It's about time to replace the good ol' cracked driver's side manifold (i can now stick my fingernail in the crack, and it's got a pretty good puff coming out of it... but not with my finger in it!) Anyway, I'm a believer in the "spend as much as you can afford" school of thought, but the problem is that I can only spend about $200. Any recommendations? I'd love some JBA or Thorley headers, but, yanno...

Any comments on the Summit Racing headers? or something along the lines of Dynomax? Pros/cons are more than welcome! Oh yeah, I'm just going for shorty's.. basically as a replacement of the manifold, since the headers cost about as much as a stock manifold, and the speed density computer would probably have a brick if I tried actually improving anything. Will the smog pump/EGR be a problem? i.e.: are cheaper headers plumbed for it, or do I just disregard it from now on? Hmm... 1990 F150 351W/E4OD.

Also, any installation hints will be appreciated. I'm doing this in the driveway, with the engine still in the truck. I know... step #1: drench everything with Liquid Wrench. Step #2: drench everything again! After that... what else?

Thanks for reading/replying!
Chuck

 

Yes I think removal of the EGR valve will mess with the computer. If you find any different, let me know.

I cleaned mine out last weekend and can't understand why port wxhaust into the intake???? I thought the goal was to burn cold, clean air???? Must be a Smog thing?????

I've been looking at the Hedman headers #89421 w/air ($310.00). Hedman also offers a high flow cat - 3" #13910. I also want to put a new 3"-pipe on my truck too but can't find one. The syock y-pipe is crunched in on one side to allow for clearance, which really didn't need to be there. keep in touch. I would like to know your success on this..... 3" Exhaust is the next upgrade for my truck.

I want to free up HP without pouring more gas down the engine.

Larry
mthunter@peoplepc.com
currently 12.75mpg
1990 F250 4x4 351 efi e4od 3:55 - k&n, pulleys, poweraid spacer, MSD Blaster TFI coil.

 

It did seem that the 3" exhaust helped at least a little. I got a 3" cat-back installed right after I git the truck 2 years ago (it came from Indiana, and there's quite a bit of salt around), and the whole tailpipe was rusted out, and the muffler was missing So, the shop just used a stock 3" pipe that exits behind the rear wheel, and I supplied the flowmaster, and here we are! It did make a little bit of seat-of-the-pants difference, and it definitely sounds nice (not too loud).

I'm hoping to replace the collector/cat with a freer-flowing design, but I'm limited in funds! Good thing is, I can do some of the work myself in auto shop class. Right now, I just really want to get rid of the awful noise the manifold leak is making, as well as the wonderful smell of uncatalyzed exhaust blowing in through the vents.

BTW, the EGR is part of the smog system, I *believe* is helps lower NO emissions, but I'm not positive. I know I would have failed a smog check, and it was because the vacuum line to the EGR valve was broken. The tech replaced the line, and all was good.

Chuck

 

What Flowmaster series did you use? I just bought a 3" Flowmaster Series 50 non-suv along with a 3" High flow Cat & the Hedman headers. I should be able to install them this weekend.

Stay tuned.....

Larry

 

I have JBA headers and I had my local shop do 3" with a flowmaster runs awesome and sounds great with no excess resonation. I have a buddy that used the pace setter shortys from JC whitney and had real good luck with them.They are not ceramic coated and the flange is a little thinner but they seem to do the same as the JBA's

Good luck

Paul

1988 F150 Super Cab
302 5 speed
K&N FIPK
Hypertech chip
JBA's
Flowmaster
MSD Ignition
Bilstein Shocks
The list goes on and on and on

 

A SKILLED welder could fix that crack for you. It's not inpossible to weld cast iron, but it is a sort of art form. I had a Jeep flathead motor that had a crack I could put my finger in. Old farmer made it like new for twenny bucks.

