I'm with you that exhaust belongs "though the bumper" on a '55. You are right that I had to enlarge the holes behind the bumper guards not to mention the holes in the X frame but the worst was between the gas tank and frame on the left side. The clearance area there was not in line with the hole.

  Vic Correnti

When the FPA headers came out several noticed that the steady rest Heim joint design wasn't quite as recommended by the manufacturers of the joints. Their rated load is always for axial pull - not side load on the ball. Many of the cheap ones are poorly fixed in place.

I sketched this up for Al and the "Bird55" machine got a different set-up than came with the headers. I believe there are pictures on his Blog.



 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

Very impressive! I had enough trouble getting decent clearance around the axle and shocks with 2" tailpipes... finally got them so they don't rattle! I'm guessing you had to do a little cutting on the body behind the bumper guards to fit 3" pipes.

I'm one of those who feels that exhaust belongs "though the bumper" on a '55. I didn't have a set of donuts, so I used 3.5" slip-on stainless tips instead. I kind of like the look.

In the lower right of each post, there is an icon with a ‘i’ in it and selecting this will bring up the link that you can cut and paste which will take you directly back to that specific post. Really handy when threads get several pages long and you need to link to a post that’s in the middle of it.

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Here’s the link to the post about the FPA Thunderbird headers mentioned earlier.

http://forums.y-blocksforever.com/FindPost57228.aspx

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And here’s the link to the post that shows how the FPA headers compared to the rest of the exhaust systems that were tested.

http://forums.y-blocksforever.com/FindPost58704.aspx

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Can't help with the headers, but I will tell you that 2 1/2" pipes and Flowmaster's work very well. Read Vic's answer carefully, His T'Bird is a rocket.

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

Always good to see what works for everyone else. No sense to re invent the wheel if you don't have to. Am leaning to Sanderson headers with 2 1/2" pipes all the way back. I am thinking 2 1/2" Flowmaser mufflers. If 3'' pipe will work on a '55, 2 1/2 should clear on my '57. May take some fabricating to get the tailpipe to go through the bumper but I think it will work. Will be sometime before I actually get around to the final exhaust system but at least I know enough to be dangerous. I am not trying to build the fastest 312 in the world, just one healthy enough to have fun with and make the non Ford guys take notice.

OOPS! THANKS to Charlie for correcting my incorrect statement that the FPA 'Bird headers were not tested by Ted.

The exhaust testing that Ted reported upon in the thread, 'Exhaust test to end all tests?' in the 'Technical' section of our Forum presently goes for ten (10!) computer pages.

Pages #7 and #9 of that thread have extensive information on the test performance of the FPA 'Bird headers.


NoShortcuts
a.k.a. Charlie Brown
near Syracuse, New York

Ian, what I felt I got was an increase in mid range torque. That OT car was an auto, with a looser converter, and a governor set for a 5500 rpm up shift. I didn't race it, so I've got no hard numbers. But the 1-2 shift went from a chirp, to spinning the tires. That's the advertising I've always heard abut tri-y's, mid range torque at the expense of top end power. When I pulled the Red's tri-y's and put the FPA header on, I made several other changes, so I couldn't compare them.

miker
55 bird, 32 cabrio F code
Kent, WA
Tucson, AZ

I have had these headers on my 55 street/race Bird for a long time and I was concerned with the steady rest as well. I do race the car and it leaves hard being a stick car. Last year I broke the Heim joint after many years of abuse and found that the supplied joint is not made of very good material. It's load capacity was 5,100, I replaced it with a capacity of 9,500. I never got around to doing the conversion but I needed to. Now for the exhaust, I run 3 inch from the headers all the way and exit through the bumper like stock. I had to machine the bumper bumperette insert to accept the 3 inch pipe. The mufflers are 3 inch Flowmaster Pro Series and the whole system is located as was original just larger. I used all mandrel bent pieces and welded them together. The exit through the bumper was a challenge to say the least but well worth the effort. I Plan to dyno on a chassis dyno through the exhaust system, and open headers some day to see the difference. I know that the pipes going over the rear end is a killer. Before this I had 2 1/2 inch to the muffler and 2 1/4 the rest of the way and I had a muffler shop do it but it was not mandrel bent. Doc Eaton convinced me to go the mandrel route this time.

  Vic Correnti

They are included.

http://forums.y-blocksforever.com/Topic55379.aspx

A tri-Y was also tested.


Lawrenceville, GA