Kleinig headers

Includes fuel system, cooling system and exhaust.

Moderators: reidy, Blacky

D-MAN
Posts: 475
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2012 11:48 pm
State: NOT ENTERED
Location: Sydney

Kleinig headers

Post by D-MAN »

A couple of years ago Daniel Kleinig was contemplating making a batch of 4 into 1 headers.
He indicated they would be around $1200
He never got enough interest back the but is willing to do a small run if he can get enough interest this year.
Just seeing if any tragics on here would be interested in a set?
He has done small runs of reproduction twin breather Kleinig rocker covers, air filters and fuel block all of which are excellent quality.
Attachments
A2C976DA-742A-407C-9C90-43D3977F124B.jpeg
A2C976DA-742A-407C-9C90-43D3977F124B.jpeg (194.3 KiB) Viewed 898 times
Last edited by D-MAN on Sun Feb 21, 2021 10:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
D-MAN
Posts: 475
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2012 11:48 pm
State: NOT ENTERED
Location: Sydney

Re: Kleinig headers

Post by D-MAN »

Here are some of his previous work
Attachments
1DBA5E97-EA87-4E5E-87B4-A69AF8A56015.jpeg
1DBA5E97-EA87-4E5E-87B4-A69AF8A56015.jpeg (84.78 KiB) Viewed 897 times
329E3BD8-2876-44DD-AD9A-238C9970DCF7.jpeg
329E3BD8-2876-44DD-AD9A-238C9970DCF7.jpeg (96.16 KiB) Viewed 897 times
User avatar
Errol62
Posts: 9664
Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2014 2:44 pm
State: SA
Location: Adelaide

Re: Kleinig headers

Post by Errol62 »

I would have thought two piece would be a better performance option, no?


FB ute fixer upper, EK van on rotisserie
getting my FB ute on the road
EK van on rotisserie
Blacky
Posts: 12171
Joined: Tue Jul 20, 2004 8:58 am
State: WA
Location: up in the Perth hills

Re: Kleinig headers

Post by Blacky »

They are nice but not $1200 nice for me but I imagine he would sell a few .....
When you're faced with an unpleasant task that you really don't want to do, sometimes you just have to dig deep down inside and somehow find the patience to wait for someone else to do it for you.


Foundation member #61 of FB/EK Holden club of W.A.
D-MAN
Posts: 475
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2012 11:48 pm
State: NOT ENTERED
Location: Sydney

Re: Kleinig headers

Post by D-MAN »

SunnyTim wrote: Thu Feb 25, 2021 6:36 am I have access to a genuine set. I left them in a ute years ago at a wreckers and went back to grab them a while later and they were gone. I did get the tappet cover...
Wind forward to the 2011 floods and I was helping a mate clean up his shed, who had a large collection of grey speed stuff on display, and noticed a set of Kleinig headers.....turns out he grabbed them. The stuff was worth nothing in the 90s

Sent from my SM-N976B using Tapatalk
Yeah amazing to think you couldn't give that stuff away not long ago
User avatar
Harv
Posts: 5020
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 2:00 pm
State: NSW
Location: Sydney, Australia

Re: Kleinig headers

Post by Harv »

John Brown used to have a fair collection of go-fast gear. He had a story of walking out of the Blacktown swap at the end of the day. One of the sellers had half a dozen sets of Myer headers... couldn't get rid of them. John paid $10 for the lot, and the seller thought he had a pretty fair deal.

Cheers,
Harv
327 Chev EK wagon, original EK ute for Number 1 Daughter, an FB sedan meth monster project and a BB/MD grey motored FED.
vmx-mxr
Posts: 878
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2009 10:42 am
State: NSW
Location: Sydney Hills District

Re: Kleinig headers

Post by vmx-mxr »

I have a set of the headers, a bunch of covers and manifolds in different combinations. Something about all our homegrown industries and tradesmen with skills nearly lost.

It's good that Daniel is wanting to keep the old stuff going.

