Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines Kansa Kustoms Notice

This message is posted for Kansas Kustoms:

Fellow Inliners-

Kansas Kustoms will no longer be offering the service of splitting exhaust manifolds. We've done over 500 manifolds in the last 12 years. I didn't keep close count but about 100 were sold to Inliner members.
I'll try to get the ad in the 12-post pulled asap. Sorry for any inconvienence this causes anyone.

Mike Yoder,
Kansas Kustoms

soory to here that. hope mike is going to be working on his own projects now. tom

I knew I should of sent in my exhaust manifold.
Can anyone tell me who does such work?
I have a 250 motor off a 70 Camaro that I would like to have the manifold split.
Thanks,
Alex

Welding cast iron is 'tricky' and with the cost an avilability of good headers today, It's just not worth it any more.

"spiting" started in the late 40s because there were no headers then and it was a 'cheap charlie' way to go for the Muffler Shops.

Langdon has a good set I'm told, or you could get a C-40 truck manifold. There are steel ones too.

Good luck.

Thank you John for the info.
I'm sorry, I must sound stupid but all of this is new to me. I need more help.
Where can I get these headers, and how much?
Please direct me, thank you.

For Tom Langdon's "Stovebolt" enterprise, see the "12-Port Advertisers" link on the Inliners home page, or contact Tom Langdon directly at

theboss@stoveboltengineco.com

God's Peace to you.

d
Inliner #1450

Tom has them new and there on e-bay (used) all the time.

I don't recall who makes the steel (tube) ones.

Check this out:

They are only $132.95
http://www.fastpts.com/cgi-bin/hazel-cgi/hazel.cgi?action=serve&item=hrheader.html

They even have stainless steel headers.
I orderd a sat a while ago - I let you folks know how they work - it may take a while till they come over here to Germany.

I'd be the first to agree that 'splitting' an exhaust manifold is nowhere near as theoretically correct in terms of exhaust gas flow, compared to 'Fenton' or equivalent free-flow manifolding.

That said, if you can't get, or can't afford, a set of best-quality headers, adding another exhaust stack by splitting the manifold will help your engine to some extent just by providing a second exhaust pipe, to cut down on the back-pressure of the original system.

I've done up a number of split manifolds, one time and another, not nearly so fancily as Mike Yoder's work, tho.

Its actually a very simple, easy job. I'm planning to split a couple of manifolds for 218/230 Dodge/Ply engines in the near future, and, if anyone in the S. F. bay area of California might be interested, I'll invite them to visit, and see how its done.

If you'd like to do up a split manifold for yourself, the basic process is ever so easy. First, practice a good bit with the DC arc-welder and 'machinable ni-cast' rod, til you can get a nice smooth bead, with 'just enough' penetration, and no or minimal under-cutting, on the thin iron of a manifold casting.

No one can really explain this in print, you have to 'get the feel' for yourself by practising on scrap manifold castings. Don't let your welding-supply person try to talk you into using the cheaper 'non-machinable' ni-rod...the 'good stuff' is not cheap, to be sure, but you won't need all that many pounds of it.

Using a Mopar flat 6 as an exemplar, cut off the flange from a 'donor' scrap manifold, and file/grind/mill it flat/parallel to its gasket face. Clean both the manifold and the new flange by glass- or sand-blasting, or at least go over the surfaces to be welded with a carboloy rotary file in a die-grinder to get to clean iron below any rust/surface inclusions.

Clamp up the new flange in position.....I usually place the new flange in the centre of the four-bolt pattern, but others prefer to place it ahead of the bolt pattern.....thats purely a personal preference.

Warm the manifold a bit by any convenient means.....little propane torches work well...you needn't get it very hot, just 'take the chill off'.

Run the weld by doing a very short....slightly larger than a dime....bead, with the ni-cast, and, immediately....fast as you can move....peen the bead as it cools with the pointy end of a common 'slag hammer'.

Peen the weld with great vigour, as the idea is that you are stretching the weld bead slightly as it cools, to compensate for the natural shrinkage of the weld.

