Engine: Exhaust header for 170 ?

[tbirdtbird]

Was such a header ever available aftermarket ? If so, anyone have one?

[Alan]

Yes, Morgan of Marysville made some. I haven't seen any since 1968 at Shells Pawn Shop in Santa Monica.

[PackardV8]

Yes, and like most aftermarket headers of the era, they were thin-wall exhaust tubing and usually rusted out within a few years.

Ever thought about a turbocharger for your Champion? Turbos work wonderfully on small engines and especially small flathead engines; just ask turbostude.

jack vines

[LeoH]

I remember some time ago, couldn't begin to tell you what mind trip sent me there, but I came across a website showing how someone installed an 80something Chrysler turbo in their 50something Studebaker Six.

[sals54]

Here are a couple pix of the parts I used on my flat 6 turbo project. Home made intake and modified exhaust. But it propelled my little stock flat 6 to over 110 mph. Cooked a piston in the process, but made some serious power. Next time I won't be pushing 14 lbs of boost. If I kept it to 10 lbs or less, I would have kept the engine together better. This turbo is from an Audi 5000. I chose it cuz it had a small exhaust turbine and a larger compressor turbine. I guessed that this would allow the turbo to spool up faster. My guess was right as it made boost as early as 1500 rpms.

[sals54]

I found a shot of the engine bay. No comments on how sloppy it looks. I did the whole project in short order and only spent $250 to put it together.

[nvonada]

That is both impressive and terrifying. Just needs an intercooler.

[tbirdtbird]

Like WoW!

[sals54]

Thanks. It was intended to be just for fun, not for long term use. I still have the intake and exhuast with the turbo layin around somewhere. Might be time to use it on my sons recently acquired Champ 6.

[Alan]

There are only 2 things that I can find fault with Sal. 1, is you should double band clamp every connection. So you need double the band clamps. 2, Is the battery hold down, looks like the string out of one of your old sweat pants.

[sals54]

Hey Alan, c'mon... as far as the clamps went, I only had a couple blow outs, but for the most part, the clamps held quite well till I bumped on the 14lb mark. That's a lot of boost for this system. Now as far as the battery hold down... uh.... well.... ya see..... uh.... really, I guess I have no excuse for that. For some reason I was having trouble keeping a good battery in this project. That just became the fall back method of swapping batteries quick. I could have it changed in less than a minute. Its 3/8 inch nylon rope... a nice little truckers knot. One pull and out it comes. Yet it stays in place at over 100 mph. Besides, I couldnt afford to lose the string out of my sweat pants. The chicks would be swooning all over the place.

[LeoH]

Impressive Sal, so was that for a drag car, or did you actually put that on a driver?

I don't know though, it seems to me that you could have a little side business fabbing
up turbo manifolds.

[sals54]

Hey Leo
It was for a driver, but just messing around. I drove it on the street for a little while. I never did get around to putting on a flapper valve for the carb. That would give me low end intake till the turbo kicked in. Nor did I use the turbos internal waste gate. I just wired it closed so I could maximize boost. And lastly I did not incorporate a pop-off valve. Again, it was to max out the boost and just see what happened. After a while, I got my R1 build done and went back to the V8 4 speed. I know.... boring. Its still a blast to drive.