An off-beat Question

T

Tanner SC

Junior Member
Anyone have any pictures of a Sprint car powered by a flathead?

I want to get an idea of header/exhaust pipe routing on a car of about 1950 vintage. I suspect the pipes ran aft just below the cockpit side cutout but there are things in the way. Hope to see routing to avoid outside brake handle, steering linkage, miscellaneous side protecting bars, etc.

Even a good source lead would help as I haven't found anything useful in numerous books and even old magazines of that time.
 
I am sorry, but I am going to send you to the HAMB, there are 3 very good and long threads with literally thousands of pictures for you to look at. You may have to sign up to be able to see all the pictures, but well worth it. Enjoy

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=236178&highlight=sprint

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=380814&highlight=sprint

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=337192&highlight=sprint.


Looks like HRP beat me with one of the listings.
 
While outside pipes running in the proximity of the driver's elbows seem to be the norm, it should be recognized that in 1950 most sprint cars with Flathead V-8s were older rail frame cars which had originally housed in-line 4s. As such the frames were stock Model T width (24") and too narrow to comfortably accomodate the V-8s. As a result, the exhaust routing became a conundrum: run the header branches down to clear the frame or put awkward kinks in them to exit above the frame rails. Many owners who opted for the downward path ended up routing the pipes inside the belly pan and thru the cockpit-right close to the driver's feet. I guess the heat was only a problem in long races. Some folks raised the front of the engine way up so the headers could exit over the frame without the nasty reverse bends (which tended to defeat the purpose of the headers.)

The Tom Cherry team cars of 1951-3 had headers exiting above the frame with the collectors routed straight back at a height approximating the top of the frame. The Ewing built #83 had the pipe running just slightly up hill until it reached about the midpoint of the cockpit cutout.Then it swept up about 3-4" then straight back past the rear wheel.. Although it was borderline to being too close to the driver's elbows it must have been O.K. It was safely above all the radius rod mounts and nerf bars. The hand pressure pump was above the pipe. The #38 car had different body (and a wider frame) and the cockpit sides were cut quite a bit higher thus Tom would have never been close to burning his arms. The routing of the pipes was very similar to the #83 and presented no interference with the radius rods or nerfs. Pitman arms were close to the body in each case and resided in a tight space between the collecter and the cowl side. The bottoms of the arms (and thus the draglink connection) were below the collecters.

I do have photos but would have to scan and e-mail to you. Posting photos on discussion group sites is a swamp that I haven't ventured into.




Tanner SC said:
Anyone have any pictures of a Sprint car powered by a flathead?

I want to get an idea of header/exhaust pipe routing on a car of about 1950 vintage. I suspect the pipes ran aft just below the cockpit side cutout but there are things in the way. Hope to see routing to avoid outside brake handle, steering linkage, miscellaneous side protecting bars, etc.

Even a good source lead would help as I haven't found anything useful in numerous books and even old magazines of that time.
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