Stainless Turbo Header

[Capnbondo]

Hey guys,

thought I'd share some pics of a turbo header i am building for a guy.

Plan is to make a jog to I can make a few copies.

I've made a few headers, but all one offs. Any suggestions or sample pics of header jigs? Thanks!

Not much actual welding yet- just tacked together, but I will update.

Collector:












Tacked together:





In the car:





Runner #1 needs a little tweaking but overall I am hppy with the design.

[David R]

If your welding skills are as good as your layout and fitup, its gonna be awesome!

David

[Kinger]

I love turbo bricks, cool!

Nice cuts/fitment. Is the center of the collector welded from the inside?

[DesertRider33]

Nice notching and fit-up!

It looks like some of those joints will be very hard to get to for welding, with all of the pipes already tacked into place.

[Capnbondo]

Thanks guys!

Yeah, now that it is all tacked together, I will remove one runner at a time, weld that runner solid, and then weld it to the collector. There will still inevitably be a few spots that are tricky to get at, but it is much easier this way than if I tried to to weld it up as it is right now- that would be next to impossible I think.

[MicroZone]

That's the way to do it ! This was an n/a Volvo that he's turning into a turbo Volvo?

[chopper5]

thats nice your gona post more pic's

[Rojodiablo]

HOLY OCTOPUS BATMAN!!!!!! That is the best looking set of headers I have seen in a while. Great taper work, really nice looking flares and fitup!!!

[malich]

Originally Posted by Capnbondo

Thanks guys!

Yeah, now that it is all tacked together, I will remove one runner at a time, weld that runner solid, and then weld it to the collector. There will still inevitably be a few spots that are tricky to get at, but it is much easier this way than if I tried to to weld it up as it is right now- that would be next to impossible I think.

I am not a professional by any means, but I would weld as much as I could on the tubes before I remove them to help with holding positioning.

Just an idea...

[Capnbondo]

Thanks guys!

I just got my 14" vertical bandsaw set up with a 1.5hp treadmill motor- it does a great job on the collector parts.

I'd be nice to have a horizontal so I can "set it and forget it" for simple cuts,
but when you are cutting miters with a really small included angle the vertical rocks!

Originally Posted by malich

I am not a professional by any means, but I would weld as much as I could on the tubes before I remove them to help with holding positioning.

Just an idea...

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that I had any issues regarding how to weld it up. I've made a few of these and I have a pretty good system down in terms of the order of operations with welding them- my main issue is with respect to building a jig so I can make copies at a later date.

I've seen some jigs for simple NA headers and some of it carries over, but it is going to be tricky I think.

I may need to build the jig so that I can bolt the guides on for individual runners since different guides weill interfere with others....

In som way I'd like to make it from steel or aluminum, but I also think that making it from 2" thick dimensional lumber might be good, and fast.

Any thoughts?

Thanks again for the feedback, guys.

[shott8283]

after all the joints are welded.. are you going to weld the tubes on the head side of the flange and then machine it down?

im just wondering how you would go about welding an air tight bead around the pipe to flange joint when you put the 2nd 3rd 4th pipes on...

the fit up and fabrictation looks top notch!

[Shox Dr]

Looking good, what's the wall thickness and type of tube, it looks to be too thick to be Dairy Bends/tubing.

[Capnbondo]

Basically you remove one runner, weld it solid, tack it back onto the collector and flange, then weld it to the collector, then weld it to the flange. Rinse and repeat for the reast, so there is never less than 3 runners tacked tgo the flanges at one time, so nothing ends up moving around on you.

The runner is welded on the outside of the flange, not the head side.

Here is a pic from another header I did:



Hope that makes sense. You do end up having to start/stop once or twice to re-position. But in my opinion with TIG you can do this and still have an air tight joint provided you pay a little attention.

The material is 1.5" Schedule 10 (just under 1/8" thick). So you can easily get good penetration without going all the way through. This is nice because it avoids the whole backpurge situation.

16 gauge would be a little lighter but I would have to charge way more for 'em.

[zapster]

You get all the fun jobs...

...zap!

[papasloan]

Very nice job. Fit up is great. Looking forward to seeing it completely welded.
By the pics I could tell that was a lot thicker than the 16ga I use.

