Lacking an actual tubing bender in this backyard deal, the J-bends were the next best thing. Using a little 3-D thinking, Dale whipped up the headers in one afternoon and only used 11 of the 20 J-bends in the process. The primary tubes range between 35 and 50 inches from head to collector, depending on the needed contours.
Prior to final – and tedious – seam and flange welding, the tacked together headers look fantastic and do a great job of capturing the “bundle of snakes” vibe of the original Mk III tubes. Even though little consideration was given to the primary tube lengths, guess what – the car idles, cruises and runs full throttle with no trouble of any kind. We got a kick out of the clowns who said the random runner length – dictated purely by fashion – would cause everything from gas washed piston rings to sub-molecular disturbances and solar flares. If we’ve left any power on the table with this design, it’s not obvious. The excellent 3/8 thick laser cut head flanges are from AVH Technology in El Monte, CA.
We couldn’t resist taking this photo. Fender wall headers rule! Looks like something that just fell out of the sky saying “I come in peace, take me to your 409, I am hungry.”