Going to be getting my LS1 late Jan. or early Feb. and want to make a set of stainless steel headers for it. What grade metal should I use? And what kinda problems mite I run into?

 

Check out burnsstainless.com. They have a tech section on there and they sell lots of header parts. For a NA motor, I would go with 304 stainless because it is the least expensive. Be prepared to spend $1000 in materials, none of that stuff is cheap.

Post pics of your progress.

 

I would get 304 also. You can weld it with out to much trouble with 308 wire.
Don't get any japinese 304 it rusts real bad, all most like it is not even SS.

 

1000 bucks? nah it shouldn't be that much... For our SAE racecar we make a header for our Honda CBR600 for fairly cheap. We get the "reject" straight tubing from burns stainless (which you would never know is defective) and we send it to a place in cali called Advanced Tube Engineering where they make a bunch of 2.5" radius 90* bends for us for like 100 bucks. Check our the prices for the Burns scrap tubes n you'll be pleasently suprised I think.

Patrick DeGrosse Jr.

 

Another vote for the use of 304 SS. The metal will discolor to a light brown, but won't rust. When welding, use a 308 rod, but if you're welding SS tube onto mild steel (flanges), it is preferred to use a 309 rod. When grinding and sanding the SS tube for fitting, use fresh abrasives to avoid cross contamination (no grinding/sanding with mild steel, aluminum, etc). Also back purge the tubing with argon to avoid crystalization of the backside of the weld (due to oxygen contamination), which will restrict exhaust gas flow.

 

thanks for the replys, good info
do you guys know of any books or web sites that explain how to build the right exhaust system for a motor? i posted the question in the exhaust board but no replys..

 

http://burnsstainless.com/Xdesign/Ra...spec__form.htm

you could get consulted, as long as you know everything about your engine.

You always want the minimum number of bends and minimal bend angles, taking into account real-world issues like engine bay clearance.

this article is pretty good:

http://www.popularhotrodding.com/tech/0310phr_burns/

Here is a estimator equation for torque peak RPM for a given runner cross section (primary pipe area) and cylinder volume:

Torque Peak RPM = (88,200 x avg runner cross section)/volume of 1 cylinder

Larger primary sizes shift the torque peak higher in the RPM range.

A shorter pipe for a given diameter kind of "rocks" the whole graph around the peak, lower RPM having less torque and higher RPM gaining some.

The opposite happens with a longer primary pipe for a given diameter.

 

Rage13 are you going to build a flat plane crank engine?

 

yup, still have a while till i get into it tho.. i should have the money for my LS1/T56 with in the next 2 months. i'm going to be running with the stock LS1 for a while untill i get everything figured out for the flat plane project. working on intake and exhaust ideas now