Re: 427 FE engine, under car 'street' exhaust system?

[philminotti]

My Kirkham has an undercar exhaust and the headers were fabricated by them. Couple of thoughts though:
Mickmate does make nice headers. I looked at them before I found out that Kirkham would make them for me.
Don't count on 3" downpipes and collectors. Very unlikely to fit 3" under the car. I have 2.5" to the mufflers and that's a squeeze.
Tuned length primaries?? You've got to be kidding! Have you looked in the engine bay of a Cobra with an FE before?

[AC Ventura]

Originally Posted by philminotti

My Kirkham has an undercar exhaust and the headers were fabricated by them. Couple of thoughts though:
Mickmate does make nice headers. I looked at them before I found out that Kirkham would make them for me.
Don't count on 3" downpipes and collectors. Very unlikely to fit 3" under the car. I have 2.5" to the mufflers and that's a squeeze.
Tuned length primaries?? You've got to be kidding! Have you looked in the engine bay of a Cobra with an FE before?

Well, I've viewed two. Both had original iron 427s and the one I measured up in detail had a 3" dual system under the car. However couldn't get to the down pipe to measure that. Like I said, not sure if there was a way to make it feasible.
I presume your downpipes run in a formed area inside the inner footwells. How do you find the heat next to your right leg, assuming you're LHD? It's my biggest concern, although I'm RHD.
I'm also having a Pont block built by Lykins and am having custom crank to orig 3.78" stroke and orig 427 capacity. In fact engine will be near original, carbed but modern tech, Survival heads etc.
I'd be interested to know what you think of the combination you have in your Kirkham, because we have a lot of work to do with the footwell pedal box. Car is not designed for big block although has MK III type 427 twin rail chassis.
Trans wise I'm 3.54 at the back and wanted the vintage experience (barring front end weight) so ideally alum Kee w/r Toploader, but am thinking TKO 600 for practicality. Also what diff and overdrive ratio on your TKO? Again what do you think? Any regrets?
My car is already built, an alloy '93 Autokraft with 302 efi, so it's a big project, particularly here in the UK, where there's zero parts availability and only one specialist, who said don't do it, you'll never get rid of the heat!