Charlie,

While you probably have valid points from a pure power standpoint, there were a few key items that influenced my decision. I'm all but certain that the 312 in my 'Bird (upgraded with cam, big valves, intake, etc.) is by no means as stout as Ted's test engine.

With 2" or 2 1/4" exhaust, and the FOM transmission, the max HP and upper end is not nearly as important as torque. The cosmetic factor is also huge, given the amount of effort put into the under hood appearance. With the coating, (agree 100% with Ted's comments above) I believe the appearance and performance characteristics will be the best overall choice.

And Ted, that's just a Sanderson picture...mine haven't arrived yet. Probably next week. Once I finish everything on the LSR Uni' I'll be doing an ignition upgrage on the Caddy in my '60, then doing the (hopefully) final assembly under the hood on the 'Bird to get her going by the time fair weather arrives.

That is, if we (in CA) make it through the laughably apocalyptic snow dusting that the weather folks are predicting over the next couple of days

Todd in Central California...about half way between Fresno and Sacramento

1956 Thunderbird - 1960 F-100 - 1961 Starliner - 1961 Imperial

Todd.  Your headers look really good coated.   The set I was using for the tests were not yet coated and there’s some horsepower to be found in the coatings as well as a reduction in the underhood temperatures when those coatings are applied both internally and externally.  Be forewarned that those ceramic coatings do not like being superheated as happens when the car is simply sitting at an idle for extended periods of time.  Any kind of air movement under the hood will allow the coating to remain shiny much longer but any overheating of them will dull the finish.  Whenever I run coated headers on the dyno, I have fans sweeping air across them to preserve the shine.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Todd,

One set that wasn't tested but may be worth considering is the pickup long tubes from Speedway. They're 1 5/8, and appear to be mandrel bent but I have not called about them. The you weld it kit is about $160.00 so there is room to make it work with your application and stay under budget. Looking at the tests, I think it looks like 1 5/8" really are a great starting point, and considering the power you will be making, it may be beneficial to go a little bigger.


Lawrenceville, GA

Ted,

Can't thank you enough for the great presentation of data, and the thorough exploration of configurations.

Your data confirmed what (I hoped) was the besto option for me, and gave me the information to confidently go through with ordering a set of Sanderson (coated) T-Bird headers.

Headers are a (relatively) significant investment, and your testing took virtually all of the guess-work out of it for me.

Todd in Central California...about half way between Fresno and Sacramento

1956 Thunderbird - 1960 F-100 - 1961 Starliner - 1961 Imperial

thanks ted, i copyed the graphs and i can over lap them. excellent work.

 lincoln/merc. y-blocks &mel's                                                               bucyrus, ohio.

Wayne.  Lots of data here so I'll use exhaust testing that's specifically applicable to the pickup crowd.  Here are a pair of graphs that compares the Sanderson pickup headers to the Rams Horns manifolds.   All the curves on these graphs are with the mufflers in place.

 

 

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

say ted, could you show the ram horns in those two graphs, for the pick-up guys, thanks, wayne.

 lincoln/merc. y-blocks &mel's                                                               bucyrus, ohio.

Pete.  Here’s torque and horsepower graphs comparing the ‘57 exhaust manifolds against the Sanderson Thunderbird headers as tested with mufflers.  Just looking at the torque graph shows a favorable torque increase with the headers at cruising rpms versus using the ’57 exhaust manifolds.  Once the engine hits its power band in the mid 3000 rpm range, the headers just take off and run away from the factory exhaust manifolds.

 

 

  

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Pete, the Red car in my avitar does just that. Manifolds and a 2 1/2 inch exhaust system. It's gone a 13.50 @106 mph. Does not seem like there's much to be gained below 3000, 3200 rpm. After that the headers win.....big time 

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

Ted

If you don`t mind another question regarding your recent exhaust test. From looking at your results it seems to me that for a street driven car or in my case Tbird,that if I need to run mufflers and an exhaust system that includes no more than 2 1/2 inch pipes there is not a lot to be gained from hedders over a 57 factory dual system with mandrel bent pipes of a good size and low restriction mufflers. I can see that this leaves a lot of untapped horsepower at higher RPM but the cost/benefit ratio and noise considerations and the RPM that a street driven car use should be considered.

I would welcome any and all thoughts and comments regarding this. Thanks again for your excellent work and giving us so much useful data. Pete