Cheap headers for stockish 78' Malibu

[LT1B-Body]

Does any have a picture the stock manifolds?

 

[xylorex]

 

[79 USA 1]

Just an FYI, look at where the dipstick enters. The manifolds xylorex shows in his photo's are for the oil pan mounted dipstick. If the dipstick and tube enter through the block then the left side manifold needs to be of the style below. We had a 78 Malibu Classic 305 years ago that had the older style manifolds shown below. Early 1978 build with the dipstick tube through the block.

 

[LT1B-Body]

The stock Caprice manifolds I have look nearly identical to the ones Xylorex showed. I'll link a picture when I get home. The original engine had an oil pan mounted dipstick, but no manifolds with it. The "new" Caprice engine has a block mounted dipstick but on the pass side.

 

[LT1B-Body]

The stock Caprice manifolds I have look nearly identical to the ones Xylorex showed. I'll link a picture when I get home. The original engine had an oil pan mounted dipstick, but no manifolds with it. The "new" Caprice engine has a block mounted dipstick but on the pass side.

This is what I got

 

[pagrunt]

This is what I got View attachment 218305

Those are used on all '80 up blocks with the later passenger side dip stick & '78-'79 A/G with driver side dip stick in the oil pan. I foolishly used them on a '68 307 I had in my '72 Monte & had to mod the tube to clear the tight gap & used paper header gaskets.
Now with my '81 I have a '70 350 for it & using the earlier manifolds.

 

[LT1B-Body]

Those are used on all '80 up blocks with the later passenger side dip stick & '78-'79 A/G with driver side dip stick in the oil pan. I foolishly used them on a '68 307 I had in my '72 Monte & had to mod the tube to clear the tight gap & used paper header gaskets.
Now with my '81 I have a '70 350 for it & using the earlier manifolds.
View attachment 218306

Cool, hopefully that makes it easier to get the exhaust setup.

 

[pagrunt]

Cool, hopefully that makes it easier to get the exhaust setup.

I used Flowmaster '64-'77 A/'67-'81 F SBC down pipes to connect to my Pypes kit. I did cut them to fit with the cats I'm using.

 

[cat herder]

Stock single-hump crossmember is easy to modify for clearance. Chop out a section from the bottom about half the thickness and then box it in. Mine's been like that more than 20 years now with zero issues.

 

[78Delta88]

These were from about 5 yrs ago, Amazon purchase Stainless China made "Shorties", Similar to Headman. Engine setup was1970 010 block, with 305 HO heads/TH350. On #5 I had to beat the snot out of it to clear the spark plug and use header plugs. Wires setup as under header wires.



Malibu is going to be different, this setup was going into 87 Caprice.

Duals were 2 1/4 by Exhaust Works in Tucson, AZ. Cross member was boxed as mentioned by others.

Notice the black bracket on #1, this was stock AC bracket that had to be severely modified, but has to be there to support the AC. The 87 Caprice had AC on drivers side.

These are just some of the things to think about when doing exhaust/header modifications.

Staying stock manifold as suggested is good idea, especially for a 305 that will not do much past 4500 realistically unless you plan to build a Race Saver or Sprint engine. BUT ... Headers are great too and later on if you look at 377, 383, 406 SBC, etc..., you will need the headers.

For A/G I like the shorties, long tubes in trucks or the huggers as long as K member is not a problem. Plus I used to do a lot with the under header wires gives a higher end look and cleaner engine bay at shows.

Which ever you come up with... It can be done.