I helped Mike, a friend of mine, install his new exhaust system on his '65 "R" clone today. He is running a moderate build 302, headers and 3" collectors. He went with 3" exhaust pipes and mufflers with turnouts in front of the rear wheels.
His engine was run in by the builder and Dynoed. Since installation he has run the engine for maybe 2-3 hrs using purple hornies header mufflers just to control the noise.
Today when he fired it up to check for exhaust leaks etc. I was standing close to the drivers side exhaust at first I paid little attention to the exhaust flow then while the car was warming up and coming up to temp. I noticed that the exhaust was cool, not getting hot. I went and checked the passenger side and it was blowing hot exhaust. After about ten minutes as the engine temp came up to about 180* the drivers side finally began blowing warmer exhaust though not as hot as the passenger side exhaust. Header temps felt the same. It was about 40-45* in his garage today
I guess I've never paid much attention to exhaust temps but I'm curious is this normal or does Mike have something wrong with his engine. Sounds great and there is no evidence of water in the
oil or anything indicating coolant loss into the engine. I don't know all the details on his engine build but it has always sounded strong. Mike is not an engine guy either and was going to contact his builder tomorrow because he never much gave it much thought either.