Nobody, not one shop around my county will put the headers in for my 1995 F350 with a 460, and then re-fabricate the true dual into the headers. So I have to part the job out, because one shop can put them in, but don’t do exhaust bends. Then you got exhaust shops that will bend the new piping, but won’t install the headers, so I have been forced to make this a 2 stop party. Anyhow, I call up one of our well respected mechanics, and he said he would put the headers in for me tomorrow no problems, but strongly suggests not driving the truck with open headers because it could burn up the valves. He said because there’s no back pressure, and if the o2 sensors are reading incorrectly or aren’t even connected, the engine may run to lean ETC….Is this a legit problem I could have? I would have to drive the truck 20 miles to get it to the exhaust shop that will do the re-fabrication, so it is a good haul to get there. Would driving with open headers be lethal? He said if it was his truck, he would spend the extra $100 to get it towed then pay the extra $1,800 to do a new valve job. What do you guys think I should do, just drive with open headers, or get it towed?

Thanks,
Mike

 

Stop respecting that mechanic. You will not burn your valves or otherwise hurt the engine due to no backpressure. Drive it 20 miles and save the towing $$.

 

Yeah I didnt think it would really be a problem. I am not going to overly disrespect him, because he gives us good deals and hes not an exhaust shop so I wont pentalize him for his lack of knowledge on the subject.

 

I never said disrespect, but his knowledge is lacking. Its a very old myth and lots of people still believe it.

You know you are gonna have fun driving it with open headers anyway

 

I think your headers are long enough not to effect the engine any.

Honestly if it was me I would just get it towed mainly because of getting stopped by a cop. If the cop wants to be a dick it could cost you well over $100. If it were like 5 miles or less I'd do it though.

Its ultimatly up to you but sometimes taking short cuts costs you more in the end. At least thats how it works out for me sometimes.

 

I know that came out wrong man, I knew what you were saying, and lol, yah the thot of driving with open headers sounds really fun! But I will have to move like a ninja, prob early in the morning around 4a.m or something where it wont be so bad, or maybe driving with everybody else in rush hour might actually be better, less focus on me.

Yeah dfk, I hear your point too, but I think I will take the chances of getting pulled over as long as I know it wont hurt nothing. I got that certain swagger that I think I can talk my way out of anything, but until then, I am gunna drive with open headers. Hell, it will be a kick *** video for u guys..

 

ALL i got to tell you its going to be loud i had to get my exhaust fixed after i installed mine..I just couldn't hear good for the next week...

 

I gotta a big grin on my face right now. I cant tell you how much fun its going to be lmao! My buddies and I are going to probably do some stupid as videos the night before the exhaust goes on

 

Yeah it would be fun so really you wont burn your valves up is that the truth?? i dont see how it would burn up valves when you got hot rod dragsters that flip the switch and run open headers and then flip it back for muffled exhaust either

 

There has got to be a definitive answer out there. Either way I dont think one day or 20 miles is going to hurt anything, but I will just take it easy and document it.

 

Its the truth. Its really not possible to burn the valves with open headers. As soon as the exhaust gasses leave the exhaust port and go into some sort of pipe or manifold, the valves dont care what happens to it or where it goes.

I used to run cutouts right off the manifolds all the time back in high school. They were open more often than closed.

 

Yea exactly, and if anything long tube tri-y headers would help to pull those gases for a good amount of time before being dumped after the collector like dfk had mentioned. Things shld b just dandy

 

How are you dealing with the O2 sensor? Have you got a bung in the header collector or are you fitting it in the pipe right after the header? As long as you have it in the exhaust stream the motor should run fine, if you don't it'll throw a code and the motor will run open loop... which is rich. This isn't the worst thing, but if you wanted to avoid having to clear the code you could bolt a short piece of pipe on the passenger side header that's been drilled to hold the O2 sensor temporarally.

 

We usually make a collector and clamp a set of used mufflers on them for our customers to use to bring their vehicles to us without running open headers. You should contact your muffler shop to see if they can do that, or if they can use the mufflers that your going to run and just move them back to where they belong after you get the truck there.

 

See thats what i dont know right now. Because as it currently is set up, I dont have any o2 sensors in my true dual exhaust, and I am pretty sure there is none in the manifolds either, unless there internal. The manifolds are air injected, is that where the o2's would be found? Other than that I have no o2 sensors that are visible. Also, thats what that mechanic was saying to, he would try and add a pipe and then tap the o2's into those little stubbed pipes just to get me down there, but he was still kind of not 100% sure what he was going to do either because thats a mini sized project just for 20 mile drive.