Did I get a bad set of headers?

[Guest bluex_v1]

I guess I have 2 questions:

1) I picked up a pair of ceramic coated flowtech blockhuggers for my SBF 260z swap and they don't fit! I mean the driver's side collector actually has about a 1/4 inch clearance issue against the motor mount on that side. They are early (~1968) mustang mounts. The passenger side also doesn't seem to hug the block as much as it should and its collector is contacting the T/C mount. I know these are Holley products and all, but I would think they are built on a jig and shouldn't vary that much from one pair to the next right? Should I take em back and get another pair of the same thing?

 

2) Assuming any replacement pairs I get are going to have roughly the same geometry and clearance issues, I see where I could tweak them a little to get the clearance I need...like cutting a wedge out of the tubes at the flange and rewelding them so they angle in toward the block more...and I might be able to get away with not having to do the heim joint steering shaft thing. Obviously I'd get just a painted pair for this. Are there any tips any of you can offer if I go this route?

 

...Final option at this point is trying to modify a set of longtubes that I got as a freebee...I believe I can get them to fit, but I'll have to cut the bundle of tubes right before the collector and weld them back on at an angle. Will there be any significant flow issues if the four tubes take about a 15 degree sharp turn with no curvature? Can I get some primary tube size donuts from somewhere to do this with?

And while I'm at it, what is going to tend to flow better, a set of flowtech block huggers, or some hacked up long tubes that have an angle or two cut into them and maybe some weld bead poking through on the inside of the pipe?

 

Thanks a lot

[Guest zfan]

I know some people would not do what I did to my headers but I wanted long tubes and my 700r4 tranny to fit together so I cut a pie shaped wedge out of my collectors and bent them down and away so my shift linkage would fit and then touched up the already coated headers with the 1300 degree ceramic type paint and 1k miles later not a problem.

 

Do what ever it takes is my motto!

Fab,Fab,Fab damnit. That seems like the only way to get anywhere with these little Gremlin cars.

 

Mike

[Guest bluex_v1]

zfan, your post has given me the balls to make the first cut I have the primaries on the driver's side all routed down past the stock steering shaft with plenty o' clearance between the block and the frame members! Now I'm trying to figure out how to put them back into the collector and I noticed that in their original config, the pipes for the adjacent pairs of exhaust ports dump into the collector opposite each other. what's that, you say you need a hideous asci diagram?

 

1 2 3 4

...each number representing an exhaust port as seen from the side of the head

 

1 3

4 2

...each number representing that exhaust port's primary tube as seen looking into the collector

 

-The other side follows the same pattern. I'm wondering if this has any bearing on the scavenging effects of the exhaust pulses.

The thing is, on the ford firing order, there isn't any consistancy as far as something like the adjacent cylinders firing with the same delay from one pair to the next, so I'm pretty sure it won't matter at least for my application. Just want to make sure since I'm spending all this time here. Thanks!