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If you want to go a little different route you could always go with a holley 4412. Its a 500 cfm 2bbl carb. Easy adjusting drop dead reliability and virtually endless tuning. I have one on my 302 and i love it. I see it as if its good enough for circle track and dirt racing its good enough for daily use. Only thing is youd need an adapter for it to use it on a 4bbl manifold
I posted in that original thread your talking about - in regards to headers. Not going to re-list all my thoughts on the matter, but in summary.... Headman Headers (long tubes) on 86' 460 - put them on without major issues, sure a little tricky to wiggle in there, but not life altering. Fitment and sound are great! I do recommend locking header bolts on any header install. They solve the leaking issue once and for all. I don't have them on in the picture below, but have them now.
-BlueBruiser
That's a good shot of how low everything becomes with headers. No use having skid plates with all that down there. It depends on your intended use, for a street truck it would probably be fine.
This is a street truck, but I want to keep the capability of going off road if the need ever arises.
I am seriously considering shorty headers, found some for a 82 Mustang made by Ford Racing, only thing is I always thought long tube headers helped with low end and top end power and shorties were more for top end power. But buddy at work was telling me that long tube is for top end while shorties are better throughout the rpm range. Guess I have to take a crash course on exhaust again.
This is a street truck, but I want to keep the capability of going off road if the need ever arises.
I am seriously considering shorty headers, found some for a 82 Mustang made by Ford Racing, only thing is I always thought long tube headers helped with low end and top end power and shorties were more for top end power. But buddy at work was telling me that long tube is for top end while shorties are better throughout the rpm range. Guess I have to take a crash course on exhaust again.
All that talk is minor stuff that wins races but you really can't tell any difference on the street. A header does flow better than a cast iron manifold, I think that is all you are trying to achieve? Why don't you try the headers made for a little bit later truck? They make shorties for them. I have suggested this several times to people, but no one has ever written back in that I know of and said they fit with no problems. I don't see why they would not fit, it's the same engine in the same frame, only the 302's have fuel injection instead of a carb and a oxygen sensor hole you will have to plug. You will also probably lose your heat riser, but as long as you keep the stock aircleaner and make a homemade heat stove for the header, you should be ok for the winter.
All that talk is minor stuff that wins races but you really can't tell any difference on the street. A header does flow better than a cast iron manifold, I think that is all you are trying to achieve? Why don't you try the headers made for a little bit later truck? They make shorties for them. I have suggested this several times to people, but no one has ever written back in that I know of and said they fit with no problems. I don't see why they would not fit, it's the same engine in the same frame, only the 302's have fuel injection instead of a carb and a oxygen sensor hole you will have to plug. You will also probably lose your heat riser, but as long as you keep the stock aircleaner and make a homemade heat stove for the header, you should be ok for the winter.
Flow better yes, because I will be going with aftermarket heads of some kind, not sure if they will be aluminum or cast iron. Which ever heads I end up going with will be oem style for retaining factory accessory brackets.
I didnt think about that, I forgot that theses trucks kept the same chassis till the late 80`s early 90`s that I know of.
I dont mind the O2 sensor hole, could plug it or weld it. The heat riser, I dont have one currently as it fell off one day after it rusted enough. I planned on welding either all thread or a grade 8 1/2" bolt to cylinder #1 tube and fabricate up a curved piece of sheet metal with a connector for the flex tube to aircleaner. Same idea I had for my Mercury that will get long tube headers.
~Update~
I just looked for a 1986 F150 with a 302 which is basically the same truck, well they got quite a bit of shorty headers listed for them unlike 1982 that had none listed.
just out of curiosity why is that? I havent come across someone who did like using them.
A 500 CFM 2bbl is the equivalent of a 750 CFM 4bbl. If I remember correctly. That's a lot of gas that thing is dumping down the engine. If you do it right the economy and power of a 4bbl is better.
