Thread: 73 charger the saga

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gotta love mother nature providing that insulation! LOL..

It's a southern thing. (I never had to put up with mud daubers in Idaho).

Originally Posted by firebird77clone

It's a southern thing. (I never had to put up with mud daubers in Idaho).

I knew exactly what they were. We had them in south-central Illinois and I have to knock them down all the time here in the Dallas, TX area. Nasty little beggars, and a pain in the arse.

We also have ground hornets which go up to about 2" long. Nasty looking, but relatively harmless.

We have them here is southern Mass. Same nest too. Here tho they are a bit smaller.

I just never know what direction this car will take me next.

Today found the driver's side header laying in pieces under the car, surrounded by shredded header wrap and Georgia red clay-formed mud dauber tubes.

After much deliberation, I've chosen to sacrifice efficiency for simplicity of design. I've got to dramatically increase ground clearance.

It's not going to flow much better than stock manifolds, but I'll make sure that the plugs and bolts are accessible.

I've heard it many times that header wrap will cause an early failure of the metal tubes. Is that what happened to yours?

1973 DODGE CHARGER Summit Racing® Headers SUM-G9040 - Free Shipping on Orders Over $99 at Summit Racing

Sometimes ready made might be the right answer... Not sure you can buy the parts this cheap.

I'm pretty sure it was summit brand headers that I just cut off. Beyond being an abysmal pain to access bolts and plugs, the driver's side actually requires disassembly of the drag link for installation and removal.

I was actually quite pleased with the condition of the tubes. Very little deterioration. The wrap even survived fairly well, I'll reuse it. Seems to me, I have some extra stainless wrap ties somewhere, but in the past, I've used hose clamps. Not as pretty, but they do have the advantage of being able to reposition if needed.

Interesting concept, going up and over... Not a new idea, just don't see it done to often..

Driver's side wrapped.

The end piece I got dumpster diving at my buddy's garage. I think it's 2 1/2". The piece running across the top is from a trampoline frame. All the curved pieces are bits from the tubes I cut off. The header wrap was brittle, but I soaked it in a bucket of water, which helped. The soaking also took off most of the mud.

Driver's side went up, to give the power steering some breathing room. Passenger side going down, to clear the dipstick.

The passenger side fell victim to some hi temp white. (Boy, this manifold is gonna smoke!