getting ready to drop headers in

[magoo_oner]

ive got a pair of headers laying around that im wanting to put in my el camino 305 for the time being. its a 78 so it has no air injection of the stock manifolds all it has is the flap looking things between the manifold and pipe do I leave that out or should I rout it in somewere

 

[565bbchevy]

If you are talking about the vacuum operated butterfly valve there would be no where to put it or any use for it when installing headers

 

[magoo_oner]

Thanks I will remove them than. If I'm using smog legal headers will I still be legal without that butterfly?

 

[87BlazeLS]

I'm pretty sure that was the heat riser flap that routed to the OEM air cleaner housing.
It was used to help the engine warm up faster by diverting warm air from around the exhaust manifold
to the air intake stream. Circa 1978 for sure.
Some engines during that time used a separator to keep the plug wires from touching or being burned
by the exhaust manifold. These would be removed when installing headers as 565BB suggested.

when I installed the headers on the monte The car had to be raised up a good bit in front with the rears
still on 4x4 posts just to get the right downward clearance of the collector end. driverside fed right up
in there pretty easy. Passenger side (ut oh) Was a b*tch. Had to jack the motor up off the passenger
side motor mount about 3/4" to get proper clearance to install. Even then very close to touching the inside
edges of the upper A arm.

If these headers are just Laying around > make sure you know if they in fact are for this car and engine/trans
combo. Or you will be in for a hard time. Possibly....