exgr

I had idea for this few years ago and to this day I don't think I've see it available yet. I'm going to make a batch of kit for K series first, and then maybe B, H and D engines if there is demand. The kit's goal is to allow testing of:

- cylinder pairing
- primary length
- secondary length
- collector choke size and placement

All while on car with chassis dyno's and with very fast changes.

Any interest?

AllMtrRex

Jack Myers made me a header with adjustable choke sizes. I'm curious to how you would be able to hot swap cylinder pairing and primary and secondary sizes during a dyno tune.

CyborgGT

Isn't there fluid dynamics computer software out there that you can design a model for and see on-screen what different changes should do? Otherwise, you'll be spending countless hours and amounts of material making the headers, changing certain aspects, installing/uninstalling from the car, and performing dyno pulls, only to end up with a design that's optimized for that one engine configuration. That's why a lot of the higher-end "custom" header manufacturers ask for a build sheet and desired use or power band, so they can put something together that will offer roughly what you're after. On that note, if you're trying to start your own brand of header, you may as well go off of established conventional theory on tube lengths, collector styles/sizes, etc and see how it performs on your own car (particularly against other available headers).

*Ed. - I just noticed your signature and clicked the Facebook link. Too bad you're in California, or I'd be willing to help if you were interested in starting the H22 design early. I've had a set-back with my build timeline, but am aiming to get it assembled and tuned here in Colorado later this summer. The header was the only thing I cheaped out on and grabbed a PLM.

AllMtrRex

That's why they're are "Custom" headers and "Cookie Cutter" headers. Custom headers are exactly as you described, and will work for 1 particular setup. The fab work and trial and error is part of the equation. It's to be expected on anything custom. It's supposed to be one-off. This is typically seen more in the naturally aspirated side of motorsports where every horsepower counts. Read up on what all the Pro Stock guys do to find a couple horsepower it will blow your mind.

CyborgGT

But aren't there enough tech articles out there (such as this one) that the science is pretty well documented? My comment was intended more as a prompt to understand exactly what exgr is after with this project: will this lead to a header being made available? Is he trying to become the next HyTech, SMSP, etc and make multiple designs available from his brand, so he can tailor them to individual build sheets? The latter would require more volunteers with differing builds than I think is possible to find on forums these days. I would definitely be interested in buying a well-designed header for my H, though.

AllMtrRex

Stroke, bore, cylinder head flow cfm, valve size, cam lift, duration, lsa, cylinder VE, intake manifold runner length, plenum size, intended use (Drag, AutoX, Daily Dirving,etc.) and many more variables can play a role in a headers overall design. Header primary, secondary, pairing and choke size of collector are ultimately determined by these variables. There are computer programs that will simulate a header design for you but that does not compare to real word testing and sometime you find that a particular build may like something out of the box when all other resources are telling you it will not work.

CyborgGT

True. There are enough similarly-built engines out there that the aftermarket parts manufacturers would know what to cater to in order to please the greatest number of customers.

exgr

I guess my original post isn't clear. The kit is to allow rapid development of the best configuration for a given engine. And then after the ideal proper configuration is achieved, they user still have to try to package it under the available space in their chassis configuration. It is intended for people who wishes to extract the last bit of all motor performance from their combination.

AllMtrRex

Would this kit be slip fit design (w/ spring or bolt) in multiple sections to allow different cylinder pairing, transitional primaries, secondaries and collector sizes? This would be the first of it's kind I would think but costly.

exgr

That's the idea. I've never seen anyone making something like this.