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Re: Header Saga

To: Douglas Braun & Nadia Papakonstantinou <doug@dougbraun.com>
Subject: Re: Header Saga
From: Alan Lemen <ralemen@cableone.net>
Date: Sat, 03 Nov 2001 11:29:08 -0700
Doug, If I remember it just bolts onto one of the bolts on the gearbox 
and the exhaust is a U-bolt to the other end of the bracket.

Also again if I remember rightly, it is like a flat pice of metal with a 
twist  of 90 desgrees and two holes. I thought mine was missing until I 
discovered it had simply been pushed up out of the way.

Alan

Douglas Braun & Nadia Papakonstantinou wrote:

>Until very recently I had a 4-1 (Pacesetter) header.  When I
>installed it I took the stock main pipe and chopped off the
>front 15" or so, so it could connect to the header via a
>2" to 1.5" reducer.  Everything lined up well, and I had welded
>up a bracket attached to a muffler clamp, so the back end of the
>header was bolted to one of the bellhousing bolts
>and could not vibrate or flex.  Even so, I was bothered by an
>annoying booming resonance at highway RPMs (2700 to 3000).
>Last spring I bought a flex coupling to try to install, but space
>is really tight in the critical area where the exhaust passes
>around the edge of the bellhousing.  I could not figure out
>how to fit in the coupling, and I sort of gave up on it.  
>
>Anyway, when I put on my hardtop a last week, I got fed up
>with the resonance (and this is with the stock muffler!),
>and I decided to try re-installing my stock exhaust manifold,
>which had not been on the car in 7 or 8 years.  I found
>the front piece of the stock main pipe that I had chopped off
>when I installed the headers, and welded it back to the
>rest of the pipe.  Now I have a 100% stock exhaust system.
>
>I found that the annoying resonance was mostly gone, and
>there was less noise overall.  There is a new resonance at
>1100 RPM, but you spend very little time driving with the
>engine at that speed, so it does not matter. Also there is
>a definite boost in power in the 2500-3000 range.
>
>I am happier now, and the Pacesetter header will be retired.
>It's not total junk; at least it fitted OK, went on and off
>without being blocked by the engine, and did not crack or break.
>Possibly a 4-2-1 header would have been quieter than a 4-1 header,
>and have given more power at lower RPMs...
>
>One question:  Back when I had the original non-OD transmission,
>where was a little bracket that bolted to the back of the transmission
>and held the exhaust pipe.  (Part #147791)  But when I installed an OD
>transmission several years ago, I could not figure out how to
>re-attach the bracket.  There does not seem to be enough space
>around the OD unit to fit the bracket in its original location.
>
>Does anybody have a car with OD and a stock exhaust, who can describe
>how this bracket is supposed to be fitted (if at all)?
>
>
>Doug Braun
>'72 Spit

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