Does he have all the patterns, and is he selling the filters?
D-MAN
Posts: 475
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2012 11:48 pm
State: NOT ENTERED
Location: Sydney

Re: Kleinig headers

Post by D-MAN »

vmx-mxr wrote: Thu Feb 25, 2021 10:43 pm I have a set of the headers, a bunch of covers and manifolds in different combinations. Something about all our homegrown industries and tradesmen with skills nearly lost.

It's good that Daniel is wanting to keep the old stuff going.

Does he have all the patterns, and is he selling the filters?
Yeah it is good that he wants to keep the old stuff going but if he can’t get enough people interested it won’t happen.
He did do a small run for rocker covers, fuel blocks and air filters a couple of years ago.
I think he has a few filters and fuel blocks left.
He also said if he did get enough interest he may do a stromberg manifold - but I don’t think there was enough interest which is a shame
Doesn’t look like the headers will go ahead either
PEARO
Posts: 58
Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2007 2:23 pm
State: QLD
Location: Brisbane

Re: Kleinig headers

Post by PEARO »

Hi D-Man I have an original twin manifold and twin breather rocker cover on my Ute, I would be interested in the filter housings and fuel block and possibly the headers. Any info would be appreciated.
Rob
User avatar
FCEKHKZD
Posts: 37
Joined: Wed Aug 21, 2019 3:42 pm
State: VIC

Re: Kleinig headers

Post by FCEKHKZD »

D-MAN wrote: Thu Feb 25, 2021 11:04 pm
vmx-mxr wrote: Thu Feb 25, 2021 10:43 pm I have a set of the headers, a bunch of covers and manifolds in different combinations. Something about all our homegrown industries and tradesmen with skills nearly lost.

It's good that Daniel is wanting to keep the old stuff going.

Does he have all the patterns, and is he selling the filters?
Yeah it is good that he wants to keep the old stuff going but if he can’t get enough people interested it won’t happen.
He did do a small run for rocker covers, fuel blocks and air filters a couple of years ago.
I think he has a few filters and fuel blocks left.
He also said if he did get enough interest he may do a stromberg manifold - but I don’t think there was enough interest which is a shame
Doesn’t look like the headers will go ahead either
he is really wasting his time and effort unfortunately, you just cant get guys to buy stuff here in this country as the market is small and most parts for these cars are unique to this country and we(me included)will not pay whats it worth to make. Daniel would be far better of making a part for a chev or locally produced falcon as the guys there seem to pay anything for the parts for their cars, different story again with the valiant guys, they dont want to pay for an oil change.
perfect example is Roger H, even though he makes and repairs all stuff for early holdens, his main money maker is a &*#@ part, yep you guessed it, a &*#@ windback sunroof cable set that he sell world wide, they are small, take no effort to assemble, crimps a cable on the slider end and done.. puts in a post bag all over the world, no GST to pay as he exports, clean easy earner.. daniel nneds to make apart like that
User avatar
Harv
Posts: 5020
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 2:00 pm
State: NSW
Location: Sydney, Australia

Re: Kleinig headers

Post by Harv »

Some do it for the money. I'm glad that most of us do it for our passion, even when you make a loss.

Daniel is probably doing it in a salute to his heritage. Frank is worth remembering.

Frank Leonard Kleinig was born at Temora, NSW, on 10 November 1911, and grew up in the Sydney suburb of Concord. Frank had a passion for motorbikes, cars and high speed. He won his first race on a bike he built himself and soon moved on to speedway cars. His first car was known as the 'Rainbow Special', named after its colour scheme.

Frank was a fitter and machinist by trade. He served his apprenticeship at James N. Kirby, a highly successful engineering firm in the inner city suburb of Camperdown which began by reconditioning automotive engines, later manufacturing automotive parts and household appliances.

