Hi fellow truck men & women. I recently acquired an early '77 F250 with a 460 swap. It has the NP435 trans and NP205 tcase. The truck currently has oem exhaust manifolds, and I've decided to buy some fenderwell-exit (long tube) headers. I have narrowed it down to either L&L headers (part #79750AP) or Mad Dog headers (part #20965) from Bronco Graveyard. I'm asking for opinions from people who are running either one of these header sets.

From searching, I've heard countless stories from people who had fitment issues with either brand/model. I don't consider trimming the inner fenderwell metal to be a fitment issue (that does not bother me). I would not prefer to cut up cab mounts, notch a frame rail, or change to an automatic trans to make things fit.

I'm a pretty analytical guy, so here's where I sit:

Things I like about L&L headers
-seems to be a quality company & product (their 460 swap parts were used for my truck, and it all seems legit)
-for $576, you get headers, collectors, all hardware, all gaskets
-they're from Texas (same place as WalkerTexasRanger)

Things I don't like about L&L headers
-1 3/4" primaries (I gotsa hot motor, would do better with 1 7/8")
-black finish, prone to rusting
-they don't indicate what the damn collector size is
-inexactitude within product description ("for 1967-79 F100/F150 for 429/460 Engine - 4WD" - so do they not fit 67-79 F250s?, "Requires 3-4 inch Suspension Lift" and then "67-76 Require 3" Body Lift" - so which one is it?

Things I like about Mad Dog headers
-1 7/8" primaries
-nice finish (even if they are raw, at least I don't have to bother removing black paint to apply the finish I want, haha)

Things I don't like about Mad Dog headers
-$450 gets me headers only. I then have to add header hardware - $44, collector hardware - $18, header gaskets - $33, collector gaskets - $11, and collectors (which they don't sell) - average about $30...this all totals around $585

Thanks y'all, I appreciate your time for those who respond.

 

I have a 78 79 chassis with a 74 body with a 390 under the hood and I have Mad Dog headers, the driver side header I had to collapse one of the tubesjust a little bit to not vibrat on the frame rail but I had 2 inch tubes also, and I had to trim the drivers front cab perch mount just a little for clearance on the header

 

Subscribing only, I think fender well headers are the bees knees.

 

$0.2 I have some Hedman fenderwell exit's and a 79 4x4 351M 4 spd, great fit, easy to put on. No real bad things to say overall, but yes after a # of years they so have surface rust.
And they are not $500 plus dollars.

I am sure L&L coated ones are on back order for a quite a while, so maybe you can get them coated locally with something similar to what they do?

No matter what brand you get, it will be cheap and easy to finish the rest of the exhaust system for sure, some money can be saved there.

A phone call the the L&L tech will give you the collector size.

 

Alone & Afraid,

I bought the Mad Dogs for my truck. They did require a little adjustment to fit but nothing I would call major and it was documented on other posts so I knew what I was getting. When I purchased it did come with the collectors and I went ahead and bought some good quality copper gaskets that will allow removal and re-installation.

The driver's side will need some clearance on the upper tube where it goes under the steering arm. I just marked with a marker and then dimpled with a hammer. The passenger side touched part of the lower cab mount but it just needed about 1/4" of grinding off one of the ears to provide enough space where there is no rubbing. The inner fenders can be trimmed with tin snips. This will require several trial fits to minimize how much material is removed but again not difficult.

Now I think the weld quality was decent as are the flanges however the driver's side exit (collector flange) is not perfectly aligned vertical and points down maybe about 15 degrees. My exhaust shop tucked in the exhaust pipe so it turned out okay but still it is a minor thing that should have been fixed by the maker.

After I did my test fitting I sent it out for some coating to help make them last a bit longer. If you do a rattle can job they wont stay rust free very long.

I actually bought the L&L Headers first but then they called me and said coating was not longer available. They send them out to a local vendor and they no longer could work with them. So, I cancelled the order and bought through Mad Dog. I personally had a good experience with Mad Dog but I've also heard some grumbling from others.

Sometimes they pop up on his eBay store.

 

I don't have any first hand experience with them, but pauli3wood had a a bad experience with Mad Dog. It took over a month to get his order, then they didn't bolt up...here's a link to his thread:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-build-13.html
I dont know if it was a fluke, and he got a bad set or what, but he ended up returning them and getting his money back.

 

Thanks for the heads-up, I believe I just decided on L&L headers, coating be damned. Life is short, truck hard!

 

Ordered the headers from L&L, I had the damn part number wrong btw (BP, not AP). Anyways, the shipping was $70! Maybe they are so good, they'll jump out the box and cook me dinner...then do the dishes!
I'll let everyone know how the install goes.

 

I've had the cheapo Headman headers on my 400 for a couple years and love them. Only complaint is they seriously increase your turning radius. I'm going to look into some wheel spacers to compensate for this.

 

Happened to speak with L&L yesterday, they stressed the need for 2-3" body lift for these headers to fit my truck (to clear the steering shaft).

Has anyone run into this? I don't remember reading about anyone having to body lift a damn thing.

Oh and btw, of course they are back-ordered... Why is everything always back-ordered.

 

Because they are such a hot item....probably not. But that thought might help with the wait.

 

That L&L statement is NOT TRUE....if you happen to run a Borgeson steering shaft. If you run a stocker it would be necessary but why wouldn't you buy a much better steering shaft for 200+... rather than remove all of those rusted shut body mounts and raise the entire body then have to realign your fenders etc.

Doesn't sound like fun to me when you can swap that shaft in about 15 minutes.

 

My truck came with an aftermarket steering shaft kit, p.o. did the upgrade. He mentioned what brand the kit was but I can't remember what it was; he did grumble that it was expensive. I'll have to get some pics and see if y'all can ID it.

 

Did he say Borgeson? Borgeson Universal Company :: Ford Truck 1970-04

 

Mine looks very similar to that...all I know is I don't have a rag-joint, haha.