I ran a set of Fenton headers on the engine in my '60 Chevy Biscayne a way back in the day when I was a young buck and was starved for attention. It had a cast heat plate that came with the kit from Fenton at the time. Drove it for several years before selling it to a little old lady complete with the straight thru mufflers and all. I think she felt like all the noise translated to power, it didn’t!!!!
I never had a problem with the way it ran up here in our northern Illinois winters or the year I was in hot Wichita Falls, TX or the year I was warm Sacramento, CA.
But now that I know better, I would question having the intake heated by the exhaust all the time. In the stock design it is only heated directly by the exhaust gases on start up then only a little by gases after it’s warmed up.
Also with that hot air plate there isn’t a complete path for the exhaust gases to circulate, so basically all it’s really doing is providing a conduct for heat to rise up by convection to the intake manifold.
Not a perfect set up by any means. Because of this I would think that hot water circulation would be the best choice of the two after the engines has warmed, but would not be effective at all the first 15 minutes or so. The hot exhaust gases in the original GM design supply heat within a few seconds to the intake but wouldn’t be all that effective with the Fenton hot air plate.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL
