Yeah,getting old is hell,but it beats the alternative.I've also tried the upside down glasses trick.It worked until I let my lady friend talk me into buying very stylish small glasses to replace the huge Buddy Holly type I used to wear.And,John I've done what you did.Went to Walmart and bought the strongest reading glasses they sell.

 

Paul,

Boonville,MO

Guys: This might help with your visibility problems. Welding Suppliers usually sell welding mask "magnifier lens". A number of years ago I found it really helped me when I up graded my certificate. Also, avoids constantly taking your glasses off & on & ruining them with spatter..

Paul

Chuck:

I too have had cataract surgery about 12 years ago, but only on my right eye.  At the time, no cataract on the left.  Over the years I have developed diabetes related retinal problems in my left, and as the cataract grew, my doctor said there was no need to remove the cataract, my vision wasn't that good in the left eye.  Biggest problem I've had is that when they put the new lens in the right eye, they put a little correction in it.  Now each eye sees things in different sizes.  My depth perception is terrible now, which really makes it hard to tell where the tip of the welding rod is in relation to the work.  I finally talked my doctor into removing the cataract in the left eye and equalizing the lenses.  Going to do it Sept 24.  This getting old is not for sissies.

John

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

I played around with different darkness glass in my helmet, that helped. The other issue was I was trying to weld with glasses that self tint. So as I worked it kept getting darker! Finally figured it out when I wore my non-tinted saftey tri focals one day. All of a sudden I could see man does that help!

   John, does the cataract have any connection to the floater thing?

  

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

Paul,

We did a chassis dyno yesterday and the performance tech told me that I would add significant power with an h-pipe and race mufflers to add a little back pressure.  They said it would be quieter at idle, but would much louder under acceleration.  I will not be able to have that installed by Bonneville and Columbus, but I sure will by the October and November El Mirage meets.

It will be interesting to see if you can feel a gain in response in a street car.  Please let us know how it works out.

As for the welding vision problem, I have had great success with a larger auto-dark window in the helmet.  My glasses are standard bifocals and I can see well from the pre-arc to the finish weld.

Good luck with the project...................

Charlie Burns Laton, Ca (South of Fresno)







BurnsRacing981@gmail.com

Several years ago, when I had the H-pipe installed on my old motor, I noticed that it was a little quieter throughout the RPM range. I remember thinking that it sounded mustangish during shifts. I don't think I noticed any difference in power - can't remember. It was installed by a local muffler shop and I don't think they did a great job. The welds certainly look bad. If you can afford it and fit it, go with an X-pipe. I think the X-pipe sounds neater and I hear it works better by allowing the exhaust to take the path of least resistance - after the X, of course.


Lawrenceville, GA

Re: vision/glasses, I bought a set of very nifty, "full field/full coverage" magnified safety glasses 10 years ago. I have looked ever since for a spare set (nothing lasts forever), but no one seems to sell them any more. Since I can no longer see close up without reading glasses, I find myself wearing the magnified protective set whenever doing minor things in the garage, where I would likely be otherwise too lazy to bother with reaching for conventional safety glasses.



They have saved my butt more times than I can count! Most typical half-size reading reading specs would not have been adequate for all the metal-chip/splinter/chemical bullets I have dodged over the years. They also made them in a bifocal configuration, but I really prefer the wide, full mag type. I just wish I could upgrade to higher mag factors as my eyes age, like with the reading specs!

6 VOLTS/POS. GRD. NW INDIANA

There is a fellow named David Vizard - who has written much on the subject of engine development (usually chebbies) and he wrote a very in-depth article about exhaust design for "Super Chebbie" magazine that you can find on the web. Vizard is a brilliant engine man - don't discount what he says on account of his attachment to chebbies. 

Google - "David Vizard Exhaust" - you'll find it.

He is a proponent of creating a large "expansion chanber" downstream of the header exit, common to both banks of the engine - then re-splitting to two low restriction mufflers. This set-up was created while looking for a street silenced exhaust that had little or no impact on power production. One thing he really believes in, is to use "oversize" - big passageway mufflers with reducers down to your pipe size - like a three inch nominal inlet/outlet muffler reduced to 2-1/2 or 2-1/4. 

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

Funny the thread jumped to glasses had the same problem.  Last time I went to the eye doc I explained to him my problem he fitted me with some single vision lenses set for 12 to 18 inches.  Got the cheapest pair of frames maybe 60 bucks all told.  Keep them in the garage in a case and use them when I working on my back in close quarters.  Really helps.  Hell to get old but better than the alternative.

I finally got the H-pipe on my car.Everyone who said it would quiet it down was right.Before it had a sharp rap any time I got on the throttle the least bit and really barked all the way up the RPM range.It now sounds like the 292's of my youth.Still loud enough,but mellow.

I welded a crossover of inch and a half tubing about 8 inches ahead of the mufflers.Sounds great.I don't know yet about any performance or economy gain.Probably going to use more gas now,because it will be more tempting to stand on it in town.

 

Paul,

Boonville,MO