TIGHT FIT ENGINE BAY 65 DART / HEDDMEN SHORTY HEADERS

[dazedand confused]

So before long I will be doing an engine swap for slant6 to 360 in my 65 dart . Al long tubed headers are out of the question due to PRICE and fitting them in the car ! so ive been looking for a cheaper alternative source for running an exhaust set up on my dart . after searching the internet and mopar groups I found out what I can run and what I cant . cant - 273 v8 manifolds! why because even though they bolt up they are really restrictive on flow even if my 360 was stock and that the ports are too small and will cause leaks and burned through gaskets!! so I can either run 340 manifold which are expensive or a set of 360 manifolds form a chrysler Cordoba or other 360 B ,C, E body cars or mid 90s 318/360 truck magnum manifolds . these 2 diff3ernt sets of manifolds bolt up and have the same port sizes as my 360 and while they do flow well for stock 340 or 360 heads they dont flow as well as headers! so after searching I came across pics on the internet of someone on here or another mopar group installing a pair of modified Heddemen shorty headers on a 360 in a mid 60s A body . The black set runs 278.99 give or take and the stainless or ceramic coated once run 400-500 a set . According to mopar muscle magazine artical about a shoot out between manifolds and different headers the shorties vs long tubes headers only seen 5 -10 horse power difference . so here are the pics ive gathered to help with my swap and hopefully your s?? you have to modify the driverside to fit around the steering box . mine in the dart is manual .

 

[abdywgn]

Looks good! what are the purple items in the picture?

 

[Treblig]

Looks good! what are the purple items in the picture?

ATI adapter plate to fit a 2004R to Mopar 318.

 

[abdywgn]

Thank-you!

 

[dazedand confused]

some type of purple bracket ? not my actual photos ran across them . guy bought those exhaust donuts to help plumb the exhaust to the exhaust flange

 

[Treblig]

some type of purple bracket ? not my actual photos ran across them . guy bought those exhaust donuts to help plumb the exhaust to the exhaust flange

I made those exhaust donuts and I installed that purple ATI adapter.

 

[dazedand confused]

O ok lol . tried to track down the person who did and here you are
who modified the heddmen header ?

 

[Treblig]

O ok lol . tried to track down the person who did and here you are
who modified the heddmen header ?

That is not a headman header. I installed a 340 driver's manifold and a 360 passenger's manifold then I made those down pipes and cut up a donut (like in your last pic) and made the rest.

 

[dazedand confused]

yes I know that . didn't know who modified the header in my other photos I posted

 

[txstang84]

Those hedman headers are no joy to change gaskets...just sayin...I have them in my 72 Scamp and while they do fit and you can cobble together some pipes between a mini starter and the T bars, if that gasket blows out, you'll need stubby wrenches and lots of patience to change them. Also, I had to dent the collector on the driver side for the block casting. I suppose your mileage may vary, but if I had it to do over again in my 72, I'd have gone a different route...the money I spent buying mandrel bent sections and having it fabbed in wound up costing basically the same amount as a set of long tubes from either Doug's or TTI.

...add to that the early A bodies are narrower in the engine bay and my own personal desire to use them would really fall off a cliff.

Summit still carries the Sanderson DD9s which are supposed to fit early As and there's a few pics of those too-might wanna check out that option.

 

[Inertia]

Those hedman headers are no joy to change gaskets...just sayin...I have them in my 72 Scamp and while they do fit and you can cobble together some pipes between a mini starter and the T bars, if that gasket blows out, you'll need stubby wrenches.
The money I