Vintage Heat Exchangers, Worth saving..? Options

[Nozzle]

McMark is in the process of building my stock 2.0 engine into one of his 2056 offerings so in the mean time I'm going through the engine ancillaries. One question involves what looks to be the stock factory delivered 2.0 heat exchangers that I pulled off the engine. To my untrained eye they look somewhat sound for 40 year old exhaust components with 180K+ miles on them but on closer inspection I'm not so sure anymore. Question is do I get the HEs media blasted, weld as needed and hope for the best or bite the bullet and budget for a set of good used stainless units?

So here are some pics:

First the overview



Previous heating duct repairs welding thrashed flanges together making valve adjustments just a bit harder to do



Confusing mix of PO black spray paint, factory grey coatings and corrosion that is typical of the rest of the outer heating ducts



And finally the pitting at the muffler flange and header area



So far I haven't seen any indication of any holes or cracks in any of the visible header pipes or the outer ducting. Any thoughts on the best route to go would be much appreciated.

[malcolm2]

1. it does look like they have been worked on once before.

2. I agree with you, they don't look too bad. Actually look better than the 75 HEs I posted about a few weeks ago.

3. The early type like you have are the most desirable. Someone that is doing a piece-meal resto might like them for free to get them on the road. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

4. I am not sure if there is a year to worry about, but The Cap'n noted that the 2.0 exhaust for some year??? has a thinner wall pipe for the exhaust, so that could be an issue with these, now or in the future. You don't want cracks in the exhaust pushing exhaust thru the heat system.

5. it is all under the car, unless you are building a concourse car, I would test them and use them.