Hello everybody. I've got a 78 Bronco XLT 351m. And the PO had all new dual exhaust from the manifolds out put on. Still in GREAT shape ( 5 to 7k sense installed). But now, I've got a cracked manifold. So I'm lookin for some shorty headers to replace the manifolds & still line up with where the exhaust currently is. But can't seem to find any. Do any of you out there know where I can find some shorty headers to fit my 351m? Thanks!

 

That could be a tall order. The 351 & 400m engines didn't enjoy the popularity that the other V8 mills from the Ford stables did. You are in the right place to find the answer though. If anyone knows it's the folks here.

 

Amazon.com: Flowtech 32520FLT Ceramic Headers: Automotive

There's a set, unfortunately Flowtech isnt a great brand, the modifieds are hard to find a set of shorties for.

 

Thanks for the replies. And Edgethis, I went to the link (I think it's called) and it asks you to make sure it fits your vehicle. And when I put in "1978 Ford Bronco" it asked for a trim level, mine's a Ranger XLT & It says it doesn't fit . I really don't want to put stock manifolds on, because a PO has put on an Edlebrock intake with 4 bbl carb, dual exhaust & it sounds like maybe a mild cam. I'd like to try to get the most out of what it already has. I guess I could just get long tubes & and have the rest of the exhaust fabed to fit? How hard is it to install long tube headers on this truck? Do I need to move the motor any to do it? And again, Thanks

 

My BAD, I must of done something wrong. Because now it's saying they do fit, but are not street legal?

 

Define "street legal". My Bassani "Street Thunder" complete exhaust wasn't technically "street legal" when I installed it back in '03 and it had a high flow cat and the air injection to it. The term "street legal" varies from municipality to municipality much less state to state.

 

Good point greystreak92, I was only quoting the page Edgethis sent. And it's driving me alittle crazy, because when I look at the shortys on that page, it asks me for info... yr. make, mod, ect. And about every other time I look at it, it says it doesn't fit, then it says it does? What the... Anyway, I'm going up to the local muffler shop & see what it might take to make long tubes fit my current set up. I was reading in ManfredVonRichfen post where Kemicalburns says it's pointless to put on duals because of the t-case. Is that because of the year? Because I think my 78 has room. It's set up differant than my 90 & 87 were.

 

FYI, I went to Flowtechs site & the part # was for longtubes. The pics wrong. So I guess I'm still lookin...

 

bronk n blue it was just those years cause they have no room, you should be able to keep or do the dual exhaust no issues :-) id just invest in some long tubes, and if u wanna do it right then steer away from flowtech or hedmens or cheaper brands, anything worth doing is worth doing right :-)

 

Yes, mikeismadness I agree with doing it right. And kind of thought I was. I'm just trying to make the best of a bad situation, by puting on shorties, instead of a stock manifold. But WOW I've been lookin all over the place & can't seem to find ANY... Good or bad brands.

 

True dual can be achieved but rather than leaving it split all the way down the chassis it's much simpler to bring the driver side pipe across where the stock Y-pipe runs and then run BOTH pipes down the same side. You are going to want a cross-over pipe between them for flow stabilization anyway so running them side by side makes that easier too. Then you can exit both in the stock location behind the rear wheel. It's a lot of work when you consider that a single 3" pipe will be every bit as effective which is why Kem suggested it wasn't worth it. He's right, but it can be done if you are hell-bent on true duals.

 

Yeah, I hear ya Greystreak. That's how I had my past broncos done (2 to 1 to 2 out). And it worked great. But the truck I have now has true duals on it. It does cross over from the drivers side where the Y pipe was, but does not connect to the pass side. It runs along beside the pass side tube than behide the T-case it comes back over to the drivers side, then to it's own muffler. Yeah... I know, it's not the way I'd have done it either. But it IS what I,ve got & it's NEW. That's why I'm tryin so hard to find shorties. Just swap-em out. Sorry about being so long winded, but what do you think about, if I put on long tubes, run the drive side over to the pass side & connect to 3" a short distance & THEN connect back to both mufflers. I know this is about what you said, but it's alittle different. The mufflers are Flowmasters, but there single in single out and I'm just tryin to use as much as I already have, make it better & still keep cost down. Just one other thing while I'm here. My Bronco is a manual. and when I look at where these long tubes would go, there's not much room, due to the clutch linkage (maybe called something different) between the floor board & trans. Is this going to create a problem? I may have been able to find this on one of the manufacturers sites, but I really havn't been looking at long headers much yet. I was still hoping to find shorties, for the ease & eliminating the cost of a shop. And Hey, Thanks ALOT for the feedback!

 

Really all I would absolutely recommend doing is getting a crossover pipe in there somewhere. it really helps with scavenging and equalizing the flow through the entire system. You could really do this at any point where the left and right side pipes come close enough to get a crossover pipe in there.

As to the headers, from what I've read of your search, you may end up needing to go long tube as you mentioned simply because of availability issues on shorties for that particular engine.

 

Man... I give up. I can't find shorties anywhere & nobody here seems to know where any are either, $ is just to tight right now for me to go & rebuild half of my exhaust. So I guess I'm gonna just get a new manifold. But I am gonna get the two sides connected. Is it best to do this as far forward as I can on the two pipes? And again, I really wanna say THANKS for all the feedback.

 

Yes, get the crossover pipe in there as far upstream as you can feasibly go.