mild steel header?

[ismaelae86]

im looking in to building my own custom header and my question is would 16 gauge (.065in) think mild steel piping capable of taking the heat that a 13b n/a would produce in racing conditions?? and if so how long?? im most likely going to make it out of 304 stainless but i would like to know different options.. since mild steel is alot cheaper but as they say u get what u pay for soo....i dont know

thanks for your time
ismael

[TomL]

My experience with standard Racing Beat headers (thick wall mild steel - .125") is that they are good for about 12-15 weekends before they erode and you get a hole at the outside radius of the front pipe , i.e., the one with the bend closest to the exhaust port. I've heard rumors that this is partly a function of RB using low grade steel, but I don't know a simple way of determining that. However, the failure mode is weird looking - the tubing progressively loses thin layers of steel until it gets very thin, and then burns through. So if your 16 gauge tube is not a much higher grade, I wouldn't expect a long life. Maybe aluminized exhaust tubing would be better, but I have no experience with it as the primary header tubing.

Thin wall stainless headers are far superior. The ones I've seen (RB and ISC) have never had a holing problem. They occasionally crack at the flange and require rewelding, but otherwise they are quite reliable. And they weight a bunch less than the thick wall, mild steel pieces.

[lateapex911]

.065?? No way. Ditto what Tom said. The ISC unit I had was a very nice bit of kit, and stainless. Never a hint of degradation in the couple of years I raced it. The follow up unit, a prototype, was very thick steel. Weighed a lot. Not an issue with it either for a couple yearsbut it was thick. But when it was crushed by exploding pressure plate bits, I fabricated the replacement in stainless.

Further, design helps to make it last longer. Straighter is better. And running proper mixtures is, of course, paramount.

Stainless by far the best choice. Check out Burns site for parts.

[ismaelae86]

My experience with standard Racing Beat headers (thick wall mild steel - .125") is that they are good for about 12-15 weekends before they erode and you get a hole at the outside radius of the front pipe , i.e., the one with the bend closest to the exhaust port. I've heard rumors that this is partly a function of RB using low grade steel, but I don't know a simple way of determining that. However, the failure mode is weird looking - the tubing progressively loses thin layers of steel until it gets very thin, and then burns through. So if your 16 gauge tube is not a much higher grade, I wouldn't expect a long life. Maybe aluminized exhaust tubing would be better, but I have no experience with it as the primary header tubing.

Thin wall stainless headers are far superior. The ones I've seen (RB and ISC) have never had a holing problem. They occasionally crack at the flange and require rewelding, but otherwise they are quite reliable. And they weight a bunch less than the thick wall, mild steel pieces.

hmmm i see so if at .125 inch doesnt last then half of the thickness would be even worse then that...yeah i guess it would be best to just stick to 16 gauge 304ss

[ismaelae86]

.065?? No way. Ditto what Tom said. The ISC unit I had was a very nice bit of kit, and stainless. Never a hint of degradation in the couple of years I raced it. The follow up unit, a prototype, was very thick steel. Weighed a lot. Not an issue with it either for a couple yearsbut it was thick. But when it was crushed by exploding pressure plate bits, I fabricated the replacement in stainless.

Further, design helps to make it last longer. Straighter is better. And running proper mixtures is, of course, paramount.

Stainless by far the best choice. Check out Burns site for parts.

yeah ive checked out the burns website and they have a really nice 2 to 1 collector but it seems pretty pricey so i was thinking of getting my supply from mandrel-bends.com

[Speed Raycer]

Can I ask why you're reinventing the wheel here? I'm all for building your own stuff - when it makes sence. The developement has already been done by companies that more than likely dyno tested every version they came up with during developement. After buying the collector and pre bent kits and the fab time involved, you'll likely be way over the cost of simply ordering a proven header, and working on something else while you're waiting for it to arrive.

[ismaelae86]

well the header im going to build is a copy of the one that mariah motorsports uses in there EP car so its dyno proven and ive even gone down to there shop to talk about tuning lengths and what rpm i should aim for peak power i know exactly how to make it....and if u check who the point leader is in ep u'll see that he wayne graham at the #1 spot here in socal but i do know that the difference between an ep car and a ITS is tremendous but i just want to try something different from all the ITS drivers, does that make sense?? lol sorry i do alot of this and i just have a few ideas i wanna try out and this is one of them

[ismaelae86]

i actually wanted to get the isc exhaust system but they dont offer the whole system anymore just the header but doesnt make the expansion chamber anymore