Installing headers on a van?
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Elder User
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 666
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From: Chicago area
Installing headers on a van?
I have a 1988 E250 w/351W. It's in good shape overall dispite it age. I want to improve performance a bit and I plan on installing a set of 1.7 ratio rockers this year. It has a K&N filter, and a 3 inch exhaust from the Y pipe back with a hi-flow cat and muffler. The restriction is in the cast iron exhaust manifolds!
I've looked around and can't find a listing for my van by the various header makers. For Ford PU's of the same year yes, but not the vans.
Anybody know what would fit? Long tubes or shortys, anything better then the stock POS would be an improvement.
I've looked around and can't find a listing for my van by the various header makers. For Ford PU's of the same year yes, but not the vans.
Anybody know what would fit? Long tubes or shortys, anything better then the stock POS would be an improvement.
Postmaster
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 3,432
Likes: 7
Ok, lets go from the top. First off you need to get rid of one of your mods. The K&N filter does not help, but it does endanger your engine. My dads Dakota suffered valve damage from dirt that passed through the K&N filter. A better choice would be an AFE ProDryS filter.
I'm interested in what you did for a high flow cat as 95% of the cats on the market are ordinary 400 CPI catalysts. Most of the real high flow cats are 200 cpi metallic, but are to small for a truck over 6,000 lbs, many max out at just 4,000 lbs. Even the larger bodied 300 cpi catalysts are only rated to 6,000 lbs each so you would need one on each bank.
On the headers themselves, you will not likely find a direct fit. You could have a set modified, but you will need to get them as close as possible to the shape you need. Either that or have a set made from scratch. Do not expect this to be cheap. The reason they are probably gonna be different is the suspension components might be int he way, and lots of other things may be positioned differently of the truck relative to the engine and chassis. I'm dealing with the same issue right now, and it is requiring custom fab work.
I'm interested in what you did for a high flow cat as 95% of the cats on the market are ordinary 400 CPI catalysts. Most of the real high flow cats are 200 cpi metallic, but are to small for a truck over 6,000 lbs, many max out at just 4,000 lbs. Even the larger bodied 300 cpi catalysts are only rated to 6,000 lbs each so you would need one on each bank.
On the headers themselves, you will not likely find a direct fit. You could have a set modified, but you will need to get them as close as possible to the shape you need. Either that or have a set made from scratch. Do not expect this to be cheap. The reason they are probably gonna be different is the suspension components might be int he way, and lots of other things may be positioned differently of the truck relative to the engine and chassis. I'm dealing with the same issue right now, and it is requiring custom fab work.
