So, it seems ill never find a 4-1 header lol.. so the other day i stripped the tin from my 2.0 (non SS ) heat exchangers and inside was one pipe per side?

I have two small "stub pipes" that go into the case, theyre about a foot long and have a flange on the eng. This is where the exchanger connects to, but is it correct there is only going to be one pipe per side??

just doesn't seem right...

saw this ad on samba and now im really confused: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=539584

he says he stripped 2.0L HE's, but his has 2 pipes per side...

what's wrong here...

EDIT: here's a pic of what's on my engine. one side is removed (stripped a stud so i left the other alone )

Click to view attachment

Those are not headers! Those are the regular pipes within the heat exchangers, just without the tin on the outside.

Real headers will merge into a collector much closer to the engine, all 4 pipes together. Not 2 long pipes out the back to a muffler (or in the case of the ad posted, into 2 megaphones... Worst exhaust setup possible.

The idea of "Headers" over "Exhaust Manifolds" is that all the pipes coming from each exhaust port are the same length.

Those aren't headers ... those are some punk trying to rip people off and aren't worth the $40 he's charging for shipping, let alone $400.



As for your pic, are you sure that's not on the wrong side? Its pointing in the wrong direction, you want the exhaust to go toward the back of the car, not the front (maybe its a Bus exhaust part?)


I have a Kerry Hunter with Supertrapp setup on mine, here's Kerry Hunter's site http://www.kerryhunterenterprise.com/914-4.htm (although I don't know if he still makes/sells 914 headers, last time the site was updated was 2002).

i know those arent headers.
and im not doing the megaphone thing..


im just wondering why his has 2 pipes and mine has one?

and my setup will be the same with or without the tin, just lighter? not seeing how im gonna lose performance from stripping tin.. unless you were just talking about the megaphone guys setup.

The picture of the motor shows a stub pipe from a '75 - '76 exhaust.

hold on a second...which tin are you stripping? that stuff's important.

The pipes connect to that stub pipe and kinda curve to the outside and then go back to the rear of the car... here's a pic of when i still had em attached.

Click to view attachment

stripping the tin from the HE that you can see in that pic there
maybe the HE's are not a type 4 part??

i do recall seeing those stub pipes be called a "bus part" before, so ive always been confused...

Yep, late exhaust.

Dump it in Riverside...

Ok, in that last pic, thats the pipe that goes forward for the heater. The exhaust pipes (two per side) are surrounded by metal creating a box, the pipes heat the air in that box and that heated air is piped up front where it keeps your toes warm and keeps the ice off the windshield.

you said "two per side", which is what im confused on.. when i stripped that "surrounding metal", there was only 1 pipe inside on each side of the engine...

what should i be looking for to replace this setup?

i actually think the stub pipe setup is nice, as you can easily swap stuff without having to remove anything from the case each time.

so far what ive concluded is:
- the stub pipes are correct
- ...

from day one, up until 75/76 there are two pipes per side, encased in stainless that come off the motor and head towards the rear of the car.

To meet EPA requirements of the 75/76 model years the factory added a CAT. To fit the cat under the car, they turned the heat exchangers to face forward and run a loop back towards the rear (and added a CAT in the extra real estate).

Your system is also more restrictive due to it being one pipe versus two..that also aided in lower emmissions...less flow, lower power etc.

Rich

I would suggest a eurorace header (i warn you you will have to fiddle with the clutch cable routing with this) or maybe backdate the exhaust to the earlier models. The eurorace ran me around $700-800 and a backdated set of pipes will possibly run $250 with another $250 for a new muffler.

I have a eurorace header and it works fine for my needs. i know it's not a tangerine or a triad, but it was a hard choice to spend $2000 for an exhaust for a car i bought for $3500 and is known to have other issues (brakes, shitty carb, rusty gas tank, shitty tires, missing engine tin, shit distributor, shit coil, bad shocks, no instrumentation, no odometer)

i ended up running my clutch cable underneath the header and I havent had a problem since. trying to run it above the header melted my clutch cable in a span of 10 minutes. since the 4-1 collector is right next to the clutch pulley, it gets a bit toasty right there. It's a nice loud header though...

backdataing an exhaust would be cheaper, but has its own problems. you have to make sure you get the level of both pipes very close or else you'll have leaks at the head. you have to do this with a very large file. after they are mounted correctly, you will have a nice amount of room to work with and can bolt on a bursch, triad, or a couple other options and it will suit you well.

Both of us live in texas, and i dont drive my 914 on crappy days. so it's not like having heat is a HUGE problem. i carry a rag behind my seat for when the windshield fogs up (rarely) it's more of a problem in houston than it would be in san antonio, i would think ( used to live there....quite dry) That's why i went with headers....that and my battery cable is run to the front through the left side heating duct

There's also the MSDS header that Maltese Falcon makes. It's what I bought and couldn't be happier with the "bang-for-the-buck".

does the MSDS exhaust exit the correct side of the car? i remember another header out there that had the pipe on the right side instead of the left...

pic of the msds. can't seem to find one.
i like the kerry hunter, but they seem to be rare "used"

i believe the hunter header is the one that exits the other side of the car... i think you have to talk to george at AA to get a new one... no idea what the story is on that one. the advantage to that header is that you dont have to modify your clutch cable since the collector is on the shift console side. the bad thing i remember is that the header pipes go straight to the head of the engine.

The eurorace rocks because it has stub pipes and you mount the headers onto the stub pipes. it is a HUGE awesome to have this since you dont have to worry about pulling head studs every time you need to pull the exhaust...

You'll have to fab plumbing from the collector out...

I was going to install a test pipe (WBO2 sensor bung), run to a glass pack, then finally a high-flow muffler. Possibly a turbo in the future...