Just curious if I will notice any difference in my truck if I remove the headers and go to a stock exhaust? I cannot seem to find any headers that will fit my truck, so it appears this is my only choice, I do not race, it is a work truck....so....will I notice much difference at all?

 

Seat-o-pants meter...........NADDA! Driving around town....NADDA! Unless you really rpm the heck out of it...stock manifolds probably would do fine IMHO.

What makes your truck so special that you can't find headers anymore?

 

Shoot.....I think everything I own has modified exhaust..well accept the wife's GP..LOL.. I damn sure wouldnt go backwards??

I even have a header on my lawn tractor! twin cylinders of 4 cycle 18.5hp kickbutt!! LOL ..Oh and I forgot the flames on the hood too!

RJ

 

Well, AT first I assumed it was the "reversed" motor mount on the passnger side (or so I've been told) done to allow the use of a 77-79 np435/np205 mated trans package. But, after talking to the "techs" at Dynomax, Hedman and Hooker, I am told that it is the fact that the truck is a "highboy." The motor mount on that side attaches between the 2nd and 3rd exhaust outlet on the head....and that is exactly where every header set bundles their pipes. The one that is on there now may be an older Hooker header from when they made them to fit that configuration. I'm going to save the existing headers when they come off, so I'lll have a template to have some custom fabricated when I have the vanity and cash to do so.

 

I ran into the same problem with my '75 highboy. I was told, the difference with the highboy is that it is a narrower frame as the F150s and the 2wd trucks. The two wheel drive headers will not fit. As you may know, it is very tight inside that engine compartment.

However, I happened to run into a set of headers of Craigslist for a "highboy". I reluctantly called, knowing that the guy probably had regular ol F150 headers. He seemed to know what he was talking about, so i met up with him , and sure schit......there were headers that would fit a highboy. They haden't even been mounted to an engine and were tucked away in his barn. He was getting rid of a lot of old ford parts. I paid him $50 for them and left with a big ol grin on my face. One collector flange was tweaked a snudge, but a ball peen and my welding table took care of that issue.

I couldn't tell you what flavor header they are, but I know they fit tight. I was in the process of putting a new motor in my truck, so I just had them laying in there as I set the motor in. The passanger side is a two piece set up. The front tubes on the front side of the motor mount, and the rear two are to the rear of mtr mnt. There was a cut slot in the mounting flange that mounts to the head, so I had to cut it all the way through to get everything lined up.

Lemme check my emails and see if he said anything about the brand. If I recall, I think he said he didn't know what brnad, but knew they were for highboy. Sure schit....they were too! Not bad fer $50!

 

Here ya go......these er them.

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

 

Dude.....You are a god to me now..... ....those are **exactly** the ones I have!

And the guy at Dynomax said, "We don't make no headers fer highboys...."

 

Uni, glad to see you have the number you need now. I'm going to disagree with Freight on whether you would feel the differance. I believe you will. Bill Stroppe tested this on a stock 390 in the mid sixties, he was working with Ford to develope horsepower packages for Ford's 'Total Performance' program. The headers he was testing, in a 2wd F100 IIRC, made a differance of 50 hp and 55 lbs-ft. Do you want to give up on 55 easy ft-lbs ? I wouldn't . DinosaurFan, @ work on lunch

 

I'm thinking stock to stock with or without headers.
I put headers on my '67 352 and I can't say it picked up 50 hp or 55 lb/ft. Now, if you had a better prepared motor(more hp) that you had manifolds on, then put headers you could see a larger improvement since manifolds are so restrictive. So, in all I think it's all in the application and I was making a very general statement of "seat of the pants" power improvement. If you notice I said "if you don't rpm it", then they won't show much difference. My 352 falls off power at just over 3000 rpm. It just seems to make noise and nothing else so I don't even try(even WITH headers).

 

How much better do the above headers fit? I have a set of regular headers not for the highboy and they are a MAJOR pain to deal with. Changing the starter requires pulling the bolts out of the header, jacking up the engine on the passenger side, removing the header, change starter... It turns a 10 minute job into a couple hours of cursing and skinned knuckles. If these are better I will definately upgrade mine.

 

I can have the starter out in 20 minutes, header bolts, SS collector extension band clamp then cable and starter bolts.
This is with Doug Thorley headers and the above was done on the side of the road after it cooled down on a 68 CS 2x4.

 

Does anyone know for sure whether or not you can remove the starter by itself w/o the headers if you use Heddman elites? Those are the ones i'm lookin into gettin but I don't wanna have to pull the headers every time I throw a starter in this thing.

 

How offten must one remove their starter and over what period of time?
After owning these trucks since 1972 to present and clicking over a million miles I need an education on starters, please elaborate.

 

While we are elaborating does or doesnt the heat wrap help the starter issue ? Aluminum plate for heat dissapation ? It's about thye only thing holding me back, other than cash LOL...planning to dual her out but not sure I wanna do headers unless there is a set that is a breeze to install with no mods.

 

Well I've got the original starter in my truck now and it's from '73 w/ 150,000 on it. I know I'm gonna have to put a starter on this thing as soon as I throw a set of headers on here. Thats just my luck.