LSx Valiant Build. Take a look inside...
With the manual box in place I now had a real idea of the space I would be working with for headers. I looked at several options. I first looked at several Lsx long tube variations but quickly realized that there was no way that any of them would fit around the steering box. My next idea was to take a set of Lsx headers and modify them to fit a) around the steering box and b) around the torsion bars. Making them fit around the steering box would be the easy part. Trying to make them fit around the torsion bars...not so much. All the collectors dump right into the torsion bar location and on the passenger side it doesn't help that there is a starter hugging the block. Back to the drawing board.
Passengers side gives an idea of how the long tube collectors would hit the torsion bar location, and that darn starter doesn't help either.
As someone mentioned in an earlier post, what about taking a small block mopar header and modifying the flanges? The Lsx header primaries are equally spaced out and the sbm ones have the two center primaries real close together. This could easily be addressed, so I decided to give it a shot. I purchased a cheap pair for mock up.
These would clear the steering box just fine, but the problem now is that the collectors also hit the torsion bars. Additionally, on the passengers side the headers seem to hug the block so tight that the starter is in the way.
**At this point I've concluded that the engine mounts place the motor really low in the k-frame. While this is providing me plenty of hood clearance, it is killing my options for longtubes and even manifolds. Can anybody confirm whether or not the engine seems to be sitting lower than stock sbm's with stock mounts?
The next step was to try manifolds, i tried several: truck manifolds, LS3 manifolds, and even the Hooker swap manifolds that have become popular on different forums. None of them were able to fit around the manual steering box, despite its smaller size.
08 Truck Manifolds with heat shields, the bottom portion of the manifold hit the top of the box, just by a 1/2" or so.
LS3 manifolds, just a bit of a smoother design but still hit the top of the box
I tried a buddies set of Hooker manifolds and they too hit the top of the box.
*Note: None of these options hit the inner fender wells. This means that if the engine were to sit a bit higher they would wrap around the steering box just fine and squeeze right in. Additionally, because of the smaller collector they could be worked around the torsion bar.
With the manual box in place I now had a real idea of the space I would be working with for headers. I looked at several options. I first looked at several Lsx long tube variations but quickly realized that there was no way that any of them would fit around the steering box. My next idea was to take a set of Lsx headers and modify them to fit a) around the steering box and b) around the torsion bars. Making them fit around the steering box would be the easy part. Trying to make them fit around the torsion bars...not so much. All the collectors dump right into the torsion bar location and on the passenger side it doesn't help that there is a starter hugging the block. Back to the drawing board.
Passengers side gives an idea of how the long tube collectors would hit the torsion bar location, and that darn starter doesn't help either.
As someone mentioned in an earlier post, what about taking a small block mopar header and modifying the flanges? The Lsx header primaries are equally spaced out and the sbm ones have the two center primaries real close together. This could easily be addressed, so I decided to give it a shot. I purchased a cheap pair for mock up.
These would clear the steering box just fine, but the problem now is that the collectors also hit the torsion bars. Additionally, on the passengers side the headers seem to hug the block so tight that the starter is in the way.
**At this point I've concluded that the engine mounts place the motor really low in the k-frame. While this is providing me plenty of hood clearance, it is killing my options for longtubes and even manifolds. Can anybody confirm whether or not the engine seems to be sitting lower than stock sbm's with stock mounts?
The next step was to try manifolds, i tried several: truck manifolds, LS3 manifolds, and even the Hooker swap manifolds that have become popular on different forums. None of them were able to fit around the manual steering box, despite its smaller size.
08 Truck Manifolds with heat shields, the bottom portion of the manifold hit the top of the box, just by a 1/2" or so.
LS3 manifolds, just a bit of a smoother design but still hit the top of the box
I tried a buddies set of Hooker manifolds and they too hit the top of the box.
*Note: None of these options hit the inner fender wells. This means that if the engine were to sit a bit higher they would wrap around the steering box just fine and squeeze right in. Additionally, because of the smaller collector they could be worked around the torsion bar.