It’s all definitely a trade off. It would have been one thing if I was installing them for the first time on a car, but because the Doug’s already fit and matched the rest of my exhaust and are good headers I just decided to stick with them.
The oil filter was definitely an issue, although part of that is probably my canton plate because it’s definitely thicker than stock. Still there wasn’t much room there.
I didn’t remove my pitman arm to do the install. All I did was separate the pitman from the center link, then then the wheel so the pitman was out of the way. Separating the pitman from the center link is way easier than pulling the pitman from the steering box.
Have you run one?
Because I have. I’ve got over 25k miles of year round daily driving in my Duster, and like I said when I start my commute in the winter it’s not uncommon for it to be in the 30’s. Occasionally colder than that too. I haven’t had any more “cold weather issues” with the Duster and it’s 340 and air gap than I did with my Challenger and it’s mild 318 with an edelbrock streetmaster, which has a crossover and wasn’t nearly as high strung as the 340 is. And by that I mean nothing beyond the typical old car with a carburetor that needs 5 minutes to warm up kind of thing. If there’s a difference it’s minor, and nothing that can’t be dealt with.
That might be the case with your engine, but I think you’re in the minority with liking the victor 340. I had one and couldn’t give the thing away. The airgap outperforms it everywhere but absolute wide open.