K20 project off to a good start, volume 2

[Rodger]

Here is a photo of the opening to the exhaust bay looking at the engine. I put a piece of white tape where it looks like the vertical center is. I would suggest waiting to mess with the header until the engine is actually in the car, as it may sit differently than it does on the floor right now. Just a little bit off on the angle and you may end up doing a lot of work now to regret it later.

 

[lookforjoe]

Here is a photo of the opening to the exhaust bay looking at the engine. I put a piece of white tape where it looks like the vertical center is. I would suggest waiting to mess with the header until the engine is actually in the car, as it may sit differently than it does on the floor right now. Just a little bit off on the angle and you may end up doing a lot of work now to regret it later.
View attachment 15826

Thank you, Rodger. I'll cut the runners off the flange, and use this as a reference. I can tack them, and then I'll leave completion until the motor is situated.

 

[fiatmonkey]

Yes, that is how mine will look, centered in the opening, but I am not going to take the right angle bend to the left. I will try and see if I can make a measurement from the intermediate axle shaft or some other reference point.

I haven't completed headers on the latest build, but I am interested in how it will work running it that way. My 75 had a similar geometry as the pic Hussein posted but I added a flex joint after the hard left bend.

 

[lookforjoe]

Here is a photo of the opening to the exhaust bay looking at the engine. I put a piece of white tape where it looks like the vertical center is. I would suggest waiting to mess with the header until the engine is actually in the car, as it may sit differently than it does on the floor right now. Just a little bit off on the angle and you may end up doing a lot of work now to regret it later.
View attachment 15826

One other piece of info that would be helpful - Whether the valve cover is level in place in the chassis, and if not an approximate degree offset forward or rearward? Hard to tell from any of the available pics - in this one of Tim's, it looks canted pretty far back (15-20º ?), based on cylinder head line at base of valve cover

EDIT - found this one of yours & rotated the image 12º CCW, which levelled the top of the head. Of course, I can't see a reference marker in the bay that I can take as level

 

[darwoodious]

Found some I save from someone else's project.

 

[stingray250]

I know my swap isn't a K20, but I was more concerned with the oil pan being level and not hangin too low. V/C gonna be what it's gonna be.

 

[lookforjoe]

Found some I save from someone else's project.

I looked at those - can't really tell unfortunately.

I know my swap isn't a K20, but I was more concerned with the oil pan being level and not hangin too low. V/C gonna be what it's gonna be.

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Oil pan will be fine, the MWB frame kit makes sure of that, I'm just asking because it makes a difference to me in terms of setting up without the frame kit for orientation.

 

[Rodger]

Here are a couple of photos. I tried to come up with something to reference to. I can tell you that the bottom of the oil pan is not parallel to the bottom of the car so you can't rely on the engine sitting on the floor to be correctly oriented. I put a flat piece of aluminum from the ledge on that metal trim piece that runs under the back window to the shelf of the engine bay that is in front of the trunk lid. The aluminum piece goes all the way to the rim with the weatherstripping for the trunk. I put a ruler in the middle of the front part of the valve cover and it was pretty perpendicular to that aluminum straight edge. Not sure if this helps or not. The valve cover is not perfectly flat but is curved so it is hard to come up with an angle to the straight edge as I am not sure where I would measure it. I get it that you are eager to do as much as you can since it sounded like you are not getting the subframe kit for a while, but it stills seems like it would be prudent to wait on too much fabrication until you can get your engine on your subframe into your X.

 

[lookforjoe]

Thank you Rodger. That helps immensely- with that reference line it is easier to gauge items such as the compressor height, and the engine angle and height in bay close enough to gauge the overall situation.

MWB won’t have the K24 version until over the winter, Matt told me. So I’m assuming I should get mine in the spring.

 

[Rodger]

Happy to help.

 

[lookforjoe]

The stock under body pipes are 1.375” but the K-tuned hose connectors are only 1.25”, hence the transition hose that is ideal for my install.

