my headers come together at the collector too close to the ground, I remember reading that even with shorty headers there isn't much of a difference, any other solutions?
I thought shorty headers were a great improvement to ground clearance... Guess I will be watchin this one.
Yes the shortys are, in fact some people have said they can run them without having the power steering drop bracket that the long tubes require. But on the other hand the bends are tight in the engine compartment, the exhaust collector on the drivers side is in front of the bellhousing so it can get tight. Some have said it is bad enough that they had to cut the flange off and immediately put a bend so it doesn't interfere with the firewall. Here this is probably the best thread on it.. it even has a pic that blugene put up for me on him removing his collectors and welding his pipes together because I am tired of scraping over the speed bumps around my house http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?t=80320&highlight=shorty+headers
Looking at that post by Gene I can't appreciate that much difference between the long headers I have and the shorties as far as how far they sit below the bottom of the car. But I will look into them for sure.
Mine are low also, and I even bought a set of Heddman 88400's to put on, but one of the tubes resides where the pittman arm wants to be in a turn. Still looking for ideas, and using the FlowTechs that are getting old and rusty. The quest goes on.........
Windsor block. I didn't even need the drop bracket! (That's like the ONLY thing that's made easier by a Windsor though...)
Lift the car a few inchs. Or as others mentioned cut the bottom of the collectors off and weld the bottom. Mine are about an inch and a half past the bottom of the car.
My long tube headers have been a pain whenever I have had to do anything with them. Wrapping them was aganizing. The flange connections were a problem and they stuck down the lowest. I want to say they were about an inch or so the lowet. When I added the new springs to the front I rarely hit anything. Looking under the car it was the flanges that were touching. I am also intrested in seeing what shorties look like from under the car. I love the sound of the long tubes and since I only plan to drive it to gatherings and some weekends I may just stay as I am.
I think I've heard this about "factory box" headers two dozen times on this site, and if you want something that fits you either need to build them yourself or have someone build them for you. If your collector flanges are hitting the ground...........and you still want to have access without spending all day undoing the exhaust system, just buy these and have them installed; http://www.spdexhaust.com/VBK_B.html For the most part most SBF street motors need nothing more than 1-5/8 to 1-3/4" tubes and anything more than that is actually hurting the performance of the motor.................unless your 331/347 is makeing more than 500hp..............................my three cents worth.
I totally agree.. One thing I can see happening though is that clamp getting yanked and damaged. It sticks out like the flange. I wanta say that it's purpose is not for clearance but for an alternative connection. My two cents plus your three cents might get us a plugged nickle
Ok, lets try another direction..............cut off the collector flange and use a slip fit into the collector using these types of retainers.............just a thought. http://www.spdexhaust.com/pdfs/AccPDFs/Retainers.pdf
I like those tabs. Wish I had seen that before welding mine up. Might have to do that if I ever have to cut them..
