First Noob post advice on header build
 

First off great forum! I found this place through someone on VWvortex.com and have been happily lurking ever since.

Finally got up the guts to attempt a header build for my rabbit pickup. I used these pre formed 2-1 collectors. I was wondering what the best way to weld them all up is going to be? They are formed but it isn't a perfect fit. There are small gaps between the pipes and some situations where there is a small air gap at least 180 degrees around the pipe. I was thinking maybe hold it tight with a vice grip and weld up a section then move to another and repeat. Or maybe just glob a bunch of weld on and deal with it? Should I just weld in between the pipes? Any general comments on what I've got going so far?

Thanks in advance.

[IMG]http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/e...w/DSC03809.jpg[/IMG]

nice

yeah it looks brilliant.

a little gap is good it provide a stronger weld.

With a lap joint?

The weld material is stronger than the base metal.

Header looks damn good.

Pretty nice looking header. :cool:

were did you buy those merge collectors

If you're using filler a little gap should be fine. Once you get a weld started you'll see both ends wet and then you just stick the rod in and the two become one. With TIG anyway. I don't know a lot about MIG, but it seems to fill in gaps even better.

Thanks for the info folks. I will be TIGing it. I ordered the collectors from Columbia River Formed Collectors - Columbia River Mandrel Bending but they had someone else drop ship them to me I forget whom.

So has anyone personally used any of these pre-formed jobbies? Do you folks think I can just glob some weld in between the pipes? Also, when final welding is there a particular end I should start from or anything? Pre heat? Like I said I'm a noob at this. Thanks!

I`ve ordered many times from columbia river mandrel bending - they are awesome

looks decent

Looks nice, how did you figure what cylinders to pair up on the first set of Y's

Mainly copied other commercially available headers but the firing order is 1-3-4-2

You could do a weld over the places that have gaps and will leak air, as long as it is a good weld and covers it up you should have no problems.

From what I have seen...

You weld the tubes together on the ends and then slip the coupler over the tubing and weld it onto the outsides of the tubing.

Something like this: Picture

Good job. I like it.

hammer

I spent quite awhile mulling over the collector welding issue. I tried adding filler in the crack but it was a big ugly mess.


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I ended up just welding the ends of the pipe up and adding material to fill the gaps then sliding the collector on and welding it up as suggested above. It seemed to work. I'm going to take it to work and smoke test it for leaks later this week.


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Some welds turned out better than others. It's got some obvious issues but I learned a lot and hopefully it will hold up OK.


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Fillet welds are easy to make look good. But are they strong?

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The collectors were where I had the biggest issues. I was never able to get a nice tight gapless joint "" all the way around. As a result I had consistency and undercut issues.

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This one turned out like absolute garbage. I think I got it too hot or something? Sadly it will be one of the most visible welds once it's in the car.


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Anyhoo here's the finished product


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Installed

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Tucks up there nice and tight with plenty of ground clearance.

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So I can get low.

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Welding experts please give me some feedback.

Good job, it looks like you copied a common honda 4cyl header layot

Looks pretty good. Those welds don't have to hold up a heavy turbo, so they should be ok. The welds look a little odd. In the 3rd pic is the center of the weld lower than the two mating pieces? To me it looks that way in a lot of the pics. When doing a lap joint I was told to focus the heat on the bottom piece and build the weld up to the top piece to avoid washing out the top piece.

Good job for the 1st time though, way better than anything I could make!

Thanks! Yeah I was washing the ---- out of that top peice. It was a result of those pre-made collectors not fitting tightly on the pipes. If I had taken my time a bit more I could/should have properly built up the bead to meet the top metal. Looking back I think my main issue was that I knew what the proper way to do most of this stuff was, but I was so excited that I sorta blasted through it insted of stopping to let the metal cool, sharpening my tungsten, planning every pass, etc. Next time I'm going to try and be more patient.

In the meantime I figured out a great way to hide poor craftsmanship: Blind em with bling!
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wow man. thats realy nice for first timer.....