Well i am installing a set of headers on my Highboy its a 76, it has a 390 and is from Ohio which mean its rusty and a little beat up. This tech is to help anyone that is thinking of doing it or is looking for advice. Plus the rust will give you some tips on what to look out for.

USE PB BLASTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



First off i took apart the power steering pump and i took the winsheild washer fluid box off. And the starter.



Note: The starter is a pain in the butt. The bolt that is up near the top of the starter is a pain to get our. 1/8 of a turn at a time.

The header bolts that were on the bottom of the flange were pretty easy to get out. I used a 13mil wrench on them and it worked perfect. Also on the pass. side i had to use the box end wrench because it was pretty tight on a few of the tube.



Then for the top bolts i had to cut them off. There are allen keys that were holding on the bolts and mine were pretty rusty and i had to use a grinding wheel to cut them off.



These bolts were on the pass. side and were easy to cut off but the problem is you need to grind them down to the flange so it pops off. A little pry bar and the pop right off.

The next pic is from the driver side and they were a little harder because of the master cylinder and the steering shaft took a little more time but they came off just the same. Grinding!!!



More tech to come as i continue.... OH YEA USE PB BLASTER!!!!!!!!!

 

Have fun, that's all I can say, the drivers side is easy, slid in in about 45 mins, including taking out the manifold, the passengers side, I spent 2 days, the first day every possible combo without taking out the motor mount perch, the second day, I took out the tower and had it done in an hour. This was lifting the motor with a cherry picker btw.
Moral of the story, unbolt the motor mount tower, save yourself a headache or two, also great time to check the motor mounts.

 

Well I finished putting on the headers. I have pictures and will post them later. Had to unbolt the motor and jack it up with a floor jack and that seemed to work ok.

But the truck sounds mean!!!!

 

Good job! I can totally relate to installing headers on a 390 cuz I went through the same thing last summer.

One thing to re-check is that your engine is level as it is bolted to the perches. The PO of my rig bolted it in rotated and it caused the bell crank (Z-bar) bracket on the block to crack due to the misalignment.

 

Here are the pics i promised. I dont have the pics of the complete project all done because it got dark but ill post them later.

Here are a few of what i had to do.

First off spend the extra few dollars and buy the good set of exhaust gaskets they give you paper ones that stink.



You had to cut them apart then slide them in.... not to fun and im sure ill have to replace them




Then i had to jack up the motor. I did it pretty hillbilly. i had to stack wood underneath the oil pan then use a jack and a block of wood and jack the motor up.

You only need enough to get the threads out of the motor mount. Which is on the bottom side of the mount. its a 11/16 bolt and was pretty easy to get to.
The bolt that is on the side of headers is a 5/8 and that came out easy. After you unbolt those two bolts you can jack up the motor

Hopefully if you have existing headers they are cut in the middle because that amount of play is key to getting them out.

Also when you put the new ones on you must cut them in the middle so it has enough play. A little elbow grease and they slid right in.

i dont have pics of that becasue it was only me out there and i didnt want to stop my progress haha





I hope this helps out. and if your thinking of doing it go ahead its not that hard just a little time consuming.

 

Cutting the header flange is not a "must". Heck if they were a "must" then it would come from Hedman (and others) already cut or manufactured with separate flanges.

Though the instructions stated that all that needs to done is to undo the motor mounts and jack up the engine, I resorted to removing the motor mount from the block AND unbolting the right perch frame, and then maneuvering the header up and into place. It simply wouldn't go in according to the instructions. I understand there were some dimensional differences during the manufacture of these rigs but in the ends I believe it was a ridiculous effort in installing the passenger side header.

 

I totally agree with everything your said. It is not a "must" to cut the flange. I only did it because the one i had on there before was cut so i did the same and it ended up working. Also i read what you said about taking off the whole perch but i couldnt the bolts on mine were pretty rusty and i would have had to cut them off. I tried one bolt and it was not happening.

Also your totally right about the designe there is no reason that it has to be that way. Bad design from the start. But i guess it must be for the starter but im not sure.

Thanks for your help on this.

 

I didnt see if you mentioned what brand of headers you were using?

 

I used Flowtech headers. They were the cheapest that they had, and for what i needed they were perfect. Im building an offroad truck and im sure they will get beat up and there is no need to spend 250 on headers when im gonna smash them on rocks anyway haha

 

This is exactly what I had to do to change the starter last month..GRRRRRRRRRRR These are hedman elites on a 76 F250 390 4x4. If the starter goes while not at home, a tow home is in order.