 

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 08-Jun-01 AT 04:37 AM (EST)[/font][p]I used the Summit headers on my 5.0 when one of my manifolds cracked. They're simple to install. The only problems I've had out of them, were 1) the supplied gaskets (header to head) are junk! Get some good quality gaskets before you put them on. 2) some of the bolts are a pian to try to tighten, might need some crowfoot wrenches.

Other than that, and the collector bolts being to stinking long, I've had no major problems out of mine. They've been on the engine for two years now, and I have very few problems with leaks, but all I have to do is go in & tighten them back up and it's fine for another 6 months.

Plus for the price one place wanted for a used manifold, I decided to go with the headers. Can you actually believe that a wrecking yard wanted $100 for one manifold? Believe it! That's why I dropped the $160 on the headers.

1988 F-150, SWB, 5.0 EFI (formerly 4.9 EFI), M5OD 5 speed, 3.08 gears, Summit shorty truck headers, Custom built Flowmaster exhaust system. Force 4 LP6000 lightbar, Federal signal PA-300 100 watt siren, Icom IC-V100 50 watt mobile radio.
=======================================
1965 F-100 (just purchased 1/18/01), SWB, 390, C-6 auto. Dual exhaust, Not much else to do to it.

Can see both below.

[link:www.geocities.com/hotrodford_88/|Hotrodford_88's Webpage]

 

Hotrod-
Did you notice any real performance gain with the Summit headers? Does anyone know who makes a "cat-forward" 3 inch pipe? for a 5.0? Let me know...

 

I did notice it was a little louder, which is what I wanted. Plus it did have a little bit more pic-up to it. On the cat forward thing, you can get a total replacement cat system for your truck. Which includes the cat & pipe. I bought one for the 6 cylinder that used to be in my truck, and it wasn't more than $200 for the whole setup. Now when I did my engine swap, I used the factory dual cat setup for a 91 model. But when the front cat came apart & plugged the rear cat up, I fabricated my own setup. I took out the front cat, re-installed the high flow cat I had with the 6 cylinder, and used a Flowmaster Y-collector in place of the front cat. I think the flowmaster y-collectors are a race only thing now. I haven't looked at flowmasters website lately, but last I read.....

But if you can find the number for a place called Products for Power, which is the company that made the cat system for my 6 cylinder, they should be able to tell you where you can get one from. Good luck, on your headers, I like mine, although I may be trading my truck tomorrow for an 89 Mustang GT convertible.


1988 F-150, SWB, 5.0 EFI (formerly 4.9 EFI), M5OD 5 speed, 3.08 gears, Summit shorty truck headers, Custom built Flowmaster exhaust system. Force 4 LP6000 lightbar, Federal signal PA-300 100 watt siren, Icom IC-V100 50 watt mobile radio.
=======================================
1965 F-100 (just purchased 1/18/01), SWB, 390, C-6 auto. Dual exhaust, Not much else to do to it.

Can see both below.

[link:www.geocities.com/hotrodford_88/|Hotrodford_88's Webpage]

 

Hey hotrod-

Where are you going to mount the lights & siren on the convertible?

Anyway, does (did) your truck have smog equip. on it, and if so, was there the required plumbing for the EGR (on the Summit headers)? If not, I s'pose I can have something brazed or welded in to accept the EGR pipe. I'm in CA, so I can't get away with just omitting it. I completely believe you about the manifolds being waaaay overpriced - I've been looking. I think it's because they break all the time, so supplies are running low! I think I'll go with the Summit headers, and maybe a new y-pipe and high-flow cat is in the future. I'm in it more for replacement function right now.

It- I got the 60-series Flowmaster. It's a little quieter than the 50, but I was wanting the tone, and not so much the volume. Again, the OEM muffler had disappeared on the road somewhere, so I just needed a muffler, and the Flowmaster was only a few bucks more than a generic muffler. I think it totalled $220 for the cat-back (pipes, muffler, and install). Not too bad!

Thanks everyone!
Chuck

 

The lightbar will be sold. I'm still staying in the department, but will be going with a dash light instead. Plus the radio, siren, and my cb will be installed in the car as well.

