Installing 427 Windsor in 71 Comet

427 Headers

If it isn't too much trouble, knowing exactly which headers worked for you would be extremely helpful. Thanks.

 

Yes, $8,000.00 PLUS. Just finishing my '96 Bronco's 351 and that has easily doubled the mentioned cost above.

Have no expectations, have no disappointments in a blown budget.

 

Crites must have started making their own, they look much different than Tubular. Plus Tubular are 1.5" tubes and Crites are 1.75". I think the Crites design is pretty ingenius the way they snake around the towers.

Tubular:


Crites:

 

the design of the crites may look ingenious from a fitment standpoint.. but the top set pictured is much better from a architectural standpoint.

Course.. if those top ones are only 1.5 primaries.. that's likely the reason they didn't have to turn directly off the port the way those crites do... and increasing size would likely result in similar inefficiencies.

I guess my line of thought would be to do away with the shock towers and/or get a set of custom headers made if I were sinking that kind of money into an engine like the one mentioned in this thread. For a warmed over 351ci motor.. it wouldn't be nearly so critical to run an optimized and equal length header.

But for a higher revving 427($$$)?.. there's easily 30 horsepower.. or more.. lost in those crites over a custom setup.

Not dissing the crites really.. just pointing out that it would be like choosing an undersized carb that still has a choke housing on it for an engine like the 427 and there is power being left on the table there.

 

The Crites style header in the bottom picture is almost an exact copy of the Tubular Automotive designed used to shoehorn the 427's into the 64 Ford Fairlane.........AKA Thunderbolts...... TA has been around for a number of years and has built some extremely good headers for FE Fords over the years...........IMHO

 

HEADERS for a 351 Swap

Hello again Rod:
No its not too much trouble . It just something that I have to look up again..
Incidentally it "IS" a HOOKER Header .. NOT a Hedman . Its been a few years
ago I did this conversion along with a couple of others . After a while they all
seem to "blend" together . Anyway ..... This is the part number HOOKER 6223-HKR in Summit Catalog for a 1-3/4" diameter tubes and the price is still only $ 559.00 its for a conversion of a MUSTANG but it works for Mavericks or Comets also .. ONLY WITHOUT shock Towers .. Cometized

 

I can agree with you, speed costs money, just depends how far he wants to take it. I want to do a 408w with about as big of heads "out of the box" as I can afford, don't think I can really go too big on the heads (205-225ish) since its a stroker. But to keep costs down I can do a shave but not a whole coilover set up. For me the Crites fit the bill. Unless I win the lottery or somehow start making twice as much.

Its good to have the option of the Crites and I'd love to see a Crites vs Tubular vs "optimum" header dyno shootout.

 

yeah.. I hear ya.. and we've all made compromises as a result of the non-linear cost increase of going faster. Going twice as fast doesn't even come close to only costing twice as much. lol

An old retired chrysler engineer/racer/engine builder that I was blessed to learn from early on in my life used to say.. "finding that first 100 horses ain't too hard.. it's squeezing out that last damned 20 horsepower.. that gets really time consuming and expensive". lol

like I said..I wasn't really trying to pick on these particular headers or the mfgr in general.. just pointing out that those headers are part of the.. "first 100 horses", is all. And true equals with merged collectors are part of that "last damned 20 horsepower". But it'll cost ya to get that last little bit.. and these ain't such a bad deal when that's considered.

 

Headers

Thanks Cometized! I have decided that I will seriously consider removing the shock towers and upgrading the front suspension/steering. I race a 68 Mustang fastback with a 482 FE...it is a pain as it has the towers. Best to pull the valve covers when changing plugs. Sounds like a bigger pain in the Comet/Mav.

 

Here is a picture of my 408 in between the shaved towers.................If I hadn't spent so much money upgrading the drivetrain and brake system I would have taken the towers out since the car can't run B/SM anymore anyway.

 

I really dig your car and eventually see myself going in that direction with mine as well.. though mine will be made more for the twisties than the straights. I'll surely have as much setback as I can hack out of the firewall and tunnel without relocating every single thing mounted on it. No small feat and it will be done in stages to make sure the car isn't tore up for years on end.. and so my kids can enjoy it at times along the way. Stuff I own.. usually don't stay stock for too long.

Lately, I've been feeling guilty about planning to chop such a rare car up like I want to(recessed front to rear full rail extensions, firewall/tower notching/removal.. but that's the same old purist attitude(more of a love and respect for the few that remain kinda thing) I've always maintained throughout the years.. and the main reason I sold my last cool Ford(71 Torino GT/SCJ shaker).

But.. a solid rust free builder.. is a solid rust free builder.. and I'm just glad one fell into my lap only 20 miles away from my garage at this point. Living in the rust belt certianly teaches you to.. get while the gettin' is good.

PS. have you ever looked into a heavily massaged 400M block buildup? Kasse did one for the EMC a few years back and that thing was a freakin torque monster with huge spread! The blocks deck height(10.2) really allows much more lattitude with strokes/rod ratios.. and we don't even need to go into what's available for heads with CHI's 3V being the best bang for the buck right now in the Cleveland dept. Although.. that big six would be cool too.

 

Thanks, but I can't take much credit..........as the car was built some 33 years ago by a bunch of talented guys............I've just added to that.

I really don't like doing body work.........although I like to paint..........go figure. I have always taken a car with great body.......to start with.....then
modified it from a solid base. I've had canyon carvers and straight line racers and building a canyon carver is 2x harder.........I spent a couple of years racing sports car in the SCCA and that certainly gave me a good appreciation of what it takes to make a car corner at over 100mph..........vs
just going straight for 1320'................and especially when you are pushing the car and yourself to the maximum limits for 35/45 minutes at a time.

I've never thought about the 400M. I've always been a SB guy, although I did race a couple of FE cars, 427Q/R Ford Galaxie, and 428 Cobra Jet in a 68-1/2 Mustang. I did help a friend when he put together a 68 Mustang GT fastback with 514 crate motor that made a little over 600lbft of torque and 650hp. The car was extremely quick in a straight line and could keep up with 97 Mustang Cobra (with reworked suspension) in the curves...........that was a monster of a car.

I think it would be a lot of fun building a road racing Maverick............

 

What kind of rear end gear would you guys put in a streetable 408-427w powered Maverick with a C4? Probably would have a big hydraulic roller cam and something like out of the box 205 or 225 cylinder heads. Would something like a 3.00 be too low? My guess is it will still shred tires with ease and wouldn't have too much penalty at the strip. I have played with nitrous with my other car and would consider a smallish 100-200 nitrous shot plus slicks at the track to go faster rather than a steeper rear end gear. IMO, a cheap way to have my cake and eat it too.

I currently have 3.70s and at highway speeds my i6 sounds like its going to blow up.

 

May be be a minority of one but I like the 3.00 gears with my 347, C4, 235 60 15s, 2400 stall converter and Traction Lok. It'll smoke street tires all you want. At the strip it gets 225 50 15 drag radials which are over 2" shorter that the street tires and get good traction after they're warmed up. I like to run 70-80 MPH on the Interstates and spend a lot of time at and above 3K RPM.

3.00 might be too low or not depending on how fast your run, how much you drive on the Interstates, what street tires you have, and what RPM your engine likes. The shorter drag radials make up for the 3.00 at the track. IIRC, the shorter tires are like changing the rear end to about 3.27

 

My opinion for the ideal street gear is a 3.50. I just don't feel like 3.00 is gonna cut it.