I started installing my A-1 today (2.0L T4, '63 stock body T1) and found that there are a lot of fitting issues. My exhaust is ceramic coated.
What is the appropriate procedure for fitment? Just bend it til it fits or heat it first? How much heat? Red hot at the current bends?
How about where the 2 left side pipes fit into the right side tubes? Just the interference fit on these is ok? Or have to weld up these seams?
Guidance appreciated.
Thanks,
doc
A-1 Exhaust Installation
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MASSIVE TYPE IV
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Doc,
The ceramic coating adds some challenges when sliding the tubes together for sure..
What I do is sand down the joints where they slide together to the point that they will slide snug without resistance.
The system is made to allow engine expansion and thats why the two tubes have slip joints in them. do not weld these, just sand the pieces down to allow for a good fit and go from there, leaks are not an issue.
No bending should be needed at all.. do some searches here for Samcats experience fitting his header, which ended up being interferance with his dipstick tube adaptor, not the header at all.
Where are your issues other than the slip joints?
Ensure that the small dots on each stub pipe point outboard away from the engine and also know that there are two different stub pipes, one for cylinders 2&3 and another for #1 and #4 because of the port offsets of the engine...
The ceramic coating adds some challenges when sliding the tubes together for sure..
What I do is sand down the joints where they slide together to the point that they will slide snug without resistance.
The system is made to allow engine expansion and thats why the two tubes have slip joints in them. do not weld these, just sand the pieces down to allow for a good fit and go from there, leaks are not an issue.
No bending should be needed at all.. do some searches here for Samcats experience fitting his header, which ended up being interferance with his dipstick tube adaptor, not the header at all.
Where are your issues other than the slip joints?
Ensure that the small dots on each stub pipe point outboard away from the engine and also know that there are two different stub pipes, one for cylinders 2&3 and another for #1 and #4 because of the port offsets of the engine...
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samcat
- Posts: 1088
- Joined: Tue Jun 12, 2001 12:01 am
Yup, I had some real headaches, all due to the dipstick mount being WAY too thick for my particular installation.
First and easiest thing to try is unbolt and remove the dipstick part from the block and retry, that will tell you if thats causing you the trouble.
Caused issues like these (warning this one is a big picture):
http://members.lycos.co.uk/vdubhub/a_te ... ntFit1.jpg
As you can see (or not) in this picture the exhaust was pressed hard against the bolts holding the dipstick adapter in place.
Fortunatly my dad worked as an engineer and as a hobby is a model engineer... Means I have access to a milling machine, lathes etc
This is the thickness that worked for me in the end, left a sensible gap of around 10mm between exhaust and the dipstick adaptor.
We took material off BOTH faces to reduce the risk of going through on the front.
If you get stuck drop me an email and I can try and help you with the problem.
As I have said before, Jake was a HUGE help when I encountered these problems, even going to the lengths of shipping an entire second exhaust system over to me, and offering all manner of advice and even responding to emails when he was offline to everyone else! Class service.
Cheers,
Sam C
PS. Dont get frustrated with it, I started to and that when I made a mistake and lost a washer into the exhaust port. luckily I managed to fish it out without tearing the head off...
First and easiest thing to try is unbolt and remove the dipstick part from the block and retry, that will tell you if thats causing you the trouble.
Caused issues like these (warning this one is a big picture):
http://members.lycos.co.uk/vdubhub/a_te ... ntFit1.jpg
As you can see (or not) in this picture the exhaust was pressed hard against the bolts holding the dipstick adapter in place.
Fortunatly my dad worked as an engineer and as a hobby is a model engineer... Means I have access to a milling machine, lathes etc
This is the thickness that worked for me in the end, left a sensible gap of around 10mm between exhaust and the dipstick adaptor.
We took material off BOTH faces to reduce the risk of going through on the front.
If you get stuck drop me an email and I can try and help you with the problem.
As I have said before, Jake was a HUGE help when I encountered these problems, even going to the lengths of shipping an entire second exhaust system over to me, and offering all manner of advice and even responding to emails when he was offline to everyone else! Class service.
Cheers,
Sam C
PS. Dont get frustrated with it, I started to and that when I made a mistake and lost a washer into the exhaust port. luckily I managed to fish it out without tearing the head off...
ʇɐɔɯɐs
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MASSIVE TYPE IV
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- Joined: Fri Jul 07, 2000 12:01 am
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doc
- Site Admin
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No, Jake you're wrong. TWO people had the stub pipes inverted. 
I did not see the outside dots (or the cylinder numbers Tiger etched on each stub!). What a maroon! Once I got the stub pipes on the proper cylinders, everything lines "pretty close". Not just a piece of cake to fit, but much better than before.
Samcat, thanks for pics and offer of help. You'll be sorry. Interestingly, the exhaust doesn't come anywhere near the dipstick adaptor on mine. I must have one of Jake's newer ones. I'll try to take some pics and post once I get everything screwed down. I must say, even with a little struggle to fit and NO INSTRUCTIONS, I am impressed with the A-1. It is really well done. It's obvious that A-1 put more thought into building it than I did into installing it.
You know me - 3 steps forward and two steps back!
doc
I did not see the outside dots (or the cylinder numbers Tiger etched on each stub!). What a maroon! Once I got the stub pipes on the proper cylinders, everything lines "pretty close". Not just a piece of cake to fit, but much better than before.
Samcat, thanks for pics and offer of help. You'll be sorry. Interestingly, the exhaust doesn't come anywhere near the dipstick adaptor on mine. I must have one of Jake's newer ones. I'll try to take some pics and post once I get everything screwed down. I must say, even with a little struggle to fit and NO INSTRUCTIONS, I am impressed with the A-1. It is really well done. It's obvious that A-1 put more thought into building it than I did into installing it.
You know me - 3 steps forward and two steps back!
doc