[alfa] Of Mystery Vaults & Custom Exhaust Headers

["LyfordHale" <lyfordhale@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Mystery Vaults:
On my 1967 GTV these fender cavities proved perfect places to hide the car's
horns and an alarm siren ... out of the engine compartment and out of sight.
Horns and siren can still be heard just fine.

Custom Headers:
This is where I acknowledge in public that my friend, Tom Sahines, is both
wise and kind, even after I asked for his advice ... and ignored it.  Don't
you just hate that in a friend? You ask, he shares. You screw up.  He
doesn't even gloat.

I bought Spruell headers for my '67 GTV.  I had already purchased them when
I talked to Tom and he advised not to put them on the car.  He said (1) the
stock cast iron headers from the original 1600 engine work great (2) the
custom headers will be too loud and (2) they won't benefit anything less
than a race engine. His exact words were, I believe, "They will kill the
bottom end."   My car has a modified 2 liter, but not a race engine.

Yesterday I drove from the muffler shop back to work with my Spruell headers
and new stainless steel exhaust system.  It's too loud.  It killed the
bottom end.  I can't feel a single benefit up to 7,000 rpm, and that's with
big valves, 45 DCOE Webers, porting, hot cams.

If you're thinking about custom headers for anything less than a full race
application, consider Tom's advice and my confirming experience.  All I can
say in defense of the headers is that they look really, really cool.
Maybe I can make them into a coffee table.

Lyford Hale
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