Torque Monster Headers with Bob back

[Dono]

VroomZoomBoom and I have been talking to Bob on and off.

Great guy.

I asked if he could make me a drivers side header without the 2 piece joiner in the pipe.
Four reasons for this:
1. The header can be easily removed and replaced by just loosening up the front accessory bracket and pulling the header out from the top
2. The flange was giving me trouble against the Twisted Wedge 170 aluminumhead
3. Iv'e struggled with blowing the 2 piece flangegasket
4. Tightening/loosening the 2 piece flange bolts was a lot harder than just loosening the accessory bracket

Unfortunately have my motor out right now as I took out another crank thrust bearing. This is a story for another thread while I try to figure out why this keeps happening.

I just wanted to encourage anyone looking at headers for their 95-01 v8 rigs to go thru Bob for a quality product that you can actually get support on.

 

[shucker1]

@Dono ,

Another Thrust bearing?

Holy Smokes.

Cold your converter be ballooning when you get rough with it?

 

[Dono]

I am certain the converter is not ballooning.
The trans guys over at yellowbullet are helping. They seem to think that with the aftermarket converter and me upping the trans pressures Im pushing the converter against the flex plate too much.

They have asked me to install a pressure gauge on the trans line out headed to the cooler. They say there is a very good chance I'll see way too much pressure there. Im told any more than 80psi at 3000 rpm is a bad thing.

Hutch transmissions has a pressure bypass that guys use and bypass the trans cooler(s) at anything over a set psi. This sounds like a tried and true method of controlling pressure in the torque converter pushing it forward. Once the motor is back in, I'll T in a oil pressure gauge and see if this is whats happening.

 

[shucker1]

They have asked me to install a pressure gauge on the trans line out headed to the cooler. They say there is a very good chance I'll see way too much pressure there. Im told any more than 80psi at 3000 rpm is a bad thing.

Well....

Nice tip.

I'm learning from the best Sir!

Sorry about the thrust bearing failure again.

 

[CDW6212R]

What is the normal pressure of the cooler lines supposed to be? Line pressures run 200psi etc, are they saying above 80psi to the coolers points to a restriction that backs up and somehow pushes the converter forward?

How large is your trans cooler(s), and are the lines all 3/8" with limited fittings? I'm sorry to hear you wiped out another thrust bearing, that's troubling.

Have you ever contacted Alan of Dirty Dog, assuming he's still an active 4R source? I haven't touched base with him in years, I was planning to have him make me a converter.

 

[Dono]

As far as I know, that line to the coolers should be low pressure. I'm not by a computer tonight, but tomorrow I'll post in my 347 thread the info from the trans guys at yellow bullet.

 

[CDW6212R]

That sounds like the right line to follow to fix it, I too doubt the converter is any problem. The clearances inside the transmission, and the pressures I'd wonder about the most. Hopefully you'll track it down this time.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

yup. big time improvement. don and myself have figure out a way to get the drivers side out by backing off the bracket, and you can wiggle it out from up top. you just have to be careful of your oil dipstick if you choose to leave it in. one less gasket to fail, and for us guys running alum heads, no more interference issue with the joiner flange. i will have to sell some of the things i have kicking around here so i can send mine down. for everyone reading this, bob will let you send your header to him (as long as its not trashed) and he will rework it if you like. you will have to contact him either by email, or phone first however before doing so.

 

[AWD302Ranger]

VroomZoomBoom and I have been talking to Bob on and off.

Great guy.

I asked if he could make me a drivers side header without the 2 piece joiner in the pipe.
Four reasons for this:
1. The header can be easily removed and replaced by just loosening up the front accessory bracket and pulling the header out from the top
2. The flange was giving me trouble against the Twisted Wedge 170 aluminumhead
3. Iv'e struggled with blowing the 2 piece flangegasket
4. Tightening/loosening the 2 piece flange bolts was a lot harder than just loosening the accessory bracket

Unfortunately have my motor out right now as I took out another crank thrust bearing. This is a story for another thread while I try to figure out why this keeps happening.

