LS Swap Exhaust Manifolds with Mustang II front

[Curt - TN]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Tight with a rear dump...I did need a middle third joint to get around the manifold. It would have made it with two joints if the engine was a little higher.

Which manifolds are those?

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by Curt - TN

Which manifolds are those?

Hooker

[Flysocal]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Hooker

Mine is identical to Doug's. Same hooker cast headers.

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Hooker

Hooker 8501-3HKR Black Ceramic Cast Iron Exhaust Manifold

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[50 Chevy LS3]

Originally Posted by jweb

If you want headers Sanderson makes some that will fit https://www.summitracing.com/parts/snh-ls150-p

There are also similar stainless headers on eBay for less $$. Just make sure whatever you get dumps out the rear, center dump doesn't work well with the steering connections.

The headers from Sanderson mentioned above did not actually fit my truck. I ordered those exact headers for my '50. The left one fit wonderful, the right one not even close. Here are some pics.

I ordered these from Summit, but, decided to get ahold of Sanderson, direct, because I figured they would be more likely to have a solution. They did. I spoke with "Donna", and she decided the best thing to do was to send me a complete separate set of block huggers to try. FREE! She said to try them and use whatever worked. I did. The right side block hugger fit well, and the left side original one fit well, so I mixed the set.
The headers are asymmetric, however, the tubes are almost exactly the same length. The block hugger on the right side required a mini-starter. I bought a B&M one. I sent the unused headers back to Sanderson.

[50 Chevy LS3]

Originally Posted by Iceburgh

Sanderson make a set that will fit right in. But not cheap

I'm curious. What exact part number from Sanderson are those?
I would have preferred some longer tube headers for my truck.

[Iceburgh]

These
https://www.sandersonheaders.com/san...category_id=25

[Iceburgh]

You could you with thev1.75" but you will be close on the passenger side...might even have to nothing slightly.

[Flysocal]

Originally Posted by Iceburgh

These
https://www.sandersonheaders.com/san...category_id=25

These look really nice! Wish I knew about them prior to buying the hooker cast I would have sprung for the ceramic coated. Oh well my setup works fine

[Tesone]

Originally Posted by FAKKY

Tesone .... that steering linkage feel ok at those angles - have a feeling mine will be similar

Yep. No binding at all.

[Curt - TN]

OK, here is my crazy update I have been determined to have a 2 joint steering rod so here is how I manged to make it work.

I borrowed a friends rear drop block hugger headers and those also did not work so I went on to plan B.

We had stock set of F-Body Firebird manifolds which were steel instead of cast so we tried to fit them in and the passenger side was fine and the drivers side was very close but the heat shield, O2 sensor and bung were hitting the steering shaft. I figured if I could cut out the O2 bung and weld in a replacement section with a slight indentation it should clear fine. We did just that and we also moved the O2 bung more towards the front and inside of the engine and it clears great now.

While we were welding we cut off all of the emissions provisions and welded plugs in so it looks like they were never there.

Here is the scoop on the drivers side. As you an see when it had the shield and O2 bung in place the single steering rod would not clear.



I drilled out the rivets on the heat shield and tossed it. I them marked the area that would need to be modified to clear the steering shaft. I then took a cut off wheel and and cut the O2 bung out along wiht a little extra metal and test fitted until the steering rod cleared




We then found a scrap piece of steel and shaped it with a small indentation and welded it in place. We figured out a position where the O2 sensor would clear, drilled a new hole and welded the original bung in place.



We also filled in all of the emissions provisions and ground off the 3 heat shield mounting tabs to give it a cleaner look.



This is the first test fit and it clears the steering rod with no problem. It looks a little closer than it really is but it should be fine.



Now to the passenger side, this is what the factory manifold on the passenger side looks like.



This is a picture after we cut off both of the EGR tubes and plug welded them.



This is what it looks like now at first test fit.



Now to clean them up and lay on a coats of POR15 manifold grey paint

[MIKESAD50]

Nice job on the manifolds, along with the rest of the truck.

[Rogers50]

I'm having all kinds of trouble with the manifolds what did you use

[Tesone]

I used these. https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Hooke...lds,65958.html they're snug but they work.

[Curt - TN]

Originally Posted by Rogers50

I'm having all kinds of trouble with the manifolds what did you use

I tried all kinds of headers and gave up. I really wanted to keep a 2 U-Joint steering rod so the F-Body Firebird/Camaro steel manifolds were the perfect candidate to modify. They were easy to gut, beat and weld. Put a coat of POR15 grey manifold paint on after and they worked great.

[hdman6465]

G8GT, 2010 up Camaro,cts v,and zo6 corvette are the narrowest and closest to the block and use a 2 bolt flange. This is what we used on our 56 Panel.