I realized that I assumed you got the standard 4" leg elbows, but is that what you used, or 6" legs? I have to reorder one elbow, since the Volvo t/stat housing outlet is also 1.25"

 

[Rodger]

I realized that I assumed you got the standard 4" leg elbows, but is that what you used, or 6" legs? I have to reorder one elbow, since the Volvo t/stat housing outlet is also 1.25"

The 45 degree reducing elbows only come with about 4" legs. The 45 degree hoses that are a constant diameter come in 4 and 6" legs. I just went with the 4".

 

[lookforjoe]

Thanks Rodger. Did you also heat wrap the shifter cables where they have to loop up around the transaxle? I have used DEI Heat sheath for other situations with good success. Do you know what OD the cables are if grouped together? Is 1" ID sufficient?

 

[Rodger]

Thanks Rodger. Did you also heat wrap the shifter cables where they have to loop up around the transaxle? I have used DEI Heat sheath for other situations with good success. Do you know what OD the cables are if grouped together? Is 1" ID sufficient?

No I didn’t. I didn’t think they were that close to the exhaust so wasn’t concerned. The closest they come is as they wrap up the backside of the differential housing.

I was planning on putting a heat shield across this opening once I have the exhaust finished so that should protect them.

 

[lookforjoe]

No I didn’t. I didn’t think they were that close to the exhaust so wasn’t concerned. The closest they come is as they wrap up the backside of the differential housing.
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I was planning on putting a heat shield across this opening once I have the exhaust finished so that should protect them.

Right. Doesn't look like a single sleeve would work anyway, based on your pic.

 

[lookforjoe]

The stock under body pipes are 1.375” but the K-tuned hose connectors are only 1.25”, hence the transition hose that is ideal for my install.

Hey Rodger. You didn't have any issue with the Pegasus hoses being a loose fit at the specified ID? All the ones I have are looser fit than I feel comfortable with on both the 1.375" & 1.25" hose necks

 

[Rodger]

Hey Rodger. You didn't have any issue with the Pegasus hoses being a loose fit at the specified ID? All the ones I have are looser fit than I feel comfortable with on both the 1.375" & 1.25" hose necks

Hmmm. Mine all felt fine to me and seemed snug. This is the first time I have used silicone hoses so I can only compare to standard rubber ones but did not see a noticeable difference in the fit. I just checked the ID of an unused 1.375” silicone elbow I had left over to a new Mackay rubber hose from MWB. The silicone measures almost exact 1.375. The rubber is about 1.345” so a fraction smaller but pretty insignificant. The 1.250” pieces measured about 1.225” so spot on.

 

[kmead]

I believe this loose fit is one of the reasons why one uses the clamps with continuous, wide engagement around the circumference.

That and how soft the materials are.

Certainly something to watch with the heat cycling and a vote for easy access to the screw mechanisms.

 

[lookforjoe]

I’m just going to return them all & order one size smaller in each instance. I tried the 1.25" on the 1.375" neck and it was a nice snug fit.

 

[Rodger]

I spent several hours melting holes and laying beads down on a couple of sections of scrap exhaust pipe to try and learn to TIG weld. I finally got to the point where it was reasonable plus I was getting impatient to get on with my exhaust system so I decided to try the real deal. A guy who works at the body shop I use welded the cut header tubes back on the flange but I took it from there. I wanted to bring the exhaust straight back from the collector section of the header so that it will pass by the muffler and then elbow to connect to the catalytic converter. The way the shorty header comes, the collector angles towards the driver side of the car, so I cut a piece of exhaust pipe and fit it to the collector so that it would change the angle to be straight back. That first weld job got a bit rough at times, so I did a fair amount of grinding to get it smoothed out. Oh well, live and learn.

Next, I added one of the flanges for the V clamp. Better!! The welds were a lot smoother and cleaner and I didn't need to grind any of it. Then I added the bung for the O2 sensor. That came out better yet. Even played with the amount of post flow to get some of that cool blue color in the welds that some people like. Here is the final header. Don't get too critical as it is my first try at welding.

Here are a couple of photos of it in position.