. I've used a bunch of the smooth SS band clamps, they work but are far from perfect, they work better on short systems, have 2 on my bronco and they work great, but on a pickup with the system expands/contracts too far and eventually they pull apart. The system that TS came up with works extremely well.

 

[ntsqd]

Realized that I hadn't included my latest iteration of the exhaust connector. I don't expand or have the downstream tube expanded any more. I use a short section of expanded tube set slightly over-lapping and weld it to the downstream tube. I find this to be faster and simpler than expanding the end of the downstream tube. I can have a 6"-8" long section of tube expanded and then cut ~3/4" wide rings off of it for each connector.