stock headers....done for

[Roland69]

I thought I had an exhaust leak so tonight after dinner I went out to see if any header bolts have come loose. I took my intake tube off to tighten the header on the passenger side and seen what I thought was a small crack on the 3rd from front tube....So I went to clean it up with the wire wheel on a die grinder and weld it but before I cleaned it I seen a crack on the front tube on the passenger side almost the whole lenght of strait part of the header tube. Should I try to fix the headers or replace them. I have a mint set of stock ones from a 86 GT I could use but I would rather just buy a nice aftermarket set since I will probly end up taking theese off anyway's. any brand you guys reccomend that I buy..... Let me know what you guys think.

 

[QUICK91LX]

if you are going to do the job, install a decent set of aftermarket ones. no sense in busting your balls on a header job just to install stockers. do yourself a favor and get a brand such as BBK or similar that has a single mounting flange. too often i have heard of people having a hard time installing MAC headers which have all 4 tubes mount independently.

 

[Roland69]

yes I was thinking BBK. I like the fit and finish that everyone talkes about. I have never installed a set myself but have seen a set and they look like excellent headers

 

[bobbyd]

yes try to got with BBK ir the ford racing ones. I have MAC's and they are kind of a pain in the ass to install mainly on the passenger side

 

[Roland69]

is there any tips or tricks to install them.

 

[bobbyd]

is there any tips or tricks to install them.

with single flange ones it should be easy. but the tips that they gave me when i was putting my MAC's was to start with the middle and then work your way to the outside/inside bolts and dont tight them real tight until you have all the bolts on

 

[grey5.0beast]

with single flange ones it should be easy. but the tips that they gave me when i was putting my MAC's was to start with the middle and then work your way to the outside/inside bolts and dont tight them real tight until you have all the bolts on

You should do that with any header really. I have the summit racing ones.They were 140 bucks and have the one piece mounting flange. I am cheap what can i say? They fit good at least...

 

[Darkwriter77]

Nothing wrong with cheap, as long as it gets the job done and doesn't fail in the future.

Really, though, there's not a huge enough gain to be had in going with aftermarkets to really warrant spending the bucks on 'em. The stockers really aren't all that horrible - at least they're not the cast-iron logs like the lo-po 5.0's in Crown Vics and such - and they're stainless steel, so I'd sooner just throw on the spares you've got, or just find a used set for dirt-cheap and toss those on there. The stockers are good for up to, what, 250+ horses...?

 

[Mustang78]

the stockers are stainless steel? yeah and so are my stock turbines...haha..i have 3 sets of stockers if anyone needs em, i also just bought BBK unequal shorty 351w conversion headers and they're top quality, the only thing i dont like is the chrome(rust, and something to do with heat that the chrome hurts performance a little), they have ceramic coated sets too, get those if you have the $$

~Mark~

 

[BlownFiveLiter]

The only recommendation I can make is to use some sort of locking bolts. The BBK ones with the single flange are a very nice piece.

 

[Roland69]

alot of factory exhaust is a low quality stainless...they might be but I wouldn't call them stainless

 

[Roland69]

and what is a good header to head gasket I should buy. Does the BBK headers come with new bolts and gaskets

 

[grey5.0beast]

my summit ones did...

 

[Roland69]

I think I will order the BBK-1515 headers tomorrow. steel with chrome finish will do me fine..is the ceramic coating worth the extra coin for a "non show" car

 

[Chuckman]

I think I will order the BBK-1515 headers tomorrow. steel with chrome finish will do me fine..is the ceramic coating worth the extra coin for a "non show" car

itll probably keep em from rusting a little longer, and help insulate the bay. fwiw ive got the chrome shorties youre going thinking about and they fit and go on pretty easy. they turn blue kinda quick too.

 

[Darkwriter77]

It should be worth it for the added heat control, I'd imagine, on top of the looks. Chrome headers turn all kinds of funky colors after you run it the first couple of times, and if they cheap out on the chroming process, it'll flake off and rust up in a few months.

 

[wythors]

Really, though, there's not a huge enough gain to be had in going with aftermarkets to really warrant spending the bucks on 'em.

crapola

You've obviously never run a set of aftermarket headers to compare them to. There is a very noticable seat-of-the-pants increase in power between OE and aftermarket shortie headers.

 

[The AntiRice]

whats the difference between equal and unequal length shorties? and with the equal length will i need a different mid pipe or can i use the same one as i have with my stock headers?

 

[payupsucka]

if you can spend the money now and get a nice set of long tubes. i went cheap and bought a used set of mac shorties for 50 bucks and after i did my new motor all i could think of was how i wished i bought longtubes. all i know is that after i get back from this deployment and i build my 331 iam gonna go with jet hot coated longtube headers. my buddy has jet hot coated headers and it 1. looks awesome and 2. keeps the under hood temps down, i mean you can touch the headers without leaving your first three layers of skin on the header after like 5 minutes of cool down.

 

[QUICK91LX]

whats the difference between equal and unequal length shorties? and with the equal length will i need a different mid pipe or can i use the same one as i have with my stock headers?

shorties are shorties, just with equal legnths the tubes are all the same legnth and have to be twisted up...you can use the same mid pipe, there is no difference in hardware or mounting. equal legnth tubes are supposed to aid vapor scavenging thus moving exhaust gases out away from the head better and creating better flow, which is supposed to net you a couple of ponies