I just wanted to encourage anyone looking at headers for their 95-01 v8 rigs to go thru Bob for a quality product that you can actually get support on.

View attachment 158542

Funny how you post this a few days after I make a post talking about how Bob is not responding to my emails. Are you calling him or emailing him?

And good call on eliminating that flange. I was thinking the same thing after test fitting a garbage set of OBX headers.

 

[Dono]

I wonder if hes caught up in another project right now? I missed your post, sorry.

It was a couple of weeks ago he called me to discuss my modified header, and that it was ready. Shipping was to a border pick-up place, so yesterday I was able to find the time to drive across and pick it up (fed-ex has crazy brokerage fees for clearing cross border items that I refuse to pay, and Bob is only set-up to use Fed-Ex)

Try to remember that Bob isn't exactly getting rich of these things, and has other things on the go so that he has food on the table and a roof over his head.

On the other side of things, I agree that a lack of communication is extremely frustrating. I wish I knew what I could do to help.

I'm also hoping that Bob finds the time and energy to see if he can make a larger tubed header work. Problem is, bigger header tubes really mean that a completely custom exhaust becomes necessary and s different header flange. This gets way outside of what the torque monster headers were originally designed for.

 

[AWD302Ranger]

I wonder if hes caught up in another project right now? I missed your post, sorry.

It was a couple of weeks ago he called me to discuss my modified header, and that it was ready. Shipping was to a border pick-up place, so yesterday I was able to find the time to drive across and pick it up (fed-ex has crazy brokerage fees for clearing cross border items that I refuse to pay, and Bob is only set-up to use Fed-Ex)

Try to remember that Bob isn't exactly getting rich of these things, and has other things on the go so that he has food on the table and a roof over his head.

On the other side of things, I agree that a lack of communication is extremely frustrating. I wish I knew what I could do to help.

I'm also hoping that Bob finds the time and energy to see if he can make a larger tubed header work. Problem is, bigger header tubes really mean that a completely custom exhaust becomes necessary and s different header flange. This gets way outside of what the torque monster headers were originally designed for.

Not sure if he is busy with a project, but for him to email me telling me how things will be different now and then once again just stop responding is a huge put off. I understand everyone has different things going on in their lives and how torque monster might not be his top priority, but he really should eventually reply to his customers emails. I would really like to run his product even if its the standard 1.5" model as its clearly our best bolt on option. I'm going to give him one last chance by calling/leaving a message and shoot him one more email. If he doesn't respond I'll be forced to bust out my tig welder and take things into my own hands. I've come up with a mid length 1.625" to 2" to 2.5" out Tri-Y design that should fit, but headers are just uncharted territory for my fabrication skills and I lack the equipment to cut the tubes in an accurate and timely fashion. I fear the outcome will be a lot of time and money spent for something that might not stay together long term.

With our vehicles now being around 20 years old the average person buying headers is probably on a hunt for HP/TQ just like you and I. If it was just a beater truck and a stock manifold cracked I'd just slap another stock replacement on. I have a feeling if he offered an off road use only header that had larger primaries and a slightly larger collector he would sell around the same amount or more compared to the standard 1.5 size. Think about how when someone is digging into a truck as far as you and I... Would we really care if custom down pipes are necessary? Replacing stock down pipes just seems like part of the the standard project build process to me. Bob could probably even make some money offering after market off road use down pipes to match his high flow headers. If he offered both designs his products would meet the needs of pretty much any customer. I've read his posts from years ago and know he has designs for 1.625 primaries and even a stepped design that increases 1.5 to 1.625 through out the primaries. I just don't know why he never followed through with it.

 

[mrjody]

I know this is old.. but has anyone tried the "race header" ?