One of Frank's jobs at Kirby's was machining the engine parts for 'Southern Cross', the aircraft which [Sir] Charles Kingsford Smith flew on several historic record-breaking flights. The firm also did precision machining for competition motorists and Frank was keen to develop these skills. When a fellow worker was away, Frank was given the job of machining the pistons of a car which won its next race. This success set the path for his career.

One of Kirby's customers was the wealthy cinema owner, W.A. McIntyre, who was also a motorsport enthusiast. Kleinig and McIntyre teamed up to create two notable racing cars of early Australian motorsport. The first was the 'Kirby Deering Special' (later known as the 'Kleinig Hudson Special') built in 1934 using a 91 cubic inch supercharged twin overhead-cam straight-eight Miller engine, which McIntyre had imported from the USA and the chassis from a MG Magna Salonette (L-type) owned by McIntyre. The car was entered in the Phillip Island Centenary 300 race in Victoria in 1935, but failed to get to the track due to last minute engine problems. After much testing and adjustment, the car broke all records at the 1937 Canberra Speed Trial with an average over the quarter mile (0.4km) of 117 mph (188 kph) in unfavourable conditions. The achievement was all the more remarkable given the car had crashed at high speed at the Penrith Speedway in western Sydney only days before. Kleinig was lucky to escape injury and working on the car night and day just managed to get the damaged vehicle ready in time. The car won every race it entered that year but the Miller engine was found to be unreliable over long distances.

With the announcement in 1938 of a Grand Prix to be held at Bathurst, NSW, Kleinig and McIntyre decided to replace the engine with a more robust Hudson 4.4 litre straight eight engine pulled from McIntyre's newly acquired Hudson sedan. In that year Frank married Valmai Louise Brooks and started his own workshop at Parramatta Road, Burwood, but was still supported by McIntyre in his racing ventures as well as another successful businessman, Hastings Deering. Frank and the 'Kleinig Hudson Special' were very successful, winning numerous races, setting lap records, breaking Australian speed records, hillclimb records and thrilling the crowds with his daring. He is credited with naming 'Conrod Straight' at Mount Panorama in Bathurst. After his engine failed, Frank and his mechanic found the damaged connecting rod on the road where the engine had blown. Frank had the rod chromed and kept it as a souvenir. The car competed for many years before being retired in 1954.

The second car Kleinig engineered for McIntyre was a 1935 Hudson Roadster. It had a special body built by G.H. Olding of Camperdown to compete in a proposed 1936 trans-African rally that never eventuated. The body was designed to carry a spare short engine in the boot. With the cancellation of the African rally, the big Hudson was headed for the racing track. It was first raced in the Australian Racing Drivers' Club Cup at Phillip Island on 5 November 1935. Frank was the riding mechanic alongside top speedster, 'Joe' Buckley, the car's official driver. On the first lap Buckley lost control and rolled the car through one of the right-angle bends and crashed into trees. Frank crawled out, but Buckley was still trapped underneath. The enthusiastic crowd raced over and, after Frank warned them not to, rolled the car back onto Buckley damaging his spine. Buckley's injury left the roadster, and the Kirby Deering Special, without a driver, so Frank was asked to take the wheel of both cars at their next events.

With Frank driving the big Hudson, it went on to win many trophies, set records at the Robertson Hillclimb and the Broughton Pass Hillclimb. Between 1937 and 1938 it won the prestigious Wakefield Trophy, a series of hillclimbs and speed events carried out over a twelve-month period and judged on a point score basis. In 1941 it set a record for driving between Melbourne and Sydney in 8 hours and 15 minutes. During one event, Frank pushed the car so hard that he literally drove the wheels off, as all four wheels broke away leaving the car resting on its belly. Frank continued racing both cars, but McIntyre's health was failing and his doctors warned him not to continue with his motorsport 'antics' (McIntyre drove the roadster when Frank was in the other car). McIntyre sold the roadster to Frank in 1939 and he retired the car in 1941.