As far as shorty headers go, they will fit the truck just fine. I worked at a custom exhaust shop for years when I was younger and we used to save all the Mustang 5.0L factory headers we took off because we used them all the time on 5.0L Ford pickups. The passenger side bolted directly in place of the factory manifold while the drivers side, if I remember correctly (it's been almost 20 years) had to have a 3-4" section removed from the pipe to bolt to the Mustang header. The factory manifolds always cracked and the Mustang headers never did, so it was a no brainer. Plus they flowed a little better, and they were free. It was a win-win. And aftermarket shorties, which flow even better, would work the same. And if you weren't using the factory y-pipe, custom duals are no harder to fabricate to the shorties than to long tubes, just a little more pipe and an extra bend. And you can definitely tuck the pipes in a little easier. At the time, shorties for the truck weren't available cheaply. $400+ for JBA or BBK were the only options, where Stang shorties were $150 or less. Now that truck shorties are readily available for cheaper, you could use them too. They replace the stock manifolds all the way back to 1980, but on `80-87 trucks, the drivers side header is longer than the stock manifold because they eliminated the heat riser in `88. So if you take the heat riser off the early trucks, they late headers bolt right up. Or, you can run custom pipes and not worry about it.
And if you use a good header gasket like an Ultra-Seal or any of the newer copper or aluminum gaskets (not the white cardboard POS they usually come with), leaks are usually a non-issue.
As far as shorty headers go, they will fit the truck just fine. I worked at a custom exhaust shop for years when I was younger and we used to save all the Mustang 5.0L factory headers we took off because we used them all the time on 5.0L Ford pickups. The passenger side bolted directly in place of the factory manifold while the drivers side, if I remember correctly (it's been almost 20 years) had to have a 3-4" section removed from the pipe to bolt to the Mustang header. The factory manifolds always cracked and the Mustang headers never did, so it was a no brainer. Plus they flowed a little better, and they were free. It was a win-win. And aftermarket shorties, which flow even better, would work the same. And if you weren't using the factory y-pipe, custom duals are no harder to fabricate to the shorties than to long tubes, just a little more pipe and an extra bend. And you can definitely tuck the pipes in a little easier. At the time, shorties for the truck weren't available cheaply. $400+ for JBA or BBK were the only options, where Stang shorties were $150 or less. Now that truck shorties are readily available for cheaper, you could use them too. They replace the stock manifolds all the way back to 1980, but on `80-87 trucks, the drivers side header is longer than the stock manifold because they eliminated the heat riser in `88. So if you take the heat riser off the early trucks, they late headers bolt right up. Or, you can run custom pipes and not worry about it.
And if you use a good header gasket like an Ultra-Seal or any of the newer copper or aluminum gaskets (not the white cardboard POS they usually come with), leaks are usually a non-issue.
Nice so I could pick up some ford racing shorty headers for a 82 302 Mustang and they should bolt right in, like wise I can get http://www.summitracing.com/parts/he...50?prefilter=1 , They fit 86 to 92, and from what you are saying if it works on a 86 then it should be a straight bolt in for my 82 and should still bolt up to the stock y pipe.
I probably wont keep the Y pipe as I wanted to run true dual exhaust with a two in two out muffler in the stock location.
Might go with the ford racing one for mustangs as they are $150 on summit vs $270, I can strip the paint off weld on a stud for a fabricated heat shield for the aircleaner hookup and then send it out to one of the guys we use for ceramic coating.
i have also heard good things about the summit carbs, though a carb has never been my cup of tea. as far as the headers, years ago i had JBA headers on an 87 and the fit and finish on them were second to none. i did feel like the long tubes i had before them gave me more low end torque but maybe that was in my head. also, as far as header leaks when you put them on tighten them go out and get it good and hot and tighten them again and they usually won't be as prone to backing out. though i did put stage 8 locking fasteners on that same truck when i changed to shorties. let us know what you go with and the results. good luck
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