Headers

[chevy4ever]

My brother just got a 86 f*rd Bronco w/ 351 and its got a crack manifold. We are gonna be replacing the manifolds with headers, i wanted to get some advice on which headers would be a good choice. Im in the "salt zone" so the need to hold up against rust. Specially since this is another one of our beach trucks. What about afterburners? What about dynomax? Im looking a cheap, but good qual. route. Any input would be great.

Thnx

Matt

PS (I told him to get a chevy!)

[70c10]

Dynomax cerama coated for $224 at Jegs!

[(3.1415)lot]

I'm putting dynomaxes (ceramic coated) on my truck now; I'll let you know what I think of 'em when I'm all done. They're a bit of a pain to install (like all headers) in terms of reaching all the bolts and stuff and a couple of "incidentals" don't quite line up (like the bolt hole to hold my oil dipstick in place, the O2 A.I.R. injection couplings, etc. but nothing I can't make work with a little inguinity and fittings from Home Depot. Overall they are a very sharp looking kit and the ceramic coating is resistant to darned near everything from temperature extremes to grease to scratching to rust to chemicals. One of the most complete kits I've seen also - everything from the heads back to the converter, including Y-pipe, all gaskets, bolts, etc. I think I'll end up quite happy with them once the process of getting 'em in is completely done.

[chevy4ever]

Thanks, i would very much like to know how it goes, yeah i allmost baught them the other day, but i decided to wait a few more weeks. Let me know, thanks.
Matt

[(3.1415)lot]

Greetings! I finally got the headers on my truck this weekend. . .

Overall, I'm pretty impressed with the Dynomax kit - it's very complete and went together with no more difficulty than would be found with any other header installation (some of the bolts are tough to get at, etc). Everything fits as it should, no cutting or bending was required. The ceramic coating seems excellent - very durable and resistant to heat.

The only complaints (2) I have about the kit were that the A.I.R. injection rails (this is a California-legal, emission-compliant kit with rails for the A.I.R. system hook up) on the headers had 1/2" male threaded connection points whereas the stock exhaust manifolds had a female receptacle with different thread pitch to boot so obviously the original hoses / pipes wouldn't bolt up. This didn't end up being as bad as it sounds, since I was able to get flexable metal hoses from Home Depot with the proper connections on them for about $20 - they look pretty sharp too! Everything that matters is still there - all the check valves and so on, it just really ended up being a matter of replacing the original pipes with the male end on them with the new flexible metal ones with a female coupling on them to attach to the header rail. The other is the fact that on the passenger side, there was no provision made to re-bolt the oil dipstick. On the original, the oil dipstick has a flat piece of metal tack-welded to it that bolts to the head, just below the manifold on that side. Unfortunately, the headers ended up blocking this hole on the head, so I was unable to finagle the bolt back on. This kind of bugs me, but I was able to remedy the problem by sticking the flange of metal behind the headers and then bolting them down. Since the original attachment point was about midway between exhaust ports #2 & #4, it works fine with no leaks or blow-by.

The first problem (with the A.I.R. rails) might actually be due to the fact that the system on my truck isn't the most common, and this particular variant may have used the female receptacles on the manifolds whereas the "more common" system used a male threaded nipple kind of like what was on the headers - I'll have to do some research to find out, but suffice to say it might not be Dynomax's fault (yet). The second problem isn't really a big deal since the oil dipstick wants to naturally assume the position it gets "held" in anyway and not move, and it sure as heck isn't going anywhere now, but I'd still feel better knowing there was a bolt holding it in place.

Overall, I'd recommend the kit - aside from those two little issues it is VERY complete and high-quality. I'll let you know what else I find and how it holds up after some heavy driving. Good luck!

[chevy4ever]

thanks again,

matt