big block chevy headers?

[Ratpowerd67]

humm, id say if the spaceing between the tubes are close enough to the same.........cut em up!. even if they need some bending here and there, cut off the bbc flange , cut some slices in the tubes to make easy bending, then make some tack welds if needed. bend the tubes one at a time and get it close to the lsx flange but do not tack the flange on yet. bolt the lsx flange to the head, then position the flangeless headers where you want them and tack it up. remove the header as a whole and weld it all up. just an idea............ good luck jim.

[cableguy0]

IM with ratpowerd. If you cut the flanges off of the bbc headers like right at the flange so theres as much pipe as possible. Them make a couple slices in each tube or you could always cut the tube on an angle top to bottom which will get the headers away from the frame and also make the angle less sharp mating to the head. I would bolt the ls flanges to the head and work each tube one by one from there. Its going to be a pain in the @ss and time consuming nightmare but your just gonna hafta do it one at a time.

[Ratpowerd67]

exactly.......and if you do decent welds and die grind them down a little...............man you would have a nice set of headers!.....and if your gona go that far with them......chop off the three bolt flange and weld up a pair of ball socket adapters.... that way if the header is not exactly strait with your ex pipe, no biggy........and never buy a gasket again. but there again,,,,its more $$$. just adding more options for you........good luck!

[Jim_PA]

Never thought of that -- Sounds like just what I need to do -- I will still be able to do things slowly, with less risk of turning them into scrap metal.

I like it!!! --

Thanks guys -

Will keep you all posted, of course

[cableguy0]

Good luck. Get as many things together you can use for clamping and holding etc so you arent feeling like you need a 4th hand. You could also cut the 4 into 1 flange off and deal with each pipe individually. I know thats getting pretty time consuming but at least you will only be dealing with 1 pipe at a time.

[Ratpowerd67]

think about it..............a little time and alittle skill..........or........$700 bucks...lol

[cableguy0]

Once the cut off wheel and welder is out whats a little bit more? lol. Good luck just try to keep an extra set of hands around it will make life a ton easier.

[Jim_PA]

I might need to cut the 4-1 off -- Thanks again guys, much appreciated.

[Super73]

One thing that might help is to tack weld a couple mounting tabs that will allow you to mount the header to the frame for now. This way the header can't move while you bend the tubes to the new flange.

[Jim_PA]

Too late to turn back now people! --

I'll probably study this for at least 10 hours before going any further, and I'm away this week for work

[68GMCCustom]

you just need the right pipe bender!

[mac72]

Wow, Thats really close,should be a walk in the park w/ a little heat!
68gmccustom you payin' attention

[68GMCCustom]

uh yes....but I just to the welder back to my buddies house!

[87chevy.com]

after a few minutes of searching, and a few dozen more in autocad, I ploted all of the ports and heres what the port differences are.



clint

the LS has a 4.400 ceter to center on the ports... the SB fords has the closest at 4.380... the BBC had a massive 4.840" when I made an overlay, its damn close... probally close enough that you could make a LS head bolt pattern w/SBF port spacing and call it a day... well depending on how the headers fit the body..?

[hotrodrookie]

Im curious to see how this turns out, I too pondered about doing this. One thing I was thinking, how will the plug wires be routed? do they need to be wired behind the headers?

[68GMCCustom]

I think we may have lost Jim.....