Butch's 64 Sport Fury... Exhaust system education

[Butch Edison <waedison@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi all. My last post was about the gyrations I went through to get my 64
Sport Fury 383 to cool properly before taking it to Reno for Hot August
Nights. I REALLY appreciate the comments and replies, have saved some for
future projects.

This note is about improvements to my exhaust system. I should talk about my
Torqueflite rebuild at the same time, but won't. You'll just have to keep in
mind that I wasn't aware I had a transmission issue until the exhaust system
was buttoned up.....because I couldn't hear the noise coming from the TF.

So, I wanted to change up a fairly cobbled up header and exhaust system to
something that would
A. Allow me to use a stock Mopar full size starter. Just love that reduction
gear sound, authentic Mopar.
B. Let me put studs back into the heads instead of bolts, so I don't have to
deal with antifreeze dripping down the block when I do something with the
headers.
C. Lets me get at the spark plugs.
D. Of couse, looks good and performs well.


So, after watching comments on this forum for a couple of years, I went with
Schumacher headers and TTI exhaust. I was advised up front by one of the
companies that the marriage of these two systems would not be bolt-up
affair. TTI sold me a generic coupling set of pipes to overcome that
problem. I envisioned that the piece going to the header outlet would be
flanged already, but not so. Everything was going to be a complete cut and
butt weld job. TTI's instruction sheet had a great suggestion; build the
exhaust system from the back to the front, then cut and fit the pieces
between the H-Pipe and the headers using 1/2" copper tubing to make the
templates. But....tick tock, tick tock. I'm looking at the calendar and just
know that there aren't enough hours in the days for me to get it done,
especially since I'd never done it before. So, I trailered the car to the
radiator/exhaust/tranny shop I used for my radiator issues. The owner did a
great job, manufactured one piece mandrel bent pipes that go directly from
the headers to the H-pipes. Everything was professionally welded. This is a
job I really wanted to do myself, but time just would not allow. It would
never have looked as good as the shop did it, so $$$$$ well spent.

AND....it turned out for the best for another reason. I had just installed
the Torqueflite that Pat Blais rebuilt for me and it was speaking to me
about some adjustments it needed, but I couldn't hear it over the open
headers. But ladies and gentlemen, in my humble opinion, open headers are
simply the BEST way to run a big block Mopar.   :)


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