Thread: 1940 Ford Pickup

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Very nice work! It looks like your new to you x member is working quite well. I hope mine turns out just as nice.

Looking good. Do you plan to run the exhaust thru the x-member and under it, as shown in the pics?

Originally Posted by randyr

Looking good. Do you plan to run the exhaust thru the x-member and under it, as shown in the pics?

I'm going to stay under it, other wise I'll be cutting and welding shapes into the pipe. I've got 7 - 8 inches of ground clearance and that's enough for the streets. If I had a bender I'd would, and make it a one piece or as much as possible.

What if you pulled the mufflers off of the X, could you slide the X forward and kick up the back end to pass through the lateral members that form the driveshaft loop and then slide it back in position and put the mufflers back on the ends? Seems like that would get everything tucked up closer to the floor, and give you more clearance, too.

Gotta say I agree with Roger. When you finish the truck you'll probably wish you had and there will never be a time when it's easier than now while you have the body off the frame.....

FWIW... Getting the "X" under (or just ahead of) the front u-joint will aid in amount of travel without interference.. something to think about.

Thanks for the input guys I appreciate your time . I spent some time today looking and moving pipes around and it just didn't work for me.
The pictures are deceiving somewhat, there really isn't enough room to bring the pipes up through the frame work without bending every pipe one way or another. If one end goes up that means the other is facing downward more, and it would need bending to align again. Moving the X pipe forward will result in having the pipes lower than they are now, pipe bottom is even with the tranny's pan bottom. All pipes are higher than the front cross member. The pipes coming from the X are on an upward angle that puts the mufflers inside the the frame work. Yes it could be done better with a custom bent system from the muffler shop but I'm already WAY over budget and have to work with what I have. Not that I want to.
So here's the next Question about the exhaust.
Tail Pipe's running under the gas tank ? Any real concerns ? I'm thinking as long as I stay 3-4 inches off them all would be fine. Note gas line fitting on passenger side. What say you ?

That X crossover would work better a little further forward if you can get it in.

Lotsa guys run the pipes under the axle ( I did ) and under the tank, ( I didn't ) it works but just watch the spacing.

If it were mine, I'd try to use a pickup point at the sending unit and plug the side fitting and I'd use a plug with the hex inside so it would be flush.

Navy, I still think you need to take another look at the X-pipe running up through the center frame X-member. You don't have to have a bender to affect the changes you need. You can either get a couple of mandrel bends and cut pieces to insert to give you the ups & downs you need; or you could cut out little wedges (partial cuts, not all the way through, leaving a "hinge" at the top) with an angle grinder & thin cutoff wheel, bend them to fit and weld up the cuts. Both ways can be done for very little money, with the wedges being cheaper but the mandrel bends maybe looking a bit better. That pretty X from Summit doesn't have to remain totally unmolested to function, IMO. I'd do some trimming, shift it forward a bit like Steve says, and put the bends you need in place with some selective cuts. You can use mandrel bends to create the over the axle bends, too. Just my $0.02.

Just read this entire thread. Really nice build. Love it!

This is getting too stressful, right now I wish I never heard of a #am X-pipe.

Originally Posted by Navy7797

This is getting too stressful, right now I wish I never heard of a #am X-pipe.

Just remember the only person you need to satisfy is you. All of the free advice you get here is just for consideration as you stew over how you want to do it. For me, I've never liked side exhaust in front of the wheel so much, other than one or two that I saw where they punched holes in the frame of a highboy. I like them coming straight out the back, equally spaced off the center, but lots of other things work, too. Please yourself.

the X pipe ain't your problem---walk around the truck 10 times (5 in each direction, switching directions every couple circles----------


Look at the exhausrt system from the back forward instead of front to back-------


the most fab problems for exhaust systems are at the rear---look at any current vehicle


Its a truck, how about side exit forward of rear wheel ?


How about round muffler with angle to the inlet/outlet?( gets rid of problems with large flat ovals and straight I/o)


How about moving the cross piece for the shock mounts forward of the rear end (like they used to be before coil overs)


Once again I'll mention that the exhaust systems from the pre 2005 mustang will go up over the axle and then out rearward under the frame rail member---take a look under the mustang (not Cobra with irs)


You can get oval mufflers with inlet/outlet both on same end which is nice to do a side exit in front of rear tire


But in any case, change where your standing looking at the vehicle and reverse your thinking-----you know what you got for the exhaust manifold, now decide what you want for an exit tip---round? oval? polished?


Damn its cold here and on the way down

Maybe have a friend check it out and get their imput. In the end whatever works is fine. But sometimes everyone chimes in when it will work for the better in the end to do a few mods we don't want to hassle with. I find in these cases that I tend to stew over it for a while, and then take the advice when I'm in a better mind set, and less of a hurry!