 

[410Fortune]

Not yet, I have sent Robert a few questions about his "race header" for an upcoming 347 conversion I will be doing.
I also just installed a set of the new TMH into a 2000 Ranger...they are very nice!
Super super close to the passenger side shock tower, less then 1/8 clearance...we shall see how that plays out...the 306 Ranger I am building is running now with these new style TMH installed with remflex gaskets and so far so great!

I actually have 4 sets of TMH headers here at the property so I took the time to take some comparison shots of the old TMH vs the new
Not just the drivers side has changed, the pass side has too.
After ordering the most recent set in May 2020 we finally received them in October 2020....due to Covid he was actually not even able to find the stainless pipe! Same is true all over the place, header pipe was in short supply for a while there, not sure if its fixed now. I do know we did get our TMH and I was able to get a WIY header kit from Speedway after a two month back order

They are making a run of these headers right now so if you are after a set now is the time to put in your order

 

[mrjody]

Not yet, I have sent Robert a few questions about his "race header" for an upcoming 347 conversion I will be doing.
I also just installed a set of the new TMH into a 2000 Ranger...they are very nice!
Super super close to the passenger side shock tower, less then 1/8 clearance...we shall see how that plays out...the 306 Ranger I am building is running now with these new style TMH installed with remflex gaskets and so far so great!

I actually have 4 sets of TMH headers here at the property so I took the time to take some comparison shots of the old TMH vs the new
Not just the drivers side has changed, the pass side has too.
After ordering the most recent set in May 2020 we finally received them in October 2020....due to Covid he was actually not even able to find the stainless pipe! Same is true all over the place, header pipe was in short supply for a while there, not sure if its fixed now. I do know we did get our TMH and I was able to get a WIY header kit from Speedway after a two month back order

They are making a run of these headers right now so if you are after a set now is the time to put in your order

Yeah J.. I think I'm going to order a.new set. I bought mine used.. and to be honest, had the driver side not been chopped up..would have been a good deal.. but it needs the entire 3rd pipe on the driver side replacesfrom the flange to the collector. I asked Bob if he'd sell me that pipe only..no reply yet. Even called and asked him and left a message

 

[vroomzoomboom]

Not yet, I have sent Robert a few questions about his "race header" for an upcoming 347 conversion I will be doing.
I also just installed a set of the new TMH into a 2000 Ranger...they are very nice!
Super super close to the passenger side shock tower, less then 1/8 clearance...we shall see how that plays out...the 306 Ranger I am building is running now with these new style TMH installed with remflex gaskets and so far so great!

I actually have 4 sets of TMH headers here at the property so I took the time to take some comparison shots of the old TMH vs the new
Not just the drivers side has changed, the pass side has too.
After ordering the most recent set in May 2020 we finally received them in October 2020....due to Covid he was actually not even able to find the stainless pipe! Same is true all over the place, header pipe was in short supply for a while there, not sure if its fixed now. I do know we did get our TMH and I was able to get a WIY header kit from Speedway after a two month back order

They are making a run of these headers right now so if you are after a set now is the time to put in your order

race header? i must have missed something.....then again, i miss a lot so....
and are you talking about the "new" header don has, or is it different all together?
if you dont mind, please post the pictures that you have up.

 

[410Fortune]

Its a different header with larger primaries he has offered or at least "built custom" for people who want to make more power called the "race header"

here are the comparison pics
These are 98-01 5.0 explorer gt40p headers from Robert, the old set you can see is the older style vs the new ones I got and installed last month
one piece flange on the drivers side is soooo nice

I have more pics on my phone if anyone needs them

 

[mrjody]

Damn.... big difference.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

whats the ID and OD?

 

[mrjody]

The new ones are the same as old ones... just moved the pipes some

 

[410Fortune]

Exactly!!
The big positive is the one piece flange and no more gasket for the two piece pipe
Spark plug access is good, clearances are good, you can see there are a few more straight sections and less bends = easier to produce and a better overall header. I'm happy with them, as long as the pass side does not hit the pass side shock tower when the engine shakes we will be golden.
I will get a picture of that tight clearance.