Birth of a merge collector

[undy]

..straight from Jackleg Enterprises..

First and foremost please excuse my v-e-r-y out of practice MIG welding skills. A little carbide bur action will fix everything nicely. I cut the old 4" collectors off with a chop saw and welded up and installed the merge cones..



The collector is just setting in place. All external and visible welds will be done by a professional with a TIG. I'll tack everything in place, waiting for the finish welding.



Again, this will be cleaned up prior to assembly and final welding.



Dave

[RonNichols]

Undy,

You got a really nice fit with very little gap between the collectors and primaries. The TIG man will be very appreciative at that. My first set I had to cold work the collector to mate with the primaries, because I couldn't fill the gap with the filler rod. My second set is right there at the primaries and will be an easy weld.

Good luck as I think you'll be happy with the look and performance. What muffler did you go with?

Here's eventually what you're getting yourself into as far as the look. Not the collector for the purest, but it sure ain't bad.



I'm in the midst of doing a set in polished stainless now. I should snap a pic of my collector in process

R

[RonNichols]

Cone Engineering merge collector progress pic.



Ingenious tool to align and hold the merge cone. The other merge cone is welded up. The collector itself is welded, sanded out, and somewhat polished both inside and out. I'm still throwing around different ideas on design from there back though.

How's yours going Undy?

R

[undy]

I've got to pick up my J-pipes with the merge cones from the machine shop. They sand blasted the ceramic coating off the pipes so I can weld the Cone collectors on. I cleaned up all my nasty welds up before I gave them up too . The collectors are lined up and tack welded to the muffler inlets along with the turn downs being tacked in place. I'll pick up the J-pipes tomorrow and have everything tack welded and ready to go to my TIG man for the final deal this weekend.

That's some purdy welding pardner. It makes my MIG mess look terrible (which it is anyway)

Dave

[RedBarchetta]

Originally Posted by RonNichols

Here's eventually what you're getting yourself into as far as the look. Not the collector for the purest, but it sure ain't bad.



R

Couldn't you just shorten up the 4 primary pipes just after the 90* bend but prior to the merge collector, then add that inch or two to the muffler length? Easier to do if you buy a custom muffler length (i.e. Stainless Specialties, who will make any length you specify). Then all the proportions (which, like many, I'm big on) remain relatively the same and closer to "factory" (for what that term is worth).

-Dean

P.S. Great thread, guys!

[undy]

If I had the luxury of building my J-pipes from scratch I'd definitely look into whether there is an "optimum" primary tube length and base where to put the collectors around that. Keith, Barry, George or Tom could probably provide some insight in that arena. Since Ron's using merge collectors it looks like originality's already out the door.

To a certain point, horsepower always wins over originality.

Dave

[RonNichols]

Originally Posted by RedBarchetta

Couldn't you just shorten up the 4 primary pipes just after the 90* bend but prior to the merge collector, then add that inch or two to the muffler length? Easier to do if you buy a custom muffler length (i.e. Stainless Specialties, who will make any length you specify). Then all the proportions (which, like many, I'm big on) remain relatively the same and closer to "factory" (for what that term is worth).

-Dean

P.S. Great thread, guys!

I guess I could have cut it anywhere I wanted to. I made a fixture to align and weld on, so I just layed everything out and trimmed accordingly. I left the primaries as long as they were and trimmed the turn out since to me that is not the important length to worry about.



R