Latest issue
 

My son has a cracked exhaust manifold on his truck. 1969 with a small block chevy motor, not sure what displacement, but it is not a 350, 327 or anything like that. I think it may be a 305. Regardless, he went and ordered Hedman Headers from Summit racing. Which is cool, I applaud him for doing this on his own and wanting to give it a shot. The passenger side went on with very few issues. We are going to have to drop the starter and either reroute wires or figure out a way to put a heat shield on it. But, the drivers side has become a bit of a problem. Where the four pipes come into one, it hits the frame rail. Not bad, but just enough to not be able to tighten the bolts on the header to get a good seal. My inclination is to take the pipe out and take a ball peen hammer and just dimple in the header where it hits. I don't think it is going to cause any backflow issues, becase it really isn't that much. But we have also run into an issue with the power steering pump bracket. Part of it hooks to the front bolt of the header and since the stop manifold is thicker I am not sure how we are going to handle that. My thought is to use one of the old bolts, and just put a bunch of washers in to make up the difference. At least for now. I new 350 crate motor is in the future, so this is just more of a stop gap to fix the problem and get the truck back on the road. Also, I told him when he takes the truck to get the rest of the exhaust installed to tell the person that he is or might be planning to put a gas tank in the bacl of the frame. So, would the pipes just run on the inside of the frame rail, or outside the rail between the frame and the body? Sorry for being so stupid about this, but the last time I did this I was his age and did it on a 69 camaro z, and I remember having to dimple the back pipe due to firewall issues. Any input on possible power steering brackets and any solutions to the pipe issue would be great to hear.

The other option is to just get another stock manifold and keep the headers for when he gets the new motor.

Thanks to all

Dino AKA Dj's dad and weekend mechanic.

Damn, I wish he would have looked here first. Member is selling what looks to be the same ones used for 60 bucks. I am going to make mention that he start looking here first. LOL.

Re: Latest issue
 

Some people just grind a groove in the frame rail. It’s plenty strong enough to remove a little. I think factory big block trucks had a clearanced frame rail.
For the ps bracket instead of stacked washers use a longer bolt with a sleeve on the bolt made from steel pipe. Cut the pipe to the right length to just be a spacer.
Last resort is Wacka Wacka on the pipes for clearance. You can distort the whole header like that.

Re: Latest issue
 

The small blocks being a 305/307/327/350 are all the same dimensions so a new engine will have the same fit issues . use a solid spacer rather than stacks of washers , Starter heat shields are good on any small block with headers . depending on what power steering pump you have changing brackets may require new hoses and brackets post a picture of what your working with . :chevy:

https://www.ebay.com/i/253960905503?...CABEgJ0A_D_BwE

https://www.amazon.com/Cy-Chrome-MPB...ustrial&sr=1-2

Re: Latest issue
 

Awesome Thanks guys, that is exactly what I was looking for. I will show my son when he gets up and see. He works at Oreilly's so they may have the spacers already and may be able to order the heat shield. I will look again and see how much frame we may need to grind out, but I don't think it is going to be much. Worse comes to worse, I have somebody weld a box before and after the ground out part.

Thanks again.

Re: Latest issue
 

I switched to a mini starter when I put headers on mine. Been driving it for nearly 4 years now without any starter trouble. Be sure to retighten the bolts after the first run.

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DB is the way to go no heat shields needed. It's like the Energizer bunny

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DB is?

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DB Electric they sell on Ebay and their own website great products

https://www.dbelectrical.com/

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You can get a 1/4" pipe nipple, drill it out to 3/8" and cut it to ~7/8" long for a spacer. I'd dent the headers or pipes before hacking the frame.

Re: Latest issue
 

Thanks for all the info, for some reason I am not getting notices of posts. I took a small grinder that my brother had, and I was able to get into the space between the frame and the block. Took a very small amount of the frame off, probably less that an eight of an inch and it fit perfect. He is going to need to bend one of the brake lines as it contacts the collector, but other than that I think we are good to go.

I am going to try and drop the started and extend the wires a bit and see if that will work. I cut them a bit tight anyway I think, so it might not be a bad thing to splice a bit of an extension into them to give me a bit more room. Live and learn.

Thanks again to all who replied. It is much appreciated. I will try and throw a picture up of what I did and how little of the frame I had to remove.

Re: Latest issue
 

Update to the thread. I work graveyards, and my wife emailed me the other night. My son has been working a lot lately and has mid terms coming up so the truck has been on hold, or so i thought. My wife said he was under the truck until about 1230pm working on something. He wasn't making a lot of noise so I guess it was ok. i got home that morning, looked around but could not figure out what he did. So, that day, while I was trying to sleep, he starts the truck, with open headers. As you can imagine, i jumped up to see what he was doing. I guess he was under the truck rerouting all the starter wires away from the header, and moving a brake line out of the way and securing it to the cross member so it would not rub on the collector. He wanted to get the truck started and tighten up the bolts on the header in preparation to get it to the exhaust guy to finish up the project. He has not gotten the spacer for the power steering mount yet, but was planning on that before he moves it. I was very proud of him for showing the desire to want to get it going, but i did tell him that his hours of working on it might have upset a few neighbors had he been making a lot of noise. Either way, he was able to get what needed to be done done, and hopefully the truck will be back on the road soon.