[Skwerly]

Very nice work, I couldn't do that in a million years lol.

[tresi]

Looks great but someone tied your tubes in a knot. How many hours will you have in a job like that when finished?

[Me!]

Wow...
How long did it take to fit it up?

[Capnbondo]

Thanks guys!

Papasloan,

do you 16 gauge 304? if so, do you use it for turbo headers or just normally aspirated? Interested to know how it is working for you.

Some people have issues with 304 cracking, even with schedule 10, so I'm interested to see how it does. i don't see why it shouldn't be fine, but who knows...


Microzone,

actually the car is already a turbo, this is just an upgrade. But, since the car came with the same motor but NA, it is common to turbocharge them.


Everyone else,

the fitup is not that bad- the bandsaw is they key factor here. Once you have some decent fixtures for the saw it's cake.

The time consuming part is planning the runners. To actually fabricate one now that I have the design might take 6 hours or so.

The first one took more like 30 hours, but I had to rework it several times to get the layout right so everything fit in the engine bay.

Pics of it all welded up tomorrow!

[papasloan]

I do custom exhaust systems for Moto Guzzi motorcycles. So far I have not had any of the stainless I have welded crack. I make headers, crossovers, and a 2 in to 1 system for several models complete with muffler. And a right side conversion with muffler on another model. So far with no cracks. ( I hope it stays that way.)
However the factory and some aftermarket pieces look to be mig welded and they crack along side the weld.
I use 304 16 ga exclusively. Prior to using stainless I used 18 ga mild steel bends. With no cracks after 5 years.
Always figured the vibration would eventually crack anything. But so far all pieces are holding together.
Hope this answers your question.

[Capnbondo]

Cool ,thanks Papasloan.

You hear a lot of conflicting information with respect to what works and what cracks with this stuff.

This header is the prototype after which 4 more will be built for te first "run".

I am more than a little paranoid about cracking, as I doubt I am able to do a good job of undertsnading the different stresses involved (heat, vibration, etc).

I am going to build a brace so that the header is not having to support all of the weight of the turbo.

Between that and it being fairly heavy gauge stainless, I am hoping it'll be ok.

I'll post some more pics later today!

[Capnbondo]

Ok all welded up:









The butt-welds are pretty much just fused at around 60-80 amps, a few drops of filler per weld maybe and that's all it seems to need.

The welds to the flanges were more like 100 amps and required a standard amount of filler.

As I mentioned before I am going to try to brace the header to the turbo weight is supported. I am also going to machine the head flange flat.

Basically I am trying to avoid any unnecessarty mechanical stresses to give it the best chance possible of having a decent life span.

It seems like with sched 10, no backpurge and less than 100% penetration shouldn't be a big deal... the big thing I don't understand well is what the thermal cycles will do.


Any thoughts?

Thanks guys!

[chopper5]

nice work looks good

[disepyon]

Nice, im in the process on practicing on this type of material as well,

I have a question, Is it necessary to leave a gap in between each fit up for full penatration? or is it ok to fit the tubes close as possible with no gaps?

Im using sch.10 tubing, im assuming that one pass on sch.10 tubing is all that is needed? since it is not as thick as sch.40 it does not require a root pass just one pass and done?

[Capnbondo]

I just got in from road testing the car with this header i have built...
:

Completely changed the attitude of the car. Man it is a beast now, I am so happy. All of the flanges sealed and everything seems rock solid. I am so stoked right now.

Disepyon,

Absolutely do NOT leave a gap. The gap will let air get at the backside of the weld and contaminate it. The fit up needs to be as close to perfect as you can get it. I have been welding the pipe using very little filler rod and around 60-80 amps. This gives good penetration without metling through to the backside of the material, again resulting in contamination.

Technically this stuff should be welded with more like 110 amps and be back purged with argon for 100% penetration, but I am hoping the fuse with 80% penetration does the job, if it does then it makes the process much easier/cheaper. And yes for a full-on sanitary sort of weld you would bevel it and run 2 passes at 50 amps or so.

I guess I'll know in a few months when the header is either still going strong, or cracked.