If you've already checked out our coverage of the 2008 Grand National Roadster Show, you've seen Steve Young's outstanding flamed '32 Tudor. Steve teamed up with Tommy Otis, in addition to Rick Cresse at Tri-C Engineering in Valencia, California, to build this show-stopping sedan. The induction system on the '58 392 Hemi includes an Edelbrock ram log manifold plus six Strombergs plumbed with lines and banjo fittings from Blundell Speed & Machine. But it's the exhaust system we're interested in right now.
Since Steve's Deuce pays tribute to the drag racers of the early 1960s, everybody involved agreed that it needed open headers. Since it is also intended for cruising on the street, Steve needed to create some way to quickly switch to a closed exhaust system to keep it legal.
There are a few ways the guys could've accomplished the job. When Editor Kevin replaced the pipes on his '32 roadster (Jan. '07 issue), he installed an electronic cutout system from Doug's Headers. For this project, they kept things a little more fundamental. Instead of capping the full exhaust, they will cap the straight pipes using bolt-on copper plates to block the ports, forcing the gases through the mufflers. The process of adding or removing the plate is more effort than hitting the toggle switch in Kevin's roadster, but the overall design is simpler, as you can see in the following photos. And whether you prefer the roar of open headers or the guttural purr through the mufflers and tailpipes, the end results are impressive.