Some notable achievements of Frank driving the Kleinig Hudson Special include:
Australian Hillclimb Champion in 1948 and 1949.
Rob Roy Hillclimb record in 1939 and 1948.
Waterfall Hillclimb record in 1938.
Hawkesbury Hillclimb record in 1949.
Penrith Speedway in western Sydney where records were set on multiple occasions.
Australian quarter mile record in 1951 at Mt Druitt.
Winner of 18 of 22 hillclimbs entered over a 14-year period.
Bathurst lap record holder.
Seven times a contestant in the Australian Grand Prix.
Pole position and fastest lap time in the 1949 Australian Grand Prix.
Three-lap demonstration race with an aeroplane at Penrith Speedway

The Kleinig Hudson Special was eventually retired after the 1954 Australian Grand Prix. Unfortunately, its battery failed on the starting line and the car never started in the event.

Frank's racing career came to an abrupt end in 1956. Against the wishes of CAMS (Confederation of Australian Motorsport), Frank and several other racing drivers competed in a Mobilgas fuel economy run. Because the event was not run under a CAMS permit, the governing body cancelled Frank's racing license. He was racing a Porsche Spyder at the time and had to withdraw from any further events. He did however recover his competition licence and race one last time, at the 1962 Bathurst Six Hour Classic in a Morris 850 with his son, Frank Kleinig jnr. They finished first in their class for the event.

Frank also competed in the Redex Trial round Australia endurance events between 1953 and 1955. However, Frank was not only known for his racing, but by using his expertise gained from motorsport, he ran his own business on Parramatta Road, Burwood. He invented a water injection system which helped engines run cleaner and more economically, requiring less servicing and cost to maintain. Frank devised his water injection system after a high-speed drive from Melbourne to Sydney during the Second World War. The car he was driving developed a leaking head gasket and when Frank removed the head he found the affected cylinder was spotlessly clean. He then set about designing a system to inject water and alcohol into the engine at a precise rate, a design which he patented and manufactured. Frank also developed aluminium cylinder heads for side valve engines to increase engine power and redesigned the combustion chambers to improve gas flow and increase compression. He also produced a device that increased the ignition spark to prevent spark plug fouling, a common problem of the time due to oil burning engines and fuels not up to the standard they are today (2019). Performance-enhancing mufflers, manifolds with multiple carburettor applications, performance headers and sports air cleaners were also designed and made at his factory. Engine 'dress up' gear, such as finned aluminium rocker covers, were also produced, some of which are still in demand today.

Frank also teamed up with Dan McFarland and together they designed and machined a small number of elaborate, yet very efficient superchargers and manifolds. At the time they were too expensive to produce so the project was abandoned.

Frank Kleinig died at the age of 64 at Cronulla, in southern Sydney, on 27 May 1976. He was later cremated at Woronora.


Cheers,
Harv
327 Chev EK wagon, original EK ute for Number 1 Daughter, an FB sedan meth monster project and a BB/MD grey motored FED.
User avatar
Brett027
Posts: 2265
Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2019 4:14 am
State: NSW

Re: Kleinig headers

Post by Brett027 »

Thanks for posting Harv.
Sucker for a rusty bomb
D-MAN
Posts: 475
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2012 11:48 pm
State: NOT ENTERED
Location: Sydney

Re: Kleinig headers

Post by D-MAN »

PEARO wrote: Sat Jun 12, 2021 3:56 pm Hi D-Man I have an original twin manifold and twin breather rocker cover on my Ute, I would be interested in the filter housings and fuel block and possibly the headers. Any info would be appreciated.
Rob
Hi Rob,
Last time I spoke to him he still had some filters and fuel blocks left.
His contact details are
email
daniel.kleinig@gmail.com

45777221 is the number
PEARO
Posts: 58
Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2007 2:23 pm
State: QLD
Location: Brisbane

Re: Kleinig headers

Post by PEARO »

Thanks so much mate
gpi
Posts: 1131
Joined: Mon Apr 26, 2010 2:08 pm
State: VIC

Re: Kleinig headers

Post by gpi »

was Eldred's license cancelled as well?
Post Reply