shorty header question

[1evilregal]

after attempting to remove the starter from the 327 in the regal, it looks as though I'm going to have to at least raise the engine on one side and remove the header, due to my extra capacity oil pan/long tube header configuration. I vowed that if I had to raise or remove the engine again, that something would have to go (along with my patience :x ). looking on summit, I came across these, http://www.summitracing.com/parts/big-1 ... onte-carlo and wonder if anyone had/has these on their sbc, and what pros/cons these had.

I don't really have the extra $150 for the ceramic coating, and will probably just use header wrap, as the car will be a semi-used driver, and nowhere near a trophy case car.
thanks in advance for any/all advice, as the long tubes can stay in, I'm just not wanting to have to go through this again if the starter goes out again in the near future...

 

[BuWaGone]

What kind of starter and headers are you running? I had a Moroso pan on my last SBC in my Cutlass and never had to raise the engine.

 

[1evilregal]

6qt circle track- baffled pan originally purchased through summit, and 1 5/8" hooker long tube headers. stock style starter. the headers curl back toward the block slightly, but enough where the body of the startergets caught between the tube and the block, even when the headers are unbolted from the head and the pipe...

only good pic I have of the oilpan...

give you an idea of the headers...

 

[woody31]

??? for you??? why are you running a circle track pan on the street????/
its not the headders ,,its the oil pan causing you issues,,,no reason to run circle track stuff on the street,,,,
pull the motor and put a stock pan on it,,if you need extra capacity go with a deeper sump,,,DO NOT use a kick out or double kick out pan,,it is a major pain in the azz ,,as you see,,,,as for shortie hedders,,,go with heddman shorties,,been running mine for 7 yrs,,,fit good and no clearance issues,,make sure you use a 2.5 inch collector tho,,,cheers...

 

[1evilregal]

woody,
I used this pan mainly because:
a) I plan on doing some autox'ing with it, and I love a curvy road. with the issues this engine has had in it's life, I don't want to lose oiling for a hard curve.
b) my buddy had bought it for a project that didn't pan out(pardon the pun), and sold it to me for $40 never installed.

I would love to go with heddman, but the $$$ isn't there right now... hard to justify to the wife that the headers you haven't run on the street yet, aren't the right ones for the car... (not to mention that I can be a bit of a cheap bastid!). I know the problem is the oilpan kickout is in the way, but as far as accesability, I would be able to just drop the exhaust @ the collector with a shorty, and be able to get the starter out. with long tubes, that's just a entirely different ball of wax., chane the style and you change exhaust pipes/mufflers/crossmember,etc...,

 

[woody31]

trust me,,i understand the $$$ issues,,and now i know you only paid 40 bux,,is a steal,,,i would have done the same thing,,if and when you get it out,,try a small g m starter off of the newer 96 up vortecs,,my buddy runs hooker super comp long tubes and they are a bit,,,,, to work around,,the shorty heddmans i run were less then 100 bux,,,got a deal on them,,,,somebody ordered them ,,opened box,,lost hardware and returned them,,think i paid less then half,,,good luck,,,keep us posted,,,

 

[GT_80]

Don't know if you ever got this sorted out, but go with flowtech afterburners if you're gonna replace your headers. Those shortys require a fair amount of fabbing and may set your drivers side pipe too close to the ground. I have a thread on shorty versus afterburners in the motor swap section.