DeTomaso Mailing List: November 97, Message #2
     



From: 	MikeLDrew@aol.com

Subject: Re:  Re: 180 exhaust

Date: 	Sat, 1 Nov 1997 00:53:19 +0000



Originally, I wrote:



 > ....just look cool and trendy, but don't perform, often leak, 

>  and > often break exhaust studs if driven hard. 

> 



Then Lee wrote:



>Why if that is the case did the Ford GT-40 run so successfully with a 180 

degree header setup, as did many of the other early GT cars - was it because 

of body clearance limitations or what?



>>>Remember, the LONGEST a GT-40 exhaust system had to survive was 24 hours.

 I bet you could get at least 50 hours out of a 180 exhaust system without a

leak or broken stud.  Maybe even 100.



But do you want to be completely removing and rebuilding your exhaust system

that often?  During the PCNC motor-pulling tech sessions last year, a team of

three guys spent almost three hours trying to install a set of these exhausts

onto a Pantera motor *in situ*  Really, the only way to effectively and

efficiently install or remove them is to pull the engine, install the

headers, then lower the whole assembly into the car (with these particular

Hall headers, anyway.)



This particular car had developed an irritating exhaust leak directly above

the transaxle.  While the engine was apart, the leak was patched; when the

system went back together and the car ran again, a new leak developed

elsewhere.  They're really a pain in the ass.



Also, when you think about it, what other cars from that GT-40 era used these

bundle-of-snakes exhaust?  Virtually ALL Can-Am cars used big American V-8's,

yet none of them used 'em.  Ferraris never used 'em, so far as I can recall,

nor did anybody else.  They were basically an experiment, testing theories

about exhaust scavanging dreamt up by Ford engineers.  Everyone else went

with the KISS theory (Keep It Simple, Stupid.)



That said, I must admit that George Gordon-Smith's Mangusta (fitted with a

100% stainless steel 180 degree exhaust) sounds TOTALLY AWESOME!  Shane's

right, it completely changes the character of the exhaust note.  It no longer

sounds like a big booming Ford; instead it sounds like a much smaller,

super-exotic Ferrari or something.  It's kind of cool, actually.



Mike