What is your vote? Headers or not?

I am building my 71 Comet GT. It has a nice 5.0 roller motor with a 5 speed out of a Cobra. However, the headers are a real pain! They are in the way of the power steering ram... make it hard to get to spark plugs... right up against my tranny... leak and come loose. All this and more. Are they really worth it? I want my Comet to be a good daily driver that has a little kick... how much horsepower do I lose or gain? Other thoughts?

 

I do not have any answers, but I was just having the same debate after removing my temporary exhaust and remembering that I'm going to have to bend the collectors pretty good to get them running parallel to each other and the road.

 

I have long tube hooker headers. They are GREAT! But if I was to do it again, and I wasn't drag racing, I would stick with manifolds.

Been thinking of going back to manifolds, anyway...

Headers are a biatch!

And shorties aren't much better. They just get in the way elsewhere.

 

I think here's your answer...

 

...at wide open throttle...

 

After spending 2.5 hours last night bending,beating and denting the drivers side hooker header on im thinking it was a mistake, but when i hear them I'll change my mind. tonight its the passengers side "yea"

 

If youre not too concerned with HP, and it is a daily driver, Why not go with shorties? It will still have enough KICK.

 

I chose shorties to avoid draggin' on speed bumps. I expect the difference between shorties and long tubes shows up at RPMs higher than what I'd use on the steet.

 

i bought hedman 15/8th headers went right in with no dings,or touching anywhere, so im headers for sure....

 

I'm gonna be mad if i have to beat up my Ceramic coated 6901's to get them on!

 

I got the...bare metal...headers, beat/cut/welded them to fit, then sent them to be coated...
now i have...coated stock manifolds.

 

Oooh just wait untill you hit a speed bump with them

Honestly with long tubes if you run into a big enough speed bump it will actually stop your car on the collectors..

Im getting ready too cut the collectors off of my long tubes and just use a reducer and weld them too my exhaust pipes.

But I gotta admit they sure do sound good

 

Headers can make HP, but on a street motor making less than 450hp there is not need to go any bigger than 1-5/8 primary tubes..............until you get upwards of 500/600hp then go with 1-3/4 or 1-7/8" primary. Just a case of point is that my 640hp motor uses 1-3/4" primary then stepped to 1-7/8".
Bigger is not always better....................IMHO

So why beat your headers to death, just get smaller primary tubes......and if those don't fit then BUILD YOUR OWN!

 

Hmmm, I have the same combination except for the power steering. Wonder why I never had any of those problems? How are the headers up against the trans? They have to be outside of the bellhousing which is a lot wider than the trans.

 

I certainly don't want to hyjack this thread but I have a couple of questions.
What are the main areas of interferance with long tube headers?

NOW, if someone in The Bay Area would like to donate their 302 car for a week of so I would be willing to build a set of headers....Long Tube that would fit correctly without denting/welding/cutting/bending etc., and do it for just the cost of tubing and flange. I'll bet I could make a set of headers that would out perform anything that is sold on the market today.....for say
less than a 450hp motor......................and only be slightly more money.
The first car would act as the mock-up.........from that I would make my jig or multipul jigs...........................and go from there.
Any Takers?????????????????????????????

Sometimes you guys drive me crazy with talk about headers............it just takes a little work and you have a really nice set...............and build them yourself...........................................or I will!