Okay guys and girls i finally got my motor in, 302 in a 77 f100 2wd with a c-4 and i went to put my long tube headman headers on and i didn't notice i put the drivers side on with no problem then i go around to the passenger side and the things won't fit between the starter and the frame rail and it looks like even if it would have gone down in there the collector would be right in front of the transmission crossmember so i couldn't bolt up my purple hornies. the driver side has plenty of room to move over but i'm not sure what to do! any help would be really appreciated!!! a friend said to jack the engine up some and try to come in from the bottom but i still have the problem of the cross member.

Thanks

Jason

 

I was able to unbolt the starter, slide the header in, and bolt it back up. My headers bolted on the engine, but the crossmenber did interfere. I simply put a floor jack under the header and bent the end up a little. The mufflers still won't bolt on with a straight length of pipe. I cut a knotch out of a pipe, bent it, and welded it back up. This made lots of clearance.

 

jsutton, are you sure your headers are correct for your application????

 

Sorry I didn't get back to answer quickly i have been busy like crazy at work. Yes they are for a 73-79 2wd ford. I am off all next week so i am going to take the starter off and try it that way. i hope i can get it to work with the clearance because i got a set of purple hornie mufflers that will bolt right to the collector. i am so ready to hear this thing fire up next week.

thanks
Jason

 

Yeah bro, those mufflers that bolt to the header won't work on your truck. Trust me, I've tried. Your headers won't be pointing straight back. they'll be pointing towards the transmission.

 

I just did this same mod to my 79 2wd swb with 351W. I removed the second cross member and the starter along with the frame bracket for the motor mount. It was very simple after that. I have to cut and modify the second cross member by removing the upper lip so that the collector will be in the proper place.its time consuming but not too much of a pain. Yet.

 

I would not modify the crossmember. It would make more sense to modify the exhaust in my opinion.

 

Man i did not want to hear that! i got the mufflers for christmas but i guess i have to send them back to summit and get the ones that have slip fit on both ends so that i can put a piece of pipe on so that i can manage to get around the crossmember. What about going to the junk yard and getting a crossmember from a different truck, could that work?

Jason

 

if you remove the second cross member you dont have to remove frame mount for the motor mount. that was just a mistake I made. got alot of room to work though. What would the difference be if you modified your cross member or another trucks? moving the exhuast would be great if the collectors didnt come right to that crossmember.

 

Please listen to what I've already stated. You can slide a floor jack under the header tip, to bend the header up to clear the crossmember. This is not the problem. I've done this half a dozen times, since I make my side money from building 65-79 Ford trucks. Check out my gallery foe one example. The problem, is that the headers do not point straight back. No modification to the crossmember is going to change this fact. There isn't much room on the passenger side for the header, between the transmission and the frame. Because of this, every single set of headers I have ever seen for these years of Ford trucks, angle the header tip towards the transmission. If you try to bolt a straight piece of pipe to the header, it would run right into the transmission. See the problem?

 

I finnally got them on after rerunning the transmission cooler lines with the transmission line rubber hose and taking out the crossmember that gave me enough room to work with but i will bend the headers up to get the cross member back in there and i saw in my summit catalog that hedman makes some s-bent pieces of pipe that can be used to get around the second crossmember and stuff so when i send the purple hornies back i am going to get summit glasspacks and the bent pieces. But i cranked it up with the open headers on for just a few seconds not even a minute because i didn't want to hunt anything from no backpressure or something ,anyway that sucker sounded like a race car. I didn't think it would sound as good as it does since the motor came from an 83 grand marquis and the heads are from the original 77 engine. But i love it and can not wait to get the glasspacks on and drive it. I posted a thank you in the general discussion forum to thank every one that helped me with this first rebuild. When that thing fired up it was a feeling like no other i have felt before except when my daughter was born! Thanks again!!

Jason
77 f100 long bed

 

I think Hooker or headman make S extensions that may give you the clearance you need. Summit sells them. Just my $.02...

 

I had to remove both crossmembers to put my alarm tubes in the main crossmember it’s just in the way the transmission crossmember is dead center cross cut butting up against the headers is there anything I’m doing wrong do I need to lift the motor some more or is there some adapters to move those crossmembers