Anyone with experience building tri y headers

[1965barr]

It all started with a bunch of pipes and a challenge to build a set of tri- y headers for 360 65 Barracuda ( since nobody makes them ) haha since my shoulder was rebuilt ( been a year)it is finally time to get it done, been in the garage looking at parts for the year. Have the top part mock up to the first set of ys , now for the 2 inch pipes. Here is the question is there a special length they have to be to the next y ? Have to add primary’s are 1 5/8” to 2” to 2 1/2” exhaust . So far 50 bucks and 6 hours and no room for anything haha , the two photos of Chrome is the pattern of thought I,m using.

 

[Keven S. Clickner]

Im looking for info on try y also. scarce , im finding it to be .Going to call a place called "Headders by Ed" here in my near future. the commercial produced parts you posted photos of I dont care for . the merge sections are too short . I believe a longer more gradual taper would be better for flow or scavenging efficency.
If I go to headders they gotta be right. Tube diameter and length sized for application .I fully expect to be building myself .
Im alright with that but I need to find council on proper design .
Good luck on it , youve got a start .
K in West Centrtal Indiana .

 

[1965barr]

Hi Keven I totally agree with you that the primary’s should be longer ,from the reading I found , my thoughts behind this was to use what I had on hand or make keep it tight ,not much room to work with and the motor is mild build not looking for every hp, just keep it clean ,if I was building from scratch definitely would do it different and probably easier haha. If you find out any information and care to share I would be interested to know what you find out as in the pictures I have not been able to get to the garage to continue with the project till November I finally will have holidays to finish it , good luck to you to. gary

 

[Mattax]

Headers By Ed.
Good source for parts, some good and clever tips for construction. Not much room for discussion. For cars he was always focused on 4 into 1. I really like is collector cones but can't recall what he had for 2 into 1 collectors.

Some pics of Headers by Ed design for small block in a-body in this post.
Header fitment rant, Doug's

Schumacher's Tri-Y
I completely agree with the observations about the merging can have on flow.
The big block design is slightly better in terms of angles but uses the same merge cones.
Definately lots of good ideas for fitment to borrow from.

As far as tube length. Calvin Elston has posted about the importance of keeping velocity up. If you join Speed Talk, there's a post in the members only section where he discusses a test he made with a log header. The bottom line is try to use a small tube off the port for 8 to 12" and then interupt it whether with a big step or small step isn't as important.

Custom
Brian Slowe made a set of custom st st tri-y for my car.
I'll post some pics for you to get ideas.
It has small (1.5") diameter off the flange. The flange handles the change in shape from the port to round. ( I think I had five flanges made) Some people can blacksmith it, but Brian wasn't happy with his results doing that. You always have to go with what the craftsman is comfortable with. So I did.
The real b_tch with tri-y on these cars is the passenger side - especially if you insist on equal length, as Brian did. IF you're willing to compromise equal length (and Calvin says in many applications its fine to do so within reason) then more room can be found.

 

[belmateo]

Looking good man, keep it coming!

 

[1965barr]

Thanks Mattax,that information is great ,when I was searching I came up with 8- 18 inches for the first tubes and overall 36-40 inches for the headers , really like your headers ,where they tuned for midrange rpm ? Good information I’m kind of glad I got to busy at work or headers would have been completed,now I’m going to try to get the first tubes a little closer in length in November when holidays are here. Haha and this all started when I wanted to change the cam HaHa which lead to aluminum heads and headers.

 

[Mattax]

Yes, to the extent I had to make any decisions between top end and mid range, it was always in favor of mid range or broadest torque curve.

Thread on the build here.
340 Chrysler Street Header Questions - Don Terrill’s Speed-Talk
Joining ST is easy and there is virtually no spam or selling of the e-mails.
I also spoke on the phone with Calvin. He's incredibly generous with his knowledge and experience.

I can check my emails and notes but I think we went about 9.5 to 12" with 1.5" diameter and then stepped up to 1.65" for another 10 or so inches before the first merge. It was actually pretty close to what the guy from Throttle's Performance suggested in the build thread: "1.5" for 8-10", 1.625" for 8-10" for the primary, 1.88" for 12-16" for the secondary with a 2.125" choke and 2.75" collectors will suit you very very well" We went a little smaller on choke (2") and brought the collectors up to 2.5" to match the exhaust.

