Headers

[Uncle Bob]

One gotcha on buying pre-coated headers is you might end up needing to ding them here and there. And by ding I mean you might need to beat the living crap out of them to get them to fit. I needed to make power steering and torsion bar clearance on the Doug's that going are in my 71. If you're worried about ambient underhood heat, imagine how little good it does anything to actually be in contact with a header tube.

Consider having them coated after you know they fit.

 

[Uncle Bob]

I kinda think your installation process was rather unconventional to say the least, and I'd really be interested where your crank center is in relation to where it should be, - just saying

View attachment 1716246326

Tubes on both headers hit the torsion bars from the inside. I think it is #1 tube that touches the PS box. If it was one side or the other I'd think it was a crooked installation but it was both sides. I literally could not get the torsion bars in without a strap around the headers. Take the strap off, whang, back against the torsion bars.

I installed it on the k-frame so I had no idea until it was all in place. I had hoped they would fit without trouble but never for me. Doesn't matter, it's OK now. I had to buy a TTI Z-bar too but that's expected.

Adding: I doubt it matters but the engine has E-heads.

 

[MichaelB.]

I had TTi coat my set. They looked great right out of the box (and actually still look good today) but on engine break-in I did not adjust the timing soon enough and the heat (it seems) was too much for one header (which blushed the silver coating on a tube or two).

There is a break-in for the header coatings too, so breaking in a cam (AND headers) may have been asking too much for my set. But... They have hung tough since, seem cooler under-hood & have not changed visually (since the blushing) a bit.

So, I say worth it.

 

[Newbomb Turk]

I had TTi coat my set. They looked great right out of the box (and actually still look good today) but on engine break-in I did not adjust the timing soon enough and the heat (it seems) was too much for one header (which blushed the silver coating on a tube or two).

There is a break-in for the header coatings too, so breaking in a cam (AND headers) may have been asking too much for my set. But... They have hung tough since, seem cooler under-hood & have not changed visually (since the blushing) a bit.

So, I say worth it.

I’ve broke in TTI headers with the coating. When the tune up is right it will dull 12-14 inches of pipe.

 

[Uncle Bob]

P.S. I likely woulda tightened the strap enuff so when released, there was a tiny clearance .

You likely woulda found you couldn't get them any tighter than I did, and found out they're like a spring and just go back to the original spot. I considered a jack handle in the collector to bend them but decided if I'm going to have to bend them it's better to do it with a hammer so I at least know where the bend is going to be.

But you're probably right, the torsion bars could be thicker since the car had a big block in it for years.