Exhaust ? Exhaust ? What ta do?

[joesnow]

I have a '65 barracuda, 318 (340 future) 904 (833OD future) desire 12's and streetable daily (if I can afford the gas). I have a 73 340 ex manifold set.I can get magnum 's cheap,I really don't want (no money) to buy TTI's,are sptifires worth the hassel? Thorugley's aren't cheap. Hookers? I don't want to cut the fenders if I don't have to. Am I giving up to much with cast manifolds? I can get a 273 drivers side cheap also.
I want 2 1/2"  duals. Any suggestions?

[djwhog]

Well I put up with iron ex for a long time and I was lossing about 50hp on a very built 273. Found this out when I got fender wells on it.
But the TTIs are sure nice a real B to put on but look sweet on my 64.

I say if you are going to a 340 you need to get it opened up on the ex. I have 273 old ex manifolds laying around, even ported them a fair amount.

I hear decent things about the spit fires, just takes a while to get a set made. And the old Dougs(met him years ago) are not the same as the thourleys out today. He sold out and then started up again.

I went TTI becasue I am building a real honest 550-580hp stroker 416 with a very stout crane solid cam. And this was the only real option. I also put 3" ex all the way back too with an H pipe. Cost a small fortune! I just did not want to cut the inner fenders again and have the tire rubbing issues etc.

Years ago I replaced the inner fenders after having run both ways in the 64 dart. So now it looks much nicer and I think the TTI's are the best but are big $$$s.

my 2 cents bud!

[joesnow]

I like the TTI's, but they do not seem to have the average working man in mind with there pricing. That is the way I 'd like to go, just don't want to blow  boom[]the budget on exhaust. $900 headers plus $500+ on pipe and mufflers. I just hate to put exhaust pipes on twice. Do you think a stock 10-1 318 with a 462lift cam would heart that much with the cast manifolds?

[djwhog]

It will run OK it just will loose some mid torque and some upper rpm horse power as the bulk of th eloss. The low end may be a little less than headers but no to to bad a loss.

If you take the iron exh and open them up quite a bit it helps too.

I still have an old set of iron 273  ex from a 64 Dart with PS if you need them. I opened them up a little, but more can be down too.

I would sell them pretty cheap if you need them?

If you had more room the factory 360 iron ex are good units too. On a dyno we gained 15 hp at 6k with those over the factory units.

[abodyjoe]

are sptifires worth the hassel?

  yes. they work very well.....     they are a huge improvement over 340 manifolds (especially the 73 style).    djvcuda went from 73 340 manifilds to a spitfire headder and the difference is incredible.....  he is running a 66 cuda with a 360 and 3:23 gears and goes 12.50's  and is totally drivable .   maybe he will see this threrad and chime in....

[joesnow]

what are the 360 ex man in? What about mag truck ex? I am not sure about fitment though.

[fourspeed]

I have a '65 barracuda, 318 (340 future) 904 (833OD future) desire 12's and streetable daily (if I can afford the gas). I have a 73 340 ex manifold set.I can get magnum 's cheap,I really don't want (no money) to buy TTI's,are sptifires worth the hassel? Thorugley's aren't cheap. Hookers? I don't want to cut the fenders if I don't have to. Am I giving up to much with cast manifolds? I can get a 273 drivers side cheap also.
 I want 2 1/2"  duals. Any suggestions?

That's quite a goal for a small block. It can be done, but it's hard on the wallet. If you are on a budget and want to run pump gas anyway, you should consider a 360. They can do just as well as a 340 and cost less.

You want headers for performance. An early set of 340 manifolds would be ok, but they'll cost a bundle. Later small block manifolds are not too good. As for headers, I've had an old set of Cyclones, which fit only after beating the crap out of them. Then you can't get the starter off, they hit the steering box, touch the oil pan, and flatten out the first time you turn into a parking lot.

The only ones I've seen that look like they fit is the TTI's. That's what I plan to run this time. I know... the price is ridiculous. At least they're good quality.

[joesnow]

I have a '70 340 fresh stock short block.I have a 360 also which would just need a hone.Stock dish pistons.I only have one large port head currently. I need a '75-'76 360 head.# 974.I was thinking a solid cam,have adj. rockerrs,3.91's,4 speed od,holley,eddy rpm intake, with the 340 10-1comp I would like to be in the mid 12's

[DJVCuda]

I never did track testing but seat of the pants it was night and day from 340 manifolds to headers ( spitfires) it would get 1 turn of the street tires on the road with a throttle stomp.

swapped to spitfires and that 1 turn went to an uncontrollable sideways backpedal that was NIGHT AND DAY... I was happy to say  the least.

