Thread: New Ram Exhaust

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The Sanderson cast headers have "Sanderson" cast in the face where everyone can see it. Speaking for myself, the only way I would run them is if they paid me out of their advertising budget.

The Speedway headers look good and are consistent with the traditional look that I like. The Sandersons look Billet and that is not my cup of tea.

For whatever reason my local satellite service ran about six episodes from the Boyd Coddington AMERICAN HOT ROD series consecutively and I got to see some of the ones I had missed. I went back to this thread because I noticed that on both the '32 roadster shown in the early episodes and the '27 T-coupe Boyd installed some sort of SBC with rams horn exhaust manifolds. In the '27 T-coupe the exhaust manifolds still looked "silvery" even after running for a distance and while the '32 roadster was only shown driving a little while it showed a silvery rams horn that looked stock except it was silver. The question is were those manifolds stock rams horns painted with some high temp paint or does somebody make aluminum rams horn manifolds? I was put off by a set of rams horns that had air pump inputs but what is the story on the ones with the generator bracket? Do you just grind off the bracket and clean up the casting flashes? OR (?) are the early rams horn manifolds still out there in junk yards?

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Originally posted by Don Shillady
Do you just grind off the bracket and clean up the casting flashes? OR (?) are the early rams horn manifolds still out there in junk yards?

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Yes, sort of.
Yes.

If you've got access to a band saw, or something similar, cut off as much of the bracket as posible, faster than grinding. Then just grind off the stuff you don't like.

Richard guessed correctly. That's what ceramic coating looks like, and how it performs. Worth every penny.

i have a set of these ram horns from speedway on my 37 woody , i liked the fit real well . they clear the starter , and angle plug heads ,and the tuck in to the pan for clearance . i liked them better than sanderson because of the look .

KennyD, thanks a lot, that is the first real data on the Speedway rams horn headers that I have. Does anyone know of a dyno test of these cast iron headers? I still have not made my decision and recently read over my previous (dumb) questions and only today finally found a retail source for stock rams horns manifolds:

http://store.directauto.com/repair-a...-350-5-7l.html

This does not solve my problem yet since the cheaper $54 ($108/pair) rams horns seem to have smaller outlets (2" ?). The better rams horns with the bracket that has to be sawed/ground off are $126 each ($252/pair) are advertised as having a 2 1/2" outlets, so they are almost as expensive as the Speedway rams horns at $300. I did not jump at the $75 chrome tube headers DennyW found because I know they will turn blue rather quickly. Still the tubular headers are lighter than the cast iron headers but the cast iron seem to have thicker flanges and seal better. If the shorty tube headers don't really give much gain (except offer lighter weight) what if I get the cheaper 2" rams horns for about $108/pair and hope(??) that a free flowing turbo muffler will give some performance boost. Still for only slightly more the Speedway cast iron headers need no further preparation. Can KennyD show a picture of how the ignition wires are configured? Also where is the process of silvery porcelinizing described or advertised? Sorry to drag this question out, but see how a few months has helped gain the experience of KennyD. Summary:

1. Are AHC coated tube headers better for low speed torque than Speedway Rams Horns?

2. How about spark plug wire looms with the Speedway rams horn?

3. Who makes the "silvery" porcelein coating for cast iron?

Again, sorry to belabor this question, what is needed is an article with some dyno data.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

DennyW, I appreciate your help on the Internet. I think I remember that test on a Goodwrench 350 but when I reread it I found it was for full length header pipes and not a shorty-tight-fit set. I guess I am not saying all my requirements in that I want a tight fit that won't give much trouble on the steering side or mess with the starter on the other side and that looks like a straight down pipe will do best and so far just about every picture of a Model-A with a SBC that I see uses the straight down or lakes pipes. I had hoped for the silvery finish but maybe if KennyD tells me how he wired the plug wires I will just get the Speedway rams horns and give them a simple gray porcelein coat. It is interesting that several members of the club really try to look up cross reference material and this is really helpful, thanks. THEN while I was typing, Richard-Tech1 contributed some helpful links. I'll get back when I study what Richard has found. Thanks again!

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Don,

as for your question regarding wire looms for the ram exhaust, remember you can always buy the extra length wires and route them behind the heads and under the exhaust so they are almost invisible. Even with headers I think this looks better than the wire looms...just an opinion (to each their own). I have found the "Made 4 You" high temp plastic wire separators to work well hidden behind the exhaust too.

And another trick to customize the ram horns...my Dad use to 50% countersink allen head bolts into the bolt holes. Everyone use to ask "are those custom?"...they really looked cool. I still have the countersink he used if you would like a picture of it I will search and find it for you.

Well this is an old thread so thanks to you all for helpful comments (I am sorry to see Tech1 edited out his reply since he has been very helpful!). Anyway in order to get off the dime and do something I checked out what I could and found that the Speedway Rams horns, the stainless shorties and the usual hugger headers ALL have 2 1/2" outlets. I did read some of the articles Tech1 gave before he edited out and one comment was that something is better than nothing (probably true), SO I ordered the usual tight-fit-hugger 1 5/8" primary headers which are longer than the stainless ones and only 2/3 the cost. I ordered the AHC coated ones since I found out that the AHC gives a somewhat glossy pewter appearance. My reasoning is that the stainless shorties may not be much better than the stock rams horns as DennyW says above because they are so short while the slightly longer hugger headers may give a little better flow and probably the main benefit is the 2 1/2" outlet in any case. I also wanted some glitter so the AHC will hopefully give some good looks and slow down the rust. One cautionary note was that I was told that the AHC material would burn off if the engine ran lean and the exhaust temperature went above 1300 F. This might be a problem since my Edelbrock 1406 600 CFM carb literature mentions it runs leaner than the 1405 model, so I wil have to check that before I put much time on the engine and maybe change one of the jets in the carb? One additional factor is that I plan to have the engine side of the manifolds "surfaced" for smoothness at Joe's Machine Shop before installing them in the hope of getting a better seal. As far as the cast iron manifolds go, it looked to me that I would have to spend the $280 or so for a pair to get the 2 1/2" outlets and then still saw off the extension and end up with a dull appearance. Well I may be wrong but at least I have reasons!

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

DennyW, Thanks much for the practical tip on the gaskets!

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder