:confused: hi I just order a new set of 1 3/4 super comp hooker headers and was told that my stock starter and milodon ( slight kickout ) and the flexplate may not work with these headers , does anybody have any input , 68 el camino with a 383 stroker , with a tci 400 . the milodon is a street strip oil pan and the tci flexplate is tci also

why did you order them if it says they won't fit?

That seems like an awefully large header unless it's a strip only car. I would have thought they would suggest a 1 5/8".

Rob

I have the Super Comps on my small block and a Summit side kickout oil pan. I had to clearance the one tube a little to fit the pan. I did have a stock starter but have replaced it with a mini.

when i ordered my hooker 1 3/4's i got a mini-starter and a 350 non-external balanced flywheel.(fewer teeth).i bought a balance plate for the flywheel to work with the externally balanced crank on my 385 stroker.i too have a kick-out sump on my oil pan.i guess its all about clearance for those darn hooker headers.(gotta lov'em.) :D

Originally posted by sean jackson:
:confused: hi I just order a new set of 1 3/4 super comp hooker headers and was told that my stock starter and milodon ( slight kickout ) and the flexplate may not work with these headers , does anybody have any input , 68 el camino with a 383 stroker , with a tci 400 . the milodon is a street strip oil pan and the tci flexplate is tci also I've been through the whole ordeal with the same setup, you can call me if you want just shoot me an email, I'm in Ovale, just down the street. In fact I'm getting ready to fire the 70 up, we finally got some sun graemlins/hurray.gif

Ditch that kickout if it's not too late!

Originally posted by thunderstruck507:
why did you order them if it says they won't fit? for dragracing ! performance is what its all about , dosent mattter to me if I have to sacrafice a little bit here and there

Is this for straight plug or angle plug heads?

I went thru this a bit when I put 1 3/4" Hooker SC's on my 355 with Canfield angle plug heads.

Hooker, Summit and Jeg's ALL told me that these headers would only work with a mini-starter and 153 tooth flywheel. Soooo, I went out and bought what they said I needed. When all was said and done, the new mini-starter and 153 tooth flywheel would NOT fit.

For the heck of it, I installed my stock starter and stock 168 tooth style flywheel and it all fit LIKE A GLOVE.

To this day I have no idea what Hooker, Summit and Jeg's were thinking.

BTW, I'm using a stock oil pan, so I can't help you out on that.

FYI, the Hooker instructions were correct in that I would have to sliiiightly tweak the column auto tranny linkage for clearance. I did so and had no problems (I've since gone to a B&M Pro Ratchet floor shifter). ALSO, the headers fit the car PERFECTLY and I DID NOT have to ding a single tube. The only other problem I had was that the ceramic coating sucked. It lasted about a year.

Anyway, kinda mixed reviews from me I guess, but I would definitely buy them again, only I would save myself some hassle about buying some of the things they recommended. Also, I would have bought them uncoated and sent them straight to Jet-Hot.

so far , so good, I pulled out the old mr.gasket 1 5/8 (which are for sale ) and after pulling down the starter and pulling the bolts on the engine mounts and removing the carb and hoisting the engine up , I was able to squeeze these pretty looking pipes into place , my man from arkansas , you were right on the money , I dont know what jegs or hooker or summit were talking about either , maybe its a money scam. anyhow I still havent set the engine back into the engine mounts but it looks like I'll have a 3/16 clearance between passenger pipe and the milodon pan . the only issue so far was that the heat shield from the starter was slightly touching the pipe , which can be beat into submission or notched back , I had heard all sorts of input for this year and was told everything from having to notch the crossmember , to buying a mini starter , to reducing the flywheel size , which is all stuff I just bought . the starter size though would be kinda cool , since the engine is a 12 to 1 compression and the stock starter does struggle a little smile.gif when firing up . when I get done this weekend I'll post the pics on my website , www.cardomain.com/ID/seanselky (http://www.cardomain.com/ID/seanselky) , thank you everyone for your help , I got way more responses from this forum than chevy talk!

Anybody that says they have to "clearance" or "ding" the header to get the starter to fit, should probably say "mash" or "flaten". I bought a set off of Ebay SBC Hooker Super comps, guy said he had to "clearance" the header for a drag car with a 168 tooth flywheel, when I got them the #8 pipe was mashed in half and the #2 pipe was oval as well. The amount of restriction he created by clearancing, might as well have been running manifolds.

I almost wonder if he was trying to fix the headers so he could put them in without lifting the motor.

Sean
Nice pix! After I saw your Milodon pan now I see why I needed to clearance for my Summit pan and you had room. My Super Comps needed a little submission at the pan because the Summit (and other brands) that form their kick-out with a small verticle rise at the bottom of the side angle whereas the Milodon slopes farther down and rolls under. The only other areas I had to clear were a few plugs since my heads are angle plugs.
How high are your collectors relative to your trans crossmember? Mine was a little too high and we had to make a tight bend to get under a smaller custom tubular crossmember.

Originally posted by sean jackson:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by thunderstruck507:
why did you order them if it says they won't fit? for dragracing ! performance is what its all about , dosent mattter to me if I have to sacrafice a little bit here and there </font>[/QUOTE]If you're only changing the primary size, what do you expect to gain without changes made to the rest of the exhaust system? If that's a picture of it at your website you could gain considerably more by maintaining the collector diameter at least to the crossover pipe. An x-pipe would be better than the long crossover tube.

Originally posted by onovakind67:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by sean jackson:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by thunderstruck507:
why did you order them if it says they won't fit? for dragracing ! performance is what its all about , dosent mattter to me if I have to sacrafice a little bit here and there </font>[/QUOTE]If you're only changing the primary size, what do you expect to gain without changes made to the rest of the exhaust system? If that's a picture of it at your website you could gain considerably more by maintaining the collector diameter at least to the crossover pipe. An x-pipe would be better than the long crossover tube. </font>[/QUOTE]

well first i gotta start somewhere , I dont have money growing on trees and as for the size when your running a 12 to 1 compression wouldnt you want you engine to breathe better and yes i have looked into the x pipe and had asked a million question before I got them , but as the exhaust system sits now , of course i have to go to a 3" pipe , it still has 2 1/2 for the moment, and I epect to gain a little more performance and a better sounding engine , ... now for chevl 71 I didnt come close to hitting the crossmember I have 8 inches left before it comes close all that is hitting is the heat shield on the starter

I am running them in my 70. I have a stock starter and 168 tooth flywheel and it clears them both. The starter is very close to the header (maybe an 1/8" inch). I have a canton oil pan with no kickouts and the pass side has about an inch of clearance (driver side 3-4 inches). I did have a big issue with the crossmember clearance. I ended up taking a solid transmission mount and cutting and rewelding it to drop the rear of the transmission a full 1.5 inches. This helped, but I still had to cut the header collector and weld my 2.5 inch pipe at an angle to clear the trans crossmember.

what i was thinking of doing was to have a slight bow to the pipe and it should clear the crossmember with no problem , the car dosent sit that low , so I dont expect scrapin , not to mention I wont be going over speed bumps , but over all I'm pretty happy with how it all turned out !

they lied at jegs and summit , I had absolutely no problems with my 1 3/4 ceramic hooker super comp headers fitting my 383 stroker , the pan (milodon ) was close , but after wrapping it in heat wrap , it did the trick , I also wrapped the starter in a heat blanket, they were though a tight fit . after pulling the motor mount bolts and pushing the engine around with the help of a cherry picker I was able to squeeze em in ! www.cardomain.com/id/seanselky , good luck!