Thursday, January 24, 2019

'55 Vette: Fitting headers to engine and chassis

Surprise! The headers wrap around the engine mounts, which is a very nice approach to getting them to fit, but means that the engine won't fit in the frame rails if the headers have already been installed, and the headers won't fit between the block and frame if the engine has been installed in the frame rails. Catch 22! A lot of fumbling and fiddling required. The trick was to drill and pin the headers, 0.020" wire into the headers and 0.030" holes in the head so you've got some fiddle room. Then dry fit the engine; wiggle the headers in; and once all in place dribble in some CA glue to fix the headers to the heads and the block to the chassis. 

Here the mount fits between the first two pipes.



On the left side, the mount is between the second and third pipe.



Separately the stance with the big NASCAR tires is fine but the tires are too big for the fenderwells. A set of Goodyear Polyglas GT tires from the parts bin, on steel rims, will be substituted.



Bonus: It appears the hood will fit over the Webers with no holes needed.



A classic shape. The white is Tamiya TS-7 Racing White, which is creamier than the TS-26 Pure White; I am still of two minds about switching to Pure White. The contrasting Tamiya TS-15 Blue stripe (matching the interior) should look fine either way. Stay tuned!

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