(hmmm icognito, to stay away from people like clatter who would rather not see people volunteer to do something to help others.)

Anyway, when I bought the cat system it came with the air injection piping, and on mine I didn't have any of the injection into the manifolds, the injection pipe goes into the back of the heads, and the heads are drilled into the exhaust ports.

As for my exhaust system, I had a two chamber single inlet dual outlet flowmaster and the dual pipes, with the 3.5" diamter x 24" long exhaust tips installed for $237.


1988 F-150, SWB, 5.0 EFI (formerly 4.9 EFI), M5OD 5 speed, 3.08 gears, Summit shorty truck headers, Custom built Flowmaster exhaust system. Force 4 LP6000 lightbar, Federal signal PA-300 100 watt siren, Icom IC-V100 50 watt mobile radio.
=======================================
1965 F-100 (just purchased 1/18/01), SWB, 390, C-6 auto. Dual exhaust, Not much else to do to it.

Can see both below.

[link:www.geocities.com/hotrodford_88/|Hotrodford_88's Webpage]

 

Well..... The headers are on. I got the Flowmaster 50 series w/3" in/out. I found a muffler shop to cut the back end of the stock cat off to allow a 3" outlet. The stock cat lets both 2 1/2" extension pipes from the headers, flange to the cat inlet. This is a better flow than the 3" from a new cat. Plus the stock cat actually has a larger surface area than most of the new "High Flow" cats offer. Then welded 3" pipe to the Flowmaster and drops out behind the rear tire.
Wow this is real nice! And its actually not loud, but you can really feel the ponys runnin.

While installing them I also changed the Valve Cover gaskets - good time to do it.
I also installed a 16" Electric Fan by Perma Cool - Runs Great!

I'm glad I did the upgrade.

Larry
1990 4x4, 351, E4OD, 3:55, K&N, Shorty Headers, pulleys, MSD coil, Autolite Platinums .050, and more.....

 

Larry-

Sounds like a good combo! My headers came today. I ended up ordering the Summit shortys (which are made by FlowTech). They're smog legal (have the EGR fitting), and the exemption number, so I should be good. They also came with all the bolts n stuff. One small complaint: they didn't do a very good job painting them, so I'm going to hit them with a coat or two of high-temp paint. I know better than to trust the included paper header gaskets, so I invested in a set of Earl's Pressure Master gaskets, made of aluminum with aluminum/silicone sealing areas.

Next purchase: a big can of penetrating oil!

Did your headers come off easily, or did you have any trouble? Any hints you wish to pass along? I hope to get these on this weekend, hopefully without breaking any bolts off in the heads!

Thanks!
Chuck

 

Chuck,

Yeah.... The headers get a few scratches during shipping. My Hedman's paint burnt off in the first 2-3 hours of driving. They still run great!! Mine are ported for the egr and the air tubes on each pipe. That was a bit of a pain! I saved the tubes from the stock manifolds. They fit ok but I had a stiff fitting on each side. Start the worst condition fitting first then start the others. Then tighten them all. You may want to smooth out the welding slop on the inside of the pipes. I used a 3/4" drill sander, for metal application. It worked well.

One more note, Check the height of the EGR port mounting holes to the EGR port on the header. Mine was short 1/8". That sucked when the EGR was the last thing I hooked back up. Had to stretch it a bit.

Montana doesn't have any smog checks yet - but they will. Bet on it.

 

Alrighty, got the headers on! Took about 7 hours, all told. I discovered that the EGR tube was broken, so I took the opportunity to replace that too. The paint sure stinks when it's burning off! Probably the biggest pain while installing was getting the dipstick tube back on! Now I just need to take it for a spin.... It definitely solved the problem (cracked manifold), and there were a couple other cylinders that looked like they were leaking exhaust too. Oddly, there were no gaskets on from the factory. Is this normal? This is a 49-state truck, maybe that makes a difference?

Thanks to everyone for all the replies and heads-ups! Made the install quite painless!

Chuck