Part 2 New Headers For a New Year
Part 2
So there I am with the Beast on the top of the drive and no way to get her down the hill! I have spent all night thinking about the problem and lost a lot of sleep. This is part of the petrolhead obsessiveness, you just can’t let a problem beat you when it comes to the Beast!
A Big Saw
Then it comes to me – if I can’t change the car I need to change the driveway – and to deal with concrete you just need a bigger saw than usual – like a bloody big diamond bladed saw!
I head off to the local hire store and hire me the biggest petrol powered diamond blade concrete saw!
The first challenge is to mark out the driveway for cutting and also leave enough room for the tyres when the car goes over. I move the car into the edge and crawl under each side with some chalk and draw some marks on the driveway.
I get my biggest piece of straight wood and draw out a square of concrete to remove. That’s done now we get seriously committed and start the cutting!
More Power
I hook up the water pipe (cools the blade) and start the motor of the saw.
The noise is unbelievable! Even my ear plugs are not really stopping much of the noise but I persist – this is hard work I can tell you – the concrete is at least 4 inches thick and steel reinforced!
My wife and kids are looking out the kitchen window in disbelief! Dad has lost it again!
I make several cuts and then take a break! This is hard work!
I try to lift a piece of the concrete and realise I now have a second problem: how do I lift this rather heavy lump of concrete? No choice but to cut into smaller pieces – back to the saw!
An hour later and I have several chunks of concrete of barely manageable weight. I decide that they will make handy garden edging and drag them over to the garden bed I started the week before. (They are still there by the way in my tropical garden area.)
Will It Work
Time to test the effort of the last 2 hours!
I start the beast up and slowly edge her up to the hole and slowly, slowly drive down the driveway! Success!
She scraped out some of the sand but we can drive her over the hump!
I then do the next test, backwards up the driveway!
Now worries!
I can tell you I was pretty pumped by this stage and well pleased with my effort. The wife came out to see my progress and noted that we now have a rather ugly big hole in the driveway. I don’t care, I can get my car down and into the garage -that is all that matters at this stage!
Pave that Hole
Today the hole is a talking point to everyone who comes to visit. It is a lot tidier now since after a couple of months I paved the sand once I was sure I had the levels right for the car.
The lines on the driveway are the guides for getting the car on the right angle when backing up the drive. The blue lines are for the Beast and the white lines mark the end of the drive. You have to do this since when backing up our drive all you see is blue sky as you back up! I now know how to line up the car using the bonnet vents – I line them up with an expansion mark on the driveway and as long as I am spot on there is no ping as the collectors find the concrete!
The new headers have heap s of room and go nowhere near the concrete now so the hole is probably no longer needed – but I am not pouring concrete into the hole! In fact I am thinking of ripping up the driveway and re-pouring a easier slope on the top. A few $$ for that but it would make life easier for all our cars. (Even the wife’s Camry hits the top if you have a heavy load!)
New Headers
Now all this started with me fitting new headers to the Beast after wearing the old ones out from hitting speed bumps and my driveway (if you don’t come in perfectly straight they still ping the concrete!).
I arrived at the shop at 8:15am and waited a while as a little buzz box has a new muffler finished off. Then I park the Beast on the hoist and we are up in the air in no time at all!
First thing is to cut off the pipes after the collectors and then unbolt the headers.
Using the air tools we sand the head to get the old gaskets off!
Then we unwrap the new headers!
Now are they a pretty sight or what!
I would happily hang them on a wall as a piece of art!
Anyway we bolt them in after adding a little adhesive (no gaskets)!
They clear the starter motor and fit neatly up along the block and under the gear box subframe!
I am getting back at least 3 inches of ground clearance.
The width of this collector pipe!
Next week we finish the story with the sweet sounds of a new system!
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