Has anyone tried these or have a reason why they wouldn't? ebay headers:Fits-Chevy-37-62-216-235-261-6-Stainless-Steel-Exhaust-Manifold-Headers

Sorry I guess it's not a clickable link

If you want to post a link you need to click the "Switch to Full Reply Screen" box at the bottom of the window. That goes to a new window with blue boxes across the top. The second from the left is for making links, click it and follow the directions to post your link. It's easy just old fashioned. Try again.

Greetings . . . I fixed the link to the ebay item. I am running this same style header on my 216. Bought them at least ten years ago for closer to 200 bucks. Most other places today are charging ~ $150. I think that the market it is flooded with them so this guy is trying to unload his inventory while their are still buyers. Ask the seller to measure the thickness of the header flange - mine are .375" If the manufacturer has cut corners it will be in the thickness of the materials.

regards,
stock49

Some photos of the installation:

It is fairly cramped quarters on the driver side of a 49 Chevy. With the front clip off you can see the fitment. Once the car is all back together the headers are not prominent under the hood.

I used the front bung to create a choke stove.

The rear-bung interferes with the hand-brake so it had to be ground off.

Thanks, I'll try later on the Ebay and other links as I need to and I will ask about flange thickness. Stock 49 is that a truck or a car? The line to the back choke is that T'ed off the front line? You are using water to heat the intake manifold right? If I understand correctly the heat helps atomize the fuel and it is suggested to use water or exhaust heat. When using water does it circulate back?

It is a Fleetline sedan. Yes the choke stove is feeding both carbs via a brass tee. It is held in place by a piece of flat stock that is rolled over it. The stock throttle bell crank bolt is repurposed to hold the tee high up out of site underneath the intake manifold:


Heating the intake (floor) is an absolute must on street applications. Absent heat the intake charge can separate in the plenum with fuel falling out of suspension and pooling on the floor of the manifold. This can result in bewildering conditions where the foot-feed has been released but the engine keeps surging (where is this fuel coming from)?

Water heat is the preferred approach to intake heat source - sort of a Goldilocks thing. Exhaust heat is very fast acting - but needs to be cut-off at some point to avoid percolation.

Coolant-flow is straight-forward so long as one keeps track of where the various openings available for plumbing exist in relation to the water pump's action.

On my two-duece Edmunds the coolant flows from the back to the front. There is a tee installed where the stock coolant flush petcock is installed:


The water jacket in the Edmund's heats the floor and the carburetor bases to prevent icing:

Coolant is pulled through the intake buy water pump action. The front line is teed into the heater hose inlet fitting on the water pump.

This creates a constant flow loop of coolant through the block and the intake manifold independent of whether the thermostat is open or closed.

These pictures are from a very early mockup on my 216 back in the summer of '13. The headers are powder coated items from Hotrods of Norco. I decided not to run them and bought the stainless set currently installed. The powder coat set is for sale.

The hard-lines for the coolant are brass. I was headed down this path because of corrosion resistance. But I was warned by the 'voices of experience' that both copper and brass are work hardened by vibration and eventually will crack/fail. The hard-lines pictured have all been replaced by cast iron and painted to match the engine block.

regards,
stock49

Thanks for that. So the exhaust heat is used only for the choke and when it warms up that shuts off and the water always flows through a water jacket that is cast into that intake correct? Do the Fenton and Offenhauser intakes have water jackets in them? I'm on a big learning curve here so have patience please. I would like to do this right the first time and do most of it myself. Thanks again.

Both the Fenton and the Offy intakes were designed to bolt up to the stock exhaust manifold. The first addition Fenton headers replicated the stock exhaust manifold 'hot-spot' - allowing the headers to be bolted to a stock Chevy intake manifold or their dual intake. One can buy an aftermarket heat plate that can be made water-tight with a gasket/RTV. For example: OffyHeatPlate@12Bolt