Air Cleaner Stove Pipe / Heat Riser question

[skid]

Steve, looks like you are doing an awesome job on that restoration! Just for the record, my completely stock Blazer 4x4 had straight down rams horns like the other fellows are saying. I did take them off though to put on the Vette ram horns with the 2.5" exhaust, and the stove pipe/ heat exchanger fit those perfectly. Not trying to be picky, and you may not have put them on yet, but you also need the spark plug wire shields/protectors as well. Also, that is an HEI distributor (but you know that). Can't wait to see the final product!

[skokie]

Ok I am gonna ask the dumb question here. What is a heat riser/ stove pipe used for?
Thanks

[Southpa]

Its for those cold starts in the morning. Heat from the exhaust manifold is collected, rises up the stovepipe, goes into the air cleaner and is then sucked right into the carb. When I first bought my truck it had one of those K&N racing air filters installed. First cold winter morning the truck took a ridiculous amount of time to warm up properly. I traded the K&N for the traditional air cleaner w/ heat riser etc. and once installed I could basically just start up and drive after only a few minutes.

[Steve @ BROTHERS]

Originally Posted by skid

Steve, looks like you are doing an awesome job on that restoration! Just for the record, my completely stock Blazer 4x4 had straight down rams horns like the other fellows are saying. I did take them off though to put on the Vette ram horns with the 2.5" exhaust, and the stove pipe/ heat exchanger fit those perfectly. Not trying to be picky, and you may not have put them on yet, but you also need the spark plug wire shields/protectors as well. Also, that is an HEI distributor (but you know that). Can't wait to see the final product!

Thanks for the encouraging words on the resto . As far as the manifold goes, I actually had a straight dump on there first because I was told that 4x4's were supposed to be straight. But once I got it mounted, it just didn't look like enough room for the exhaust pipe to clear the engine mount and frame, so I switched it to the angle dump manifold that's on there now. I'm going to change it back now that I've had a few people experienced with 4x4's assure me the straight dump was correct. Wes had suggested the Corvette manifolds too, so I'm going to look into getting a pair of those. I will be adding the spark plug shields and switching to a small body "points style" distributor. Just had the HEI around and was considering using it (even though it's clearly not original).

[nu2-72]

I have also been looking for a heat stove and shield. Anyone have a decent set left?
PM me with price and condition. Thanks.

[skid]

Steve, if you go with the Vette manifolds, you will have to cut off the generator mounts. Also, one of the Vette manifolds comes with a hollow stainless tube that goes right through it (the right hand side I believe). Some guys use two left hand side ones because they fit either side.

I cut my gen. mounts with a hacksaw and then used a die grinder to make it look stock I followed up by sand blasting and painting and you can't tell they are not stock. I also port matched using a fel-pro 1404 exhaust gasket to help them flow better as per Brzizinsky racing www.castheads.com Check their 2 into 1 exhaust with mandrel bends that makes more hp than duals. I installed that on my Blazer and noticed a significant difference. I also used their gasketless manifold-exhaust interface piece thingy....hasn't leaked yet!