I have run 12.56 @106 with a 1.74 60' time with 3.23's and a stock 360  ( 1.88 intakes ) and kb flattops mopar 474 lift cam
 

[pishta]

Do the newer Spitfires still point right at the torsion bars? Are there any collectors on a Spitfire? I only have some old pics of these headers. I happen to have picked up a set of Hedman Husler full fenderwells for a 64-66 A over the years and have since went to a big block so I cant use them I wish I would have used them for my B with a flange change, I would have been months ahead in the build. Anyway, they are for sale if anyone is interested. They are in a class by themselves with ease of installation and plug, ground and starter clearance, you can be sure of that! So your Choices for exhaust now are: (in decending order of price) Dougs @ 900, Schumacher @ 700, TTI @ ,Hedman @ 500, Hooker Semi's @ 450, 340 manifolds @ 400, Spitfires at 180 (?) and then stocker 273/360 manifolds. I would not consider magnums as bolt ins because they dont fit the steering column. These prices are off memory so they may not be accurate, but There are alot more options than 10 years ago when I had a small block!

[64ragtop]

Well, I'm closing in on the time to use one of my sets of Spitfires on my '63Dart with a 360.
I've seen a small block in a 65 dart with fenderwell headers like those, and they do make
the engine room look badass!  I just hate cutting the fenderwells.  I'm a little worried about
hurting the structural strength, but maybe that's not too big a deal unless you're imitating
that red charger with the rebel flag on top.

For my installation, I'm going to use a local Austin, Texas muffler shop that does lots of fabrication
on custom exhaust.  I'm just gonna show them the pics that DJVDuda added at the end of the
Spitfire install pictorial pinned at the top of this forum.

I'm no welder or fabricator, so I don't understand why Harold didn't bring the tube down another
few inches and put the flange under the torsions.  Seems like that's one of the trickier bits of doing
like DJV did, and it seems (to ignorant me) that it wouldn't be that big a deal to do it while building
the headers rather than leave it to be built at installation. 

OR, there's this article about Magnum 5.2 or 5.9 manifolds on an early A: http://www.geocities.com/lars_an_artist/durango.html

All the best!

[375InStroke]

This may help.  Click the pic for the whole article.  Do with it what you will.

[64ragtop]

But, of course they didn't test a set of Spitfires, so, I think only three of the tests are valid for us EARLY "A" body folks.  I think that

in addition to hugging the block at least as well as the Headmans, The Spitfires design is supposed to aid in cylinder scavenging.  Kindly

realize that I'm working from thirty year old memories, here , but I thought the tri-Ys of "back in the day" were supposed to enhance

torque.  The short pipe lengths from the exhaust ports to the pipe junctions, I think would work better at higher rpms, but in the

absence of verifiable and repeatable testing, all I have to go by is A Body Joe's real world results. 

Maybe he will check in and restate the track difference - I seem to have misplaced that post.  Joe - - Joe ??

BC

[joesnow]

Well I talked to Harold today. He tells me I can have a set before Christamas. I told him great,let me know when they are ready. I am a little concerded about making  the head pipes with an A/T then converting to a 4 spd later.

[daves66valiant]

I have no experience with the 340 exhaust or other headers, but can tell you that the TTI headers are really nice. They were a pain in the AZZ to get in but everything worked out fine. Good thing about these is you can change the starter and run AT or MT and PS. I imagine that there is probably only about 5-8 hp difference between the spitfires and tti's. You are right about the price on tti's. Limited funds makes it hard. That's why I've been collecting parts and stuff the last 3 years bit by bit.

[joesnow]

I have too many prodjects going. It limits the money on each. I have a driveable 10' paint job '70 barracuda ragtop I just put a 440 in, that I bought a new hemi block for. The hemi just needs assembly and rockers,pistons,crank,rods,machining,headers,carb, oiling system, tin,ect.

[kayle]

Well I put up with iron ex for a long time and I was lossing about 50hp on a very built 273. Found this out when I got fender wells on it.
But the TTIs are sure nice a real B to put on but look sweet on my 64.

I say if you are going to a 340 you need to get it opened up on the ex. I have 273 old ex manifolds laying around, even ported them a fair amount.

what all did you do to the 273?

[joesnow]

I did not have one. Are you in need? Can't be that hard to find are they?

[kayle]

sorry was askin djwhog what he did with his.