Go away and do something else for a few minutes, til the manifold is 'cool' again. Then, run a short bead on the opposite side of the flange, and peen as before.

After another few minutes, put a bead half way between the first ones, 'on the quarter' so to speak, peen and let cool.

Continue til you have a good sound weld all the way around the flange, then drill out the manifold casting to open it to the new flange, using a suitable hole-saw, and fair the edges with a carboloy rotary-file.

Form a suitable baffle-plate from 1/8" steel, weld it in place, and the job is done.

The only moderately difficult aspect of this job is that of maintaining sufficient patience to allow the casting to cool between the short beads.

If done correctly, the warpage will be extremely minimal, not enough to affect anything, but its best to assemble the exhaust manifold to the intake, check for flatness/parallelism, and send the manifold assy out for grinding if its out more than .005-ish over full length.

As an expedient alternative, clean/polish the gasket surfaces of the block and manifold, gently snug the manifold assy in place using only the two nuts on the long centre studs, and try the manifold-to-block fit with feeler-gages.

If you haven't a suitable surface grinder, or a nearby shop who can grind the manifold surface for you, its possible, with some care, to bring down the 'high spots' with a disc-sander, used judiciously.

When 'close' by feeler-gage, put some prussian-blue on the block, and fit the manifold assy to the block, noting the highs marked by the blue.....sand down the highs a thou or two, and try again.....with a bit of care, you can get a perfect (80pct blue or better) fit, so you'll never have to worry about a manifold gasket failure in service. This may sound tedious and time-consuming, but its really much easier than it sounds.

cheers

Carla

Carla,That very clear description of your process makes it sound too easy or easy enough to at least try.

Carla, thanks for the description. FYI, Tom Langdon is also now selling cast iron Fentons for the small block Plymouth and Dodge sixes.

i have been welding cast iron for years and will glad to split manifolds. i will give a discount to club menbers.i also do head work

You can also TIG weld cast iron. I couldn't find proper 'naked' rod so just took some stick rod and beat the flux off with a hammer.

So how much will you charge me Bob?
I have a 250 motor off a 70 Camaro.
Thanks,
Alex

normal would be $100. for club members $75

Ed....'good on you' for your TIG work on cast iron.....have you tried 'TIG brazing' also, for cast iron part restoration work?

I don't know what the actual alloy or purity difference between the common brazing rod sold for torch work and the version specified for TIG-brazing might be, but I've had some really good results with the stuff.

bob308.....'good on you'....considering today's economics, you're giving the folks here a really good deal on your work.... : )

Do you have a source for the 'add-on' flange castings which were once commonly supplied to muffler shops for manifold splitting?

The reason I ask is that we looked through the small collection of old Mopar exhaust manifolds in the clutter here, and, as dumb luck would have it, all the ones we have are good ones, and I'm a bit hesitant to destroy a good one by salvaging the flange area from it.

Does anyone here have a stray old Dodge/Ply flat-six exhaust manifold or two which is cracked or otherwise damaged, which I could buy cheaply to salvage the flange area?

cheers

Carla

no i do not have a source for the flanges. if there is enough responce i could make one or two patterns and get them cast. maybe 2 bolt chevy like the fentons use.that mite be hard though be cause most of the foundries around here don't pour iron any more.

i do know it is best not to use brass on any ehaust parts becaus of the vibration it cracks.

Bob, can you give me an e-mail address that I can send you a pic of my application, or maybe your number so that I can talk to you about it some more? I would like to send you my manifold if possible. Thanks, Alex

my e mail is weldor@superpa.net

If anyone can send me a pattern of the flanges, I can enter into my CAD program and water-jet or laser cut any flange patterns. The cost would be the price of the material, shipping and that's it!It would be advantages to have more than one to cut as the set up on the Laser cutter is the most time consuming. So, if I can get a number of folks who can use these items, I can cut all at one time.

Bob Malin
Raprap
1940 ChoppedChevyCoupe

How's your new place, Bob??