Good Morning, Gents!

About 1.5 years ago I installed a set of cheap headers on my '73 F250 2wd. Flowtech full length (O'Reilly) and it's the LAST time I ever buy cheap headers. I've been blowing gaskets like crazy. I just double up the passenger side gasket and it seems to do the trick (so far). Anywho.....

Attached is a picture of this header just barely rubbing on the passenger side motor mount bracket. Is this a result of cheap design on a set of cheap headers? Or will any set I buy do this?

Slowly but surely I'm fixing this truck up. She sat for 10 years in the AZ sun and dry rotted. She's steady and strong, now I'm just working out the kinks.

 

You might want to take a close look at your engine mounts to make sure they are not causing the engine to sit low.

 

I don't think its all that uncommon to have a rub or a tight fit with headers... I just put my new Flowtech full lengths on and it was a B!t(h on the passenger side and yes I have a rub also on the motor mount.... And when comparing to the headers I took off the passenger side, they too rubbed on that same motor mount... And I installed new motor mounts between removing the old ones and installing the new ones..... So its just a matter of the perfect fit in a tight spot................. I used RemFlex header gaskets and they are the Shizz ! No leaks on first start up and none yet..... Ill pay that $30 all day............ To each his own, but the rub on the motor mount is the least of my worries....... and to clarify mine is touching on the metal support bracket that supports the rubberized motor mount.... I don't believe any significant heat transfer would take place there which would create a safety issue.... Although I wouldn't put my tongue on it......

 

inwas thinking the same thing. I'm sure the motor mounts are pretty old in this ol girl. Even if it did the trick or not, I'd still want piece of mind by replacing them.

Woukd shorty's be better?

 

What sucks is a feel and hear the vibration through the truck. There is a small rpm area (1100rpm) it will rattle and it bugs the hell out of me. I feel it in the steering wheel.

What did you do at the collector? Mine is about 1/32inch away from the frame. It's a stupidly tight fit. I have a feeling it's rattling there too but I can never make it do it while I'm under the truck.

my tank is under the bed so I had to have some custom tubing done at my local shop. Not much space to run true duals.

 

Yes its way tight ! I didn't do the pipe work back from the collector but it loops up over the frame and if its not touching its about a thousandth's of an inch off of it ... But looking at the underneath of the truck, I don't know how else you could route it.... Sucks I know, it took me and my son several hours and 'time outs' to get our passenger side headers mounted I don't have a good answer or solution for you, other than some $$$ custom exhaust work.... It does surprise me that you could feel that vibration from the exhaust system ? Not second guessing you, I just didn't think it could amount to that unless there is something loose and not buttoned up good at the collector ?

 

I'm the wrong person to ask. I detest headers so I don't think they are a better option than manifolds.

But fitment wise maybe someone else can chime in.

 

Check the engine mounts' relative position to the perch mounts to ensure the engine is in fact sitting level relative to the frame.

In other words, the engine might be "clocked" or rotated causing the header to make contact.

 

Hmmm..... good idea! Are those motor mounts adjustable on the perch? (I'll most likely do motor mounts anyway. I'm sure these are stock)

The small town I live in.... I've found a family member of the original owner who told me this truck was never driven (relatively speaking) and that my odometer was true at 80k (at the time I bought her a little over a year ago). It was custom ordered out of Alamosa, CO with a Dana 80 rear and several other things that I'm finding out as I go along.

 

Someone did a dyno-based study a year or so ago and one of their findings was that a few dents in a header had no significant effect on performance. Thus, a well placed dent might resolve this issue w/o unwanted side effects. As always, YMMV.

 

The mounts' holes are slotted and allow for a little bit of rotation.. Thanks to a previous owner, my engine was canted over to the passenger side causing the Z-bar to be uneven and that eventually cracked the engine-side bracket.

I loosened both motor mount (insulator) nuts, jacked a 2x4 vertically under the oil pan rail and leveled 'er up. Solved.