Big Leche

I am ready to do the exhaust on my car. Anyone have any input as to whether I should get the stainless Chinese ones off of ebay or flowtech headers. any input is appreciated.

thanks
lech

real57vetteguy

What year car? what engine?

oldcutlass

People have had good luck with the Ceramic Coated Hookers for fit and finish. You will get lot's of opinions. BTW your car looks awesome!

dc2x4drvr

American Racing Headers fit perfect..pricey though.

real57vetteguy

I second this comment. I ordered a set of Hookers for my big block 65 442, I had to send them back and they sent another set, the second set fit after I modified the inner frame rails, but one side hit the A-Arm and the other side hit the steering arm in reverse. I finally got rid of the Hookers and I am having a set of ARH headers built!

455Olds

I had Hookers on my '72 and they bolted on pretty easily with the starter removed. ARH makes some really nice parts, though. They're local to me, so when the time comes I'll be picking up a set from them.

Anyone had luck with the Ram Air Performance stuff?

1970442

I bought a set of these and they fit good and had no clearance problems can even take the starter on and off with them on
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/STAINLESS-RAC...f49264&vxp=mtr

ziff396

I have a set of those. They are all over under different sellers. The headers do fit great and have a lot of clearance for the starter and a large oil filter. I just can't get by the kinks in #6 and #8 tubes not shown in the pictures of them. They are hot spots as mine turned blue right away and some restriction. Good luck with the bolt alignment, they need to be messaged. Number 6 rear bolt is a real pain to install. I had to angle cut it and install a short bolt. The only reason I installed them was that they wanted me to pay return shipping from Michigan to Cal. So I gave them a shot. For the price, they are okay. Thick flanges and seal nice. Anyways....

Big Leche

Sorry I forgot to mention ive got a 71 "s" with a 350. Im trying to do my whole exhaust for under 450 including x pipe, so to be honest 130-160 is what I can spend on the headers so that's why I limited my choices to either flowtech or the stainless jobs on ebay. As it looks right now if I go flowtech its 130 for headers then 100 for x-pipe and 126 for rear exhaust sections plus another 60 more or less for flowmaster knock offs. Trying not to let the my car get outta control cost wise has me purchasing cheaper items than I normally would but it is what it is.

lech

1970442

I only had problem with one bolt but not much of a problem fit alot better than my old blackjack headers fit.Never seen a set of stainless headers never turn blue somewhat.

ziff396

I realize that. I was just pointing out the 2 restricted hot spots on mine. I think they're quality control lacks. They do fit a lot better than the Hedmans I had on before. Tuck up underneath nicely also.

Big Leche

I just found a set of hooker coated headers PN 3902 on craigslist. I looked them up and they fit 400-455. I thought if headers fit 455 they would also fit a 350?


any input is appreciated

Napoleon1991

Big block headers would hang lower to the ground on a small block, but they would bolt up.

Big Leche

Thx for the advice. Now to see if anyone has actually done it and with what kinds of results! Thanks again for getting back

Olds64

I bought a set of thermal coated Heddman headers for my 71 98. They fit perfectly. I know alot of guys that buy Cutlass headers have fitment issues. IMHO, spend the extra money and get headers you know will fit your car. It is worth avoiding the headache.

real57vetteguy

I had a set of big block headers on a 330, they hung WAY to low, even on a stock ride height car they drug on everything, I only ran them a week or so, they were on the car when I bought it but they guy had just installed them, I would estimate after about 1000 miles they would have had holes and gashes in them... I then installed a 455 in the car (1965 442) and ordered the 3902 headers, they accidently sent 3901's and we tried for two days.... no way they will fit, they resent 3902 headers in which were a very poor fit at best, even after the custom frame work(yup we reshaped the inner frame rails) they still hit the steering arm and a-arm. Ironically the ports of the 3902 didn't match the ports of the Edelbrock heads, so I called Jeg's back to question this, (this was after 500 miles of usage) Jeg's and I made a 3 way call to Edelbrock who stated none of the Hooker products have the correct port opening to work properly with the Edelbrock head, so I caught a break and Jeg's refunded the money for the 3902's, I am now waiting on a set of ARH headers.

JJSCUTLASS

Just my 2 cents

Flowtech from Summit - Part# big-31150flt

Fit great,look nice,but they will be tight around starter

real57vetteguy

Those will be hitting in a few places when you get it up and running!

rcrac3r

It looks like your transmission lines route towards the back along the frame. How does that work?

real57vetteguy

I would assume Trans cooler...

rcrac3r

That's my guess just never seen them mounted towards the back before.

real57vetteguy

Im running my radiator and a secondary about in the same location his seems to be, those lines are awful close to the headers though.

JJSCUTLASS

Yea, they are running through a cooler attatched to the frame. Does look close though doesn't it , but i am pretty confident the guy doing this felt comfortable putting them there.

So Far on the headers i have had no issues with them hitting anything,and the front end is mostly re-installed accept for the hood. I also used a smaller starter(still could of used stock starter) and the proportioning valve was moved up to mount to the master cylinder.Using a large oil filter is out of the question, so i have to use a Fram PH25 which is smaller.The only issue we had was, we had to take the collecter pipe on passenger side(you can see in picture) and have a 10 degree bend into it to make it run parrallel to the other side to the rear of the car.Other than that i have been happy with it and no hammering to make it fit!!

Big Leche

Frame, motor, etc look real nice....thanks for the input