I ran a couple different scenarios using pipemax. One with the current engine and cam, the other with a more stock engine. My goal was to get more torque off the corners while dropping into a more stock class. One interesting thing learned from running various combinations in Pipemax is that smaller diameters can be used with more efficient (higher VE) engines. Still haven't made the switch, but maybe in the next year.

 

[Keven S. Clickner]

"and this all started when I wanted to change the cam HaHa which lead to aluminum heads and headers."

Yep , one thing will lead into another.

 

[VOETOM]

Built a set for a Pontiac

years ago.

 

[pishta]

How you guys bending your tubes? I built a set for my 65 out of about 3 old sets that I couldnt toss as I though had some sort of value...years later I ended up cutting them up just for the mandrel bends. Just simple 4 -1's but the hard part on a 65 is the driver side under the steering box. If you can tuck the (smaller) pipes between the block and the steering box, your good to go but I think I ended up taking the #1 straight down and then back. seemed to solve alot of real estate issues. The style of headers with the #3 going up and over #5 and then diving down way over at #7 was a good start as you only had to mod the #3 tube to tuck behind the steering box (Id wrap that one to protect the steering box from the heat). I found the passenger side was a drop in for stock headers. Cant remember any issues over there, but these were not max effort headers, smaller tubes. Even a B in there with big block headers on the passenger side fit with minimal issues down at the tie rod end. I ditched my fenderwells since then to get a real simple design going for my stroker. I got a set of old Cyclone fenderwells for a '65 that I will be using as a template, very simple angel wing design. 2-3 bends per tube. Of course if your going to turbo it, its alot easier to design a short 4-1 to go forward to a 2-1 flange for the turbo inlet....

 

[1Fast340]

How you guys bending your tubes? ..

Either cut up some headers or buy 180degree bends from hooker or your manufacturer of preference.
I doubt anyone of us has a mandrelbender in the hobbygarage so to speak,they are pretty damn large and expensive,and are not very userfriendly.

 

[Keven S. Clickner]

Headers By Ed.
Good source for parts, some good and clever tips for construction. Not much room for discussion. For cars he was always focused on 4 into 1. I really like is collector cones but can't recall what he had for 2 into 1 collectors.

Some pics of Headers by Ed design for small block in a-body in this post.
Header fitment rant, Doug's

Schumacher's Tri-Y
I completely agree with the observations about the merging can have on flow.
The big block design is slightly better in terms of angles but uses the same merge cones.
Definately lots of good ideas for fitment to borrow from.

As far as tube length. Calvin Elston has posted about the importance of keeping velocity up. If you join Speed Talk, there's a post in the members only section where he discusses a test he made with a log header. The bottom line is try to use a small tube off the port for 8 to 12" and then interupt it whether with a big step or small step isn't as important.

Custom
Brian Slowe made a set of custom st st tri-y for my car.
I'll post some pics for you to get ideas.
It has small (1.5") diameter off the flange. The flange handles the change in shape from the port to round. ( I think I had five flanges made) Some people can blacksmith it, but Brian wasn't happy with his results doing that. You always have to go with what the craftsman is comfortable with. So I did.
The real b_tch with tri-y on these cars is the passenger side - especially if you insist on equal length, as Brian did. IF you're willing to compromise equal length (and Calvin says in many applications its fine to do so within reason) then more room can be found.

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Those pipes look premium! Very nice .

 

[1965barr]

Nice headers Voetom , that looks like the easiest way to make them , thanks everyone for more information about the tri ys . gary

 

[Unconventional]

Either cut up some headers or buy 180degree bends from hooker or your manufacturer of preference.
I doubt anyone of us has a mandrelbender in the hobbygarage so to speak,they are pretty damn large and expensive,and are not very userfriendly.

We had a flange kit, about 8 180° bends, 8' of straight tubing, an acetylene torch, miscellaneous cutting and grinding devices and proceeded to make a set of tri-ys for an aluminum Olds V8 into a '66 Datsun truck. At the time we got the bends from JC Whitney, the bends were cheaper than the same amount of straight tubing . Summit, Jeg's, Speedway probly a good place to get those 180s now.

 

[SnowDrifter]

I built a set of try Y headers for my 360 In my Datsun Mini truck. Use the header software for my tube Diameter and lenth. Just used a couple sets of cut up Headers getting ready to do the same thing for my 65 barracuda I'm thinking the try Y