Quote:
Originally Posted by WardL
David, I have the standard SPF exhaust headers and heard they are what is best, but I question that statement. Are there any basics or calculations to determine the optimum design? When you were bending tubes, were you bending them to fit or did you have some particular calculated design in mind? I what other criteria can you design for besides diameter and length? I'm assuming one goal is to have the same length tube out of each port? I'm not going into the design business, but would like to know what is "best" for my engine. Any comments would be very interesting. Thx!
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There are myriad design considerations when making an exhaust system--equal length headers being one of them. On a Cobra, however, there really isn't enough room to do that. Other considerations we take into account are different alloys (stainless being better than mild steel, but costing more). We use stainless alloy 304. 321 is even better, but it is quite hard and expensive to find. 321 is much more resistant to heat than 304, but we have never had any issue with 304.
When we make an exhaust system, we either make them by hand, jig them, and then CNC program them...
OR
If we have complete CAD data, we will design them in CAD and then program them into our mandrel CNC tube bender.
As for detailed exhaust theory, I'll ask my brother Thomas to comment. He is an encyclopedia on such topics. My field is manufacturing and alloy selection.
David
