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I just picked up my HO header from ghaze24 on Friday and I already started modding it for my 3rd gen. Here are some pictures of what I have done so far. By the time I am done it should fit like a glove. Thanks to the the notch, bend, weld method the collector is now straight instead of curving up.


I also completely removed the EGR connection. I don't have before pictures but it actually was sticking around 1/4" into the inside of the collector. It comes off vary cleanly if you cut it between the weld and the header. I welded a plate over the hole and now it should flow better. I also cut off one of the brackets that won't get used. I will cut the other one off as well and make my own once I see how it fits in the car.

The small connection was rusted really bad and it broke off when I tried to remove it. So, I cut it off and filled the hole with weld.

After looking at coldblooded's first pic I can see that this thing really curves away from the engine which makes it rub on a rubber ac line. I honestly think it could hit the fan shroud as well. This is what I plan on doing. Then it will sit closer to the motor like the factory setup. Of course then it will really curve up and I will have to lessen the bend. I also plan on shortening it so it will tuck up nicely and won't ever hit on the ground.

I also have an idea for making it hookup to the 3rd gen EGR. If my ideas work out then I will make the most epic HO header how-to this forum has ever seen.

Now here is some information I gathered from my header using a dial caliper. All the tubing before the collector is 1 3/4" and the collector is only 2" or slightly smaller. In my book this would make putting a 2 1/4" exhaust on your car pointless if you used this header. That's why when I do my exhaust it will be 2" throughout.
Now for some interesting facts about my stock exhaust that I discovered with the dial caliper. The catalytic converter pipe is 2". After the converter it briefly goes to 1 3/4", gets adapted to 2" for the flex pipe, then back down to 1 3/4", and by the time it gets to the muffler its 1 7/8". Am I the only one confused by this? It makes as much sence as the stock muffler's 1 7/8" in and 1 3/4" out. They should have just used 2" piping throughout! It must have cost them more to use two sizes of pipe and those adapter sleeves Vs. one size and no adapters. The assembly would have been faster to manufacture as well.
 
Well, today I cut the other bracket off and did what I talked about in the last post.
Before.

After. I ended up cutting out way more than I marked. This easily moves the header in at least 4" at the bottom. The line is where the right side of the level used to sit.

I know that now the bottom points up to the extent that the header won't fit the motor anymore. That will be addressed during the install as well as how low it sits compared to the stock setup.
 
Well, Wednesday and today got board and did more work on the header. I notched, bent, and welded the bend to get it back to about the same angle it originally had. I also cleaned up the welds and fixed any leaks I found. I know more work will have to be done but this is just about the limit to what I can do without using my car to mock it up.


 
I kind of wounder how much I will gain when I redo the system with this header. I plan to keep my 2" Magnaflow turbo muffler, use 2" stainless piping with mandrel bends through out, a glass pack resonator, and a new 2" cat.

For the EGR hookup I plan on getting another SPI EGR tube and using the flange to connect up to the current EGR and then welding the tubing to the header.
 
The output on the HO header is only 2" so there is no point to going any larger. At some points the stock exhaust is only 1 3/4" so the increase to 2" is a definite improvement. Besides, I already have a 2" Magnaflow muffler and a 2" flex I installed last year that I can cut out and reuse.
 
It came on the first gen Escorts, from the late 80s and early 90s...the GT's with the HO Motor in specific. I had one on my Tracer for a bit, but I ended up putting the cat back on the car...and using an OEM Manifold, I want to boost anyway. :D
 
matt, besides wanting to reuse the 2" muffler and flex pipe,why don`t you want to go 2 1/4" on the pipe from the header back?i`ve read in a number of places that 2 1/4" is the optimal diameter for the `scorts and am looking for all the input i can get in planning out a new system for my `96 lx 1.9.you`ve already saved my *** regarding hooking up a stock dimension cat. to an obx header, being that it would sit too low.i`m on the fence about what diameter system to run after the obx set up.i`ve priced most of the parts,but as you pointed out ford seemed a bit schizophrenic regarding the multiple diameters.the tech department at dynomax recomended a 2" inlet/outlet muffler to replace my stock unit being that they don`t really offer an actual perfomance unit for the `96 lx,but that`s the closest to the 1 7/8" at the muffler they offer i guess. does obx not make a header for the `97 or is the gt header preferable for some reason?you definately put some serious effort into modifying it for your ride.nice work by the way.
 
Alot has changed since I made those posts. I currently have 2 1/4" tubing on my car. I still haven't fitted the header yet. My main though about using the 2" pipe was that because the output of the HO header is 2" there is nothing to gain by going bigger. Smaller tubing is also cheaper. However, I got a killer deal on 2 1/4 pipe so that is what I used.

For a muffler I used a Magnaflow XL Turbo muffler. Its a 4"X6" offset-offset muffler which easily fits in the stock location and its stainless. I just had to weld hangers to it. In place of the factory resonator I have a Flowtech Redhot's glasspack.

