Dented header
 

I'm upgrading my cooling system and went to pull the hose off the bottom of the radiator and noticed a dented header. Luckily my bottom panel saved my car from any more damage.

I contribute this to the construction on 281 north of 1604. I knew I hit a rock and had no choice. It was that or hit a car.


I'm sure this has caused interruption to the air flow. Question is how much?

Should I replace the entire header or just have someone cut and weld a new piece? It's a Tomei EL.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...1278580f39.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...ddf2bcd51d.jpg

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That is legit. Lucky it didn’t hit/crack the oil pan.

And I'm glad it didn't hit my fumato valve.

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Might be able to heat it and pull dent out. Also, I dont believe it will hurt performance much.

I was trying to find the video, but it was taken down from youtube. It was the Engine Masters episode where they bash headers and dyno the car. In short, bashing the headers didn't do much to alter power.

Could it cause a hot spot? Could it lead to a restriction that leads to hot gases working back into the cylinder increasing the chance of knock? I don't know, but their data was fairly convincing.

There will definitely be a loss of flow, but it probably depends on how much it is smashed. To use an example:

-A square with a size of 3x3'' has a circumference of 12'' and an area of 9 square inches.
-A squished square (aka rectangle) with a size of 4x2'' has a circumference of 12'' and an area of 8 square inches.
-What about in half? 4.5x1.5'' = 12'' circumference and 6.75 square inches. It still isn't a huge loss of area.
-A more squished with a size of 5x1'' has a circumference of 12'' and an area of 5 square inches. Now we are seeing a bigger jump in area.

As you can see, the second inch lost took a bigger hit to the surface area than the first inch. This is what Engine Masters found, that small to medium sized dents did little to flow, but large dents that reduced the diameter by greater than half is necessary to see some drop. Even then the drop wasn't significant, mostly happening on the top end; I think they even gained a little on the low end.

Thanks for that info. That probably explains why I have a bit more rumble in my EL. Haahaa.

The size is 2" x 1-1/2" x 1/2".

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If you're concerned enough, take it to weld shop and see if they can heat it and reshape it. I've done them in the past. Drill some pull holes and weld them up once your finished.

I could give that a try.

If I wasn't so broke from starting my new company, I would just replace with an UEL header this time.

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I wouldn't worry about it. As ol @Irace86.2.0 mentioned, their was a study done where they damned near mashed a header flat before they saw a significant difference in performance.

Good luck with your new business - :thumbsup:


humfrz

I also saw that episode and unfortunately when i wanted to find it again to reference at similar topic, couldn't find anymore.

Funny bit was that in first "hammering mod" iterations they even saw power increase on that dynoed engine :). I'm sure that this mod would have been favourite for TG's Clarkson, after all, hammer is only tool he can use, and he is always after more "POWEEER!!" :)

Wrap it back up, beat the ding out of the bottom cover, and fuggetaboutit. :thumbsup:

Got it done. Did a quick patch job with the wrap. But decided not to hammer out the bottom panel. Instead I went with Beatrush that's been in a dust covered box.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...5f5149331b.jpg

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