I have 67' Chevelle Malibu w/ a 350, auto trans. I've tried Hedman Elite headers and some short chrome headers (Dougs I think). Any way, I can't get them to fit for the life of me. They either hit the steering shaft or the upper and lower susp arms or both, what gives? What will work? :confused:

um, raise the engine about 10000 feet smile.gif , and cut off a litle part of the control arm mount, at least that what it took for me ;/

Thought about that but I forgot to mention I'm up against the frame too.

Have you bought new headers for your application or just trying others used headers?

In over 30 years of messing with header installations I have NEVER had a pair that fit without serious dinging or other types of mods to the frame/suspension et al. One would think that after all these years these guys might get it right. I will give them one thing in that if a car has been wrecked there maybe some shifting of parts that may interfere with proper fit.

Well I think it's time to go into the header business. It's not that f'in hard to make these things fit if they would just ding them during manufacturing. If they are to g*d damn lazy to do this and still charge what they charge I could quit my 9 to 5 and make them drop in's. Once word got out I would be making $$$$. As you can see I really pissed about the aftermarket header scene.
:mad:

IF dynomax headers drop in on a big block, what kind of headers are you smallblock guys using? Yes I had to ding mine, very minor though.

Yeah, you'd think SB headers would drop right in compared to BB. Car has never been wrecked. It originally had Hooker Headers on the oringinal 283 which seemed to work. Maybe I'll go back to Hooker. I thought Hedman had there act together, guess not. I'm strongly considering Patriot. They actually give Height, Width & Length of the Headers for each P/N.

I may get shot for this but Flowtechs have always fit for me. The quality is crap, paint sucks, and a 2 yearold could weld better, but they fit everytime for me. First time was on my 66 with a 305, second was a 80 malibu wagon.

Steve

I just bought a set of dynomax headers for my 72 s/b and both sides went in from the bottom with no problem. I just jacked the car up and removed the clutch arm on the drivers side.

Originally posted by wanarace:
I may get shot for this but Flowtechs have always fit for me. The quality is crap, paint sucks, and a 2 yearold could weld better, but they fit everytime for me. First time was on my 66 with a 305, second was a 80 malibu wagon.

Steve If you get shot, im next. I think the quality may be a step above crap, and the welds are OK at best, but as said, the droped right in on my BB. Just had to move the engine over on the driver side a little. Fit on a 454 in a 71 perfect. Good ground clearence too. And the best part is...the price was right.

Chris

Originally posted by Cragars:
I'm strongly considering Patriot. They actually give Height, Width & Length of the Headers for each P/N. I've got Patriots and they hit the steering shaft. And, by the way, the Patriots appear to be Hedman knock-offs (but then aren't most headers?)

Now, for my personal rant. I notified Patriot of the problem. After a little arguing, they agreed to provide a new driver's side header (claiming that the headers may not have been put in the jig properly, because otherwise, they would have fit).

Asked the guy at the Patriot header plant in Long Beach if he could just clearance the #5 exhaust. Sure, no problem. Got a call a couple of weeks later that my new driver's side header was ready to be picked up. Picked it up. It looks like someone with an anger management problem, and in a bad mood, took a hammer to the #5 exhaust and just beat the snot out of it. Looks like hell. Sent Patriot (now owned by Pertronix) an e-mail with photos of the header. (1/4 inch clearance is all I'm looking for here. Patriot could have put a socket or a flat piece of metal on that #5 and just clearanced it ever so slightly).

Patriot said to deal with the dealer I bought them from to get my money back.

Sent e-mail with photos of header to Big B Auto last week. Still waiting for a reply.

All this started before Christmas.

Hokay, I feel better now.

My Dynomax headers fit very well. However the upper control arm shaft needed to be cut shorter. Not a big deal but not a perfect fit, either.

Have Dynomax on my 68 with a BB and they went in with only minor mods to the flange to clear some head bolts. I would agree that these things should work better out of the box, especially on something like a chevelle with standard applications.

Bill

I only use Hooker Comps on my BBC and SBC engines. The BB requires a ding near the brake distribution block. Both required the car to be jacked up pretty high to get the drivers side in (from the bottom) but fit fine. In fact the SBC set was practically a breeze.

Hey Terry;

Come down the street and I will show you how my Hooker headers dropped right in on my '69! :D

No, just kidding...I thought that I would do a search for you on this site...didn't know if you were aware of it, but I found your post.

Anyways...my Hooker headers fit pretty good. I wouldn't say they were perfect. I only had to relieve the #7 tube right next to the bolt as I could not get a wrench or socket on it. Only a minor fix. I have heard that the Hooker Super-comps fit much better than the regular Hookers. My drivers side collector hangs lower than the passengers side. This wasn't a problem until I lowered the vehicle. Now I have to take care when going over speed-bumps.

Originally posted by hxturbo:
I just bought a set of dynomax headers for my 72 s/b and both sides went in from the bottom with no problem. I just jacked the car up and removed the clutch arm on the drivers side. Same on my 70 bbc, but he's talking a 67 so who knows.