exhaust help please

[Vdub4air88]

im building a rat rod and I don't like my exhaust options so im wanting to make my own lakestyle headers but cant get them too look right I don't know if im using the wrong size tubing or what has anybody got a tutorial or any idea of what size tubing to use any help would be greatly appreciated

[JasonFL]

Not sure if this will help but I had to make my own pipes for my Merc and went with this approach. Might give you some ideas on how to go about it for your project. Good luck.

I resorted back to my parts tree stash and decided to make my own exhaust

I cleaned them up and used a drill bit to make holes for a more realistic look.

You can see how far I drilled in the light.

I also rounded the edges off to flow better out of the fender.

And there you go, custom side pipes.

[Tom Geiger]

I pretty much make my exhausts like you would in real life. I cut parts to make what I need, and then pin them together, just like you'd clamp real parts. This is the exhaust under my latest Model A rat rod pickup. They exit right in front of the rear wheels.

[Modelbuilder Mark]

I use all kinds of stuff, aluminum tube, kit parts cut up and reused, aluminum rod, plastic rod, just depends on the project.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Part of your problem may be not knowing what size tubing to use, as you state in your question. Common primary-pipes (the part that comes out of the engine) are between 1 1/2" (1.5") up to 2 3/8" (2.375"). The primary tubing diameter will depend on the type and application of the engine. A street small-block Chevy will usually run smaller diameter header primary pipes than a full-race big-block Chevy, for instance.

I assume you're working in 1/25 scale, so to get the correct-looking primary tube size, you divide (as always) the real number by the denominator in the scale. EXAMPLE: 1.5" REAL tubing diameter, divided by 25, would be .060" SCALE tubing.

Here's a bunch of pix of lakes-style headers.https://www.google.com/search?q=lakes+headers&client=firefox-a&hs=2Uu&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=UzawUvzJLdTukQfA94CYBg&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1589&bih=736

Decide what primary-pipe diameter you want, and adjust the sizes of tubing on the rest of the header to get the look you want, based on that.

A little simple math goes a long way to getting things looking right and in proportion on a model.

The subject of custom headers has been covered in depth many times on the forum. Try these for starters:

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=25819&st=0&p=242272&hl=headers&fromsearch=1&#entry242272

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=30628&st=0&p=302132&hl=headers&fromsearch=1&#entry302132

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=43138&st=0&p=452727&hl=headers&fromsearch=1&#entry452727

Edited December 17, 2013 by Ace-Garageguy