Header Hassels

[Redguy1]

Ok Guys,

I have tried 16 ways from Sunday to get my new set of headman headers to fit into my 1987 El Camino project but the horse power gods are working against me. The left side dropped right in lifting my spirits and giving me false hope all at the same time. It was when we place the right side header into our stroked out 383 that our whole world crashed down around us. Once in place the header still has about an 1/8" gap at the heads and is against the inside edge of the frame rail at the bottom. And thats without the starter in place. Once the starter is in place we only have about 3" between the frame rail and the starter housing. Not enough room to squeeze all those tubes into. We have attempted about 37 differnt ways of assembeling it including jacking up the right side of the motor. No luck. Its like shoving 4 elephats into volkswagen. Its just not going to happen. Any suggestions?

 

[Lowproelco]

are you using a mini starter...

 

[DoubleV]

Get a different set and make sure they're the right ones for your car. I've said it before and I'll say it again ( and again and again and... ); the quality control on cheap mass produced headers is crap. This is why Joe Blow has no problems fitting his headers on while Jim Blow has nothing but problems with the same ones.

Seriously, if you know what you're doing and have tried over and over but still aren't able to get them in, it's most likely a problem with the headers.

 

[gwhiz]

i went through similar problems on my 86 ss about six years ago.i tried two different lower end brands and was told by alot of people just dent them in with a hammer,no thanks when i just laid out good money for new parts that are "direct fit".I ended up going with hooker shortie headers,they fit great and were easy to hookup.I dont race so i liked the fact of ground clearance,dont have to worry about speedbumps or bottoming out.

 

[Doug213xrj]

I agree there must be a problem with the header. Did you buy them new ? Contact the place you got the from. What is the part number, Are they for your car/motor ?


Doug

 

[Redguy1]

Ok. So the consensus is that the headers are incorrectly bent and using a 2X4 to "tweak" them seems to be the norm. Yea! I'm not real crazy about this idea either. We did purchase a mini starter and that seemed to have help with the clearance issue there but we still have issues with the headers themselves hitting the frame rail and not sitting flush with the heads. Our engine builder sold us this set as a package deal for the entire build. Purchasing a new set of higher end headers is definetly a possibility. I thought I had done my home work on this set of headmans but I'm seriously jaded about thier fit. Any suggestions about another manufacturer? I have long tubes right not but will consider a set of shorties if they bolt in correctly. Let me know what you guys think.

 

[nawlins-tim]

If your horsepower levels are not too high then I would consider the Headman shorties. They both install from the top of the engine ,which is a gen 1 350 block in a 1980 el Camino. I also heard good thing about fitment of Flowtech and Dynomax.

 

[Blake B]

may not be the highest performance headers available but i used flowtechs, having never installed headers before, and got them in in about an hour. I had to jack up the engine on the driver's side but they went in like a glove.