Every set of headers I've ever had has been a hassle in one form or another. Sure they're cool and sound good, but for a stock to mild build 302ci, is the gain worth the expense and hassle. Picked up a newly built 302, .030 over, Lunati 284/284 .488 lift, 110 cam with Manly stainless valves and 1.6 roller rockers. Not really my choice in cams and the heads are probably worst ones that could have been used, D7's. Flat top hypertuetic? pistons. Going in a 88 Ranger 4X4 backed by a C4 and 4:11 gears. Using the stock exhaust manifolds, what will I actually lose? Maybe 20HP or less? Picked it up really cheap and don't plan on keeping it, so I want to invest as little as possible.

 

Its air in , exhaust out , thats what makes HP , the stock exhaust & manifolds are very restrictive , so if you want more power headers & exhaust will help a bunch , if you don't want to do it , find a good shop & let them do it , there not a hassle , but when ever you modify something it takes some work , but worth it when its done right....Lew

 

Get shorty headers but put them before you put the engine in - a lot easier. Just think of percentage HP gain - 20hp is 10% gain. Put on a high flow air cleaner.
Wayne

 

From the first post,

"Picked it up really cheap and don't plan on keeping it, so I want to invest as little as possible."

So no, it's not worth the hassle to install headers.

 

All stock Ford exhaust components are restrictive so yes you will see gains, but whether it's "worth it" in your case or not is hard to say.


The cam is badly mismatched here.. the heads are becoming restrictive just as the cam gets into it's powerband, builder should have used a ~260h with those heads.