Hey Everyone.

Im at the point in my swap where i need to make a decision on exhaust.

Ive got truck manifolds, and they wont work, so i need to either buy F-body Mainfolds/Cats, Stainless works LT headers, or make my own headers.

Im trying to justify to myself spending $800 on headers, when ive spent $1000 over budget already, but im not exactly looking forward to doing the exhaust twice.

If anyone could give input to ease my decisions, that would be awesome!

Sheldon

 

You only have three options:
1: Drop a grand on hawks
2: Stick with manifolds
3: Do like I did and make your own

It most defininately sucks, but that's all that's out there. If you go the hawks route, don't use their y pipe. From what everyone says it doesn't fit for ****.

 

Im aware of the y-pipe and costs. Im a very skilled welder, but im not sure i could fabricate my own headers.

Do you have any pictures of your headers? How hard was this to do? Ive spent the last 4 years perfecting my welding and fabrication, spent the last two summers working in a Manufacturing plant fabricating parts to improve production etc.

Thanks!

 

I used a set of 23 degree small block headers, cut the flange off, and modified 2 tubes on each side and they work great. They are all tig welded and fit the chassis awesome!!!! I think if you have any welding skill at all it can be done!!!!! I purchased two 1 3/4 J bends from Jegs that are on a 2.5" radius and it did the trick!!!! I may be able to post pictures later!!!!

 

Right on, that's great to hear! I'll probably give that a shot myself then - it's gotta be worth a try before $pending a small fortune on the Hawks units...

 

I was thinking BBC swap headers (hooker brand) would be bad ***. they go around the frame rather than inside near the trans. which looks like they would clear even the spohn trans mount. now just need to find some used ones cheap

 

hell man, if your on a budget, just use the manifolds,they flow "ok" unless you need the extra 10-14 hp, for $800.Just depends on what your plans are later on.

 

Talk to Nick @ American Racing Headers. Maybe he can help you.

My believe is, If you are going to do it, Do it right the first time!

 

Yeah, I'd agree with ya, except for one thing - they're 1-7/8" primaries, instead of 1-3/4". The larger size hasn't been proven to make any more power, & they'll just make it a little bit harder to work in that area (changing plugs, etc.).

Yeah, that would be especially cool for me, since I've gotten a Spohn tranny mount for just the cost of shipping it to me. Guess I'll look around for another set of 1-3/4" headers...

 

Here is the thread back when I did mine: https://ls1tech.com/forums/showthrea...hlight=headers

Considering all I had to work with was a cutoff wheel and I had never made any before, I think they turned out quite nice. They weren't really that hard to do. They just took a while. Cut, tack, cut, tack, grind, tack, cut...you get the idea.

They fit perfect until I finished welding everything. A couple of the primaries move a litte because of the heat on the driver side. Since I designed them to NOT hang below the oil pan, they were kind of tight around the control arm mount. So I ended up having to put a little ding there.

 

It is fun to make your own headers, but it takes a lot of time if you want them to be tuned. Here is some picture from when I did my headers. I dont think it is so much cheaper to fabricate your own headers. M