Life gets busy...that is an understatement around the Splatts House. I have really been neglecting spending some good quality Man-Time with my son. I call it Man-Time because when we have Father Son Time we do Man-Stuff not all the time but I feel it is important to teach him to use a wide variety or tools. Understand the concept of, Lefty Loosey-Righty Tighty. Shoot I still get screwed up on that one.
Time to escape the tech madness and get some tools in our hands and get a little dirty. We are working on putting exhaust stacks in the bed of the Beast. My 1997 Ford F-350 7.3 Powerstroke Diesel. Right now I am rolling a hood-stack, and I am just ready for something different. My hood was already all dented up from a previous owner and I needed a new one anyway. That is why I ran the Hood Stack, just for fun.
Well you just cut a hole in the hood of your truck and rip all the stock exhaust out. Then make a small short piece of exhaust and have it exit the hole in the hood. When your running a diesel truck that has some goodies under the hood you wanna get that exhaust out ASAP :wink:wink.
Enough about the truck stuff, let’s get to the task at hand. I yanked the Boy (that’s what Mama-Splatts and I call him) from his legos and we headed down to the shop at work. It’s quite a bit warmer in there and there is plenty of room to “Lay” out the parts.
At first 
The goal is to get the dual 4 inch stacks mounted in the bed and extended down far enough where the rest of the work will be under the truck. While
As for the Stacks, I made them a while back. It is actually really easy to make this style of stack. Simpley cut a 45 degree angle on the end of the pipe. Then depending how far you want it to stick past the vertical stack, cut a 22 1/2 degree angle. Then rotate the piece that has the 22 1/2 degree angle and the 45 degree angle - 180 degrees and place it back on the stack, joining the 2 - 22 1/2 degree angles.
I didn’t want these stacks to move, so I welded to my headache rack a 4 inch u-bolt style exhaust clamp.
After getting both clamps welded on, we had to cut a couple pieces that will connect to the “Y” pipe (this pipe joins the 2 Stacks and merges them into 1) to the elbows at the bottom of the stacks.
You know, I’m going to be honest here...as much as I enjoy doing things “myself” is it nice to have a set of small hands and a helper every once in a while. Especially since he is getting a little older and I don’t have to “babysit” every move he makes. I’m telling you...The Boy is coming along, I just have to get him interested is all.
After a couple short hours things were really coming together. The stacks are nice and straight and they don’t budge a bit.
Plus The Boy got a chance to do a little something he wasn’t to sure about doing...Wielding a Welder. Maybe I shouldn’t have a cover pic of him welding then wait until the end to talk about it but hey that is just how it goes and how it flows. Eh whatever...When I asked him if we wanted to try, he didn’t seem to fond of the idea at first then when I told him I would guide his hands the first time, Then he was willing to do it, still a little timid but he was going for it. So we got all geared up and after a discussion about safety, we threw down a tack weld. Then I stepped back and the little man wanted to do one on his own.
After flipping his helmet up, he exposed a nice little grin on his face, then he said, “That is cool looking!” I knew once he did it we would like it.
Sometimes it is tough getting kids out of their comfort zone. All it takes is a you being willing to do it with them. I have found this to be true even when doing work outside at the house. The kids seem to work much better when I am working along side of them.
After a couple tack welds we attempted to run a bead, I’m not too good of a welder and trying to do so while guiding my son’s hands....nice..real nice. Ha ha ha So he went for it and ran a little weld all by himself. Not to shabby for a first time.
Mybe I should get a hold of my brother to give this boy lessons, shoot I could use a few myself. Lol. My brother welds for a living and has been for the past....20+ years. So ya, he is pretty good. Time to add that to the “To-Do” list
The next part of the game plan is to get the exhaust cut and tacked together all the way around the transmission. Then the final step should be installing the down pipe and making a couple pieces to connect it. This should be an experience to say the least. This will be the first time building an exhaust and I would imagine a few mistakes in the future. Hey what better way to learn.
Steem On
and
The Splatts boys...
Gettin’ things done!!