Hedman shorty experiences.

This is just a heads up for those who are considering purchasing these headers for a small block A body. It's not sour grapes or anything like that - just a friendly FYI.

When I installed the headers I was impressed - nice thick flanges, ceramic coating and the fit is awsome. (I had some concern regarding the power steering box, but they turned out to be unfounded.) The best part was the installation: 2.5 hours total including draining antifreese, removing the old exhaust, installing a mini starter & putting the new headers in place.

Just goes to prove that anything easy comes with a price.

Ran into a couple issues with these headers people should be aware of:

First: They don't fit well in A-bodies. I know - I said they were easy to install & fit like a glove - but once I got 'em to the local exhaust shop, we noticed that the things dump directly above the steering gear on both sides of the car. This resulted in a right-angle bend directly below the collector and some serious pipe gymnastics - particularily on the driver's side. I am really not sure If I will be able to clear it with the clutch hardware when I make those changes. Not impressed.

Apparently it's not as big an issue on e-body/b-body cars. I cannot say for sure.

Second: The bolts they supply are soft. Been chasing exhaust & coolant leaks since I put them in to the point of draining the antifreeze & changing the cheepo supplied gasket to something better. Still ... tic tic tic. Turns out tightening the things screws up the threads. Changed 'em out with some old used ARP header bolts I had layin' around & it corrrected the problem.

To sum up:

Don't buy 'em for an A-body. Period.

Don't used the supplied gaskets. (I already knew this ... went and used 'em anyways.)

Buy a set of quality header bolts. You will have to use the supplied ones in a couple spots, because they have undersize heads to fit under the pipes.

I purchased these things because tti's are out of my reach and I did not want to go with the $159.00 crush-o-matic style. However these were not exactly cheap either - particularily with the HTC coating.

I'm disapointed.