What are the best sources for y-block headers?  I have been out of this game about 40 years but am now building a 312 with ported 411 heads and a Paxton blower setup.  I plan to run a toploader on it, so have clutch linkage.  Does anyone build a good 2-inch header that will fit this in a 57 Fairlane with manual steering?  I see some advertised but need advice based on experience.

Unless you can a find a set of 2” headers that have already been fabbed up, this will be a custom build.  You might ask Jerry Christenson if he can help out in this regard.  His contact information is located in the Links section.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Jim Davis at Red's headers would be another source, but as Ted says, probably custom build.

    That means you'd need to take the car to them and leave it for a hile while they/ or Jerry build a set. Not gonna be cheap. 

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

Ted,

I found Jerry's website last night and the standard 1-5/8 headers he makes look good.  I have a call into him so can discuss things.  2-inch may be over the top for flow through the 312 heads, even when ported out.  That is the type of info I don't know and am looking for some advice.  If 1-5/8 pipes are adequate on similar engines, why go bigger?  The Red's headers site doesn't give enough information to tell exactly what they provide, but with your answer and Frank's below, I can call and find out some more.

Thanks for the help.

Frank,

I will check this out.  See my comments to Ted above.  Thanks for the help.

! 5/8 is the diameter of the primary tubes.  This is the diameter of the tube on the head end of the header.  I think you are looking for a 2" collector diameter - the diameter of the outlet.  2" primaries will be far too large.


Lawrenceville, GA

You do need 1 5/8" headers. Try Ford Powertrain Headers. They cost about 700.00 They fit great. I have them on my TBird. Really easy to install. Jerry Christiansen is a great choice also.  

55Birdman  Hickory NC

Thanks for the additional source of headers.  I have a call into Jerry Christenson but I am out of town this week so will catch him later.  This is a great forum and gave me the direction I needed to get on track.  Many thanks.

For a normally aspirated and ‘full race’ Y, I find that 1¾” header tubes work well.  In this instance, increased displacement, camming, compression ratio, head work, etc. all add to the need for larger sized header tubes.  The tube lengths as well as collector sizing/lengths will be dependant on the specific combination.  As a general rule, being too big on header tube size is not as detrimental as being too small.  But if capping off the headers with any kind of restrictive exhaust system, then the benefits of a header that is optimally sized for open and full throttle operation essentially becomes a moot point and a smaller sized header tube in this instance will be just as or more effective.

 

But blown engines break all the rules where they tend to prefer larger tubes than what is optimum for a normally aspirated combination.  Randy and I decided on 2” tubes with a 3½” collector on his blown engine combination and that seems to work well.  8.15 seconds @ 163mph and still more left in the engine but the chassis is at its limit.  But no header testing was done to quantify exactly what the engine really wanted and based on the ear ringing crackle, larger wouldn’t have hurt and indeed may have been of additional benefit.  Knowing that a blown application typically likes a larger sized header tube, we just took a stab in the dark on the 2” size and that ended up working just fine but this is a full race application with 15 lbs of boost and no street driving being considered.

 

And do talk to Jerry about this as he does have some experience with blown Y applications and may have some specific thoughts on the subject.  If you’re planning on running a full exhaust system, then make sure the system is as unrestrictive as possible. 

 

And for anyone else having trouble finding Jerry’s contact info, here's the link:

http://www.y-blocksforever.com/yestertech.html

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Ted,

Thanks for the very interesting observtions about header pipe diameter.

I am building a 292 truck block to 331 cid with 292-diameter mains, offset ground crank, 3.880" bore, and 6.2-inch H-beam rods for a 351W stroker.

I am using 471 heads that are ported to the max and equipped with large exhaust (and intake) valves.  The intake valve lift will be .472" and exhaust lift of 0.480" with 1.6 rockers.  I will run two 500 cfm AFB carbs with the blower and a modified intake manifold.

I plan to run between 6 and 12 pounds boost , gearing the blower for a 6200-rpm redline, on the theory I probably can't cram any more air through the heads than what this will produce for a car I can readily drive on the street.   In other words, I expect the air flow through the heads to max out, i.e., the valve sizes and lifts will probably equal or exceed the flow capacity of the ported heads.

I have seen this setup on a similar engine that read about 3 to 4 pounds residual boost at the intake side with wide open throttle, so expect I would gain very little with higher boost.  The latter numbers tell me more boost will simply increase the boost on the intake side with very little increase in flow through the engine.

How does the above idea compare with your experience?

Based on the above concepts, I recognized I needed to eliminate any resistance in the exhaust and picked 2-inch header pipe as a "reasonable" sounding size, knowing it had to be quite a bit bigger than stock.  I also recognize the diameter of the header extension may have quite a bit of effect on torque.  Based on the above concepts, does 2-inch diameter pipe sound large enough?

I am not confident I can fit anything larger into the car and still retain its stock appearance.  I am not without resources to bend some of my own pipe if need be, and plan to put on either multiple exhaust pipes or large (3-inch) dual pipes behind the headers to reduce any restriction at that end of the system.  If worst comes to worst, I can also try to fabricate my own headers, but time to do things is my great limitation, so would like to buy something that I can bolt on to save time.

I will definitely talk this over with Jerry Christisen and get his insight, but am curious to hear your comments about sizing the header pipe diameter for the above setup.  I doubt it will flow near as much as your full race setup.  At the end of the day, it sounds like I am definitely better off with 2-inch pipe than with 1-5/8, even if it is still smaller than the optimum.  If I were willing to cut holes in the fenders, size would not be an issue.