No company currently makes a header for a 97+ Escort. One company made a shorty header for the SPI powered Focus that bolted right in on the 97+ Escorts but the company went under. I have been searching ebay for 2 years and have never seen one.
 
so are you driving the car with the 2.25" system now?if so,what are your thoughts/observations regarding performance and sound and all?i just listened to another sound thread in which someone basically put together a 2.25" system like i`ve been talking about and it sounded really nice.
 
madmatt2024 said:
I kind of wounder how much I will gain when I redo the system with this header. I plan to keep my 2" Magnaflow turbo muffler, use 2" stainless piping with mandrel bends through out, a glass pack resonator, and a new 2" cat.

For the EGR hookup I plan on getting another SPI EGR tube and using the flange to connect up to the current EGR and then welding the tubing to the header.
Kind of late response, but Ford spec'd the HO header to provide 33% less back pressure than the regular exhaust manifold/header, which is strikingly similar to 2nd and 3rd gen manifolds. I'd think 2" is pretty good to start with, too, unless 2.25" can be used for the collector.
 
I tried to organize this a little bit and put all the pictures together. I know what a pain in the ass this is because I've done this once myself and it was a ridiculous amount of cutting and welding that had to be done to finally make them fit nicely. If anyone has more pictures or information they'd like to add feel free to add to it.

http://mechdb.com/index.php/Ford_Escort ... rs_fitment
 
That's a nice summary that vorwarts did in compiling data / spec's in one easy to read place. Being interested in adding a header to my newly acquired 99 SOHC / 5sp wagon, I was glad to stumble upon that link.

Having said that, these headers may work better than the stock manifold, but the pipe diameters used are FAR from optimal. With all of the cutting & fabbing that has to be done to make one of these work, one would probably be better off building their own from scratch.

The primary pipes are too big. This results in lower flow velocity and greater thermal losses. The end result is a loss in bottom end and lower midrange pulling power. That is, in comparison to a design using more optimally sized primaries.

As far as the collector goes, it is both too small in diameter and WAY too short. Shorter collectors are good for race applications where one spends ALL of their driving time at high rpm's. This knocks out lower rpm power once again.

The smaller diameter collector limits total flow capacity of the header itself. As such, it may have been an attempt to restore some form of flow velocity, albeit after all of the other damage has been done.

They do get one thing right with this header. That is, the firing order is correct. For our cars, pipes 1 & 4 should be tied together and 2 & 3 should be tied together. This has to do with the firing order of the cylinders and exhaust pulses that take place.

The other thing that I think that is beneficial is the fact that they went with a "Tri-Y" aka 4-2-1 design rather than a 4-1 design. While 4-1 designs may produce more absolute peak power, they do so at the expense of overall torque and throttle response on the street. Tri-Y's are also a little more forgiving of systems that aren't optimally tuned in terms of intake & exhaust velocities and flow capacities.

A more fitting design would utilize the same basic design approach i.e. 4-2-1 with different size pipe diameters. The use of slightly longer 1.5" primaries would be optimal for most street driven vehicles. Going to a 1.625" primary could offer a bit more top end if one was revving higher on average and / or had heavy, deep breathing mod's into the motor.

The 4 primaries would then fade into 2 secondary pipes of 1.75" each. These would join cylinders 1 & 4 and then cylinders 2 & 3 as previously mentioned. The output of the 2 secondaries would then feed into the collectors.

Collectors would optimally be as long as possible and 2.25" in diameter. Somewhere in the collector, one would want to weld a bung to install an oxygen sensor.

Beyond that, things get complicated depending on the level of emissions that one wants to / is forced to comply with.

If the motor is relatively mildly modified and you can make it physically fit, I would go with a Thrush 24205 glasspack. This will NEVER work with a Cat due to the length ( 31" long ). This would feed a 2" mandrel bent exhaust exiting out the rear. Needless to say, you want to make the transition from the 2.25" outlet on the muffler into the 2" mandrel exhaust pipe as smooth as you can using some type of reducer. If you don't have access to mandrel bent plumbing or simply can't afford it, use 2.25" "crush bent" pipe.

The flow capacity of the smaller mandrel bent pipe is as high or higher as the larger 2.25" crush bent pipe. At the same time, the smaller mandrel bent pipe will maintain higher levels of flow velocity due to having less thermal loss. This helps scavenge the exhaust more efficiently, which in turn, helps improve intake cylinder fill. Volumetric efficiency is increased with resultant gains in both power and economy.

There are additional tweaks that could be done to this system to further increase the total potential for not much more money. Getting the basics right first is the most important thing though.

Now, the question is, who can we get to build / mass produce such a system at a reasonable price and how much demand would there be for such a product? Sean
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PS... No EGR provisions on the header. EGR is junk in EVERY respect.
 
Hi all, I'm about to start this ho project. On the ho header the o2 sensor is in between the two pipes. But isn't the sensor supposed to be in the stream of the pipe? Or does it not matter? I was also going to create a 2.25 primary in stead of the 2in. To flow alil better? Any ideas would be great to hear.
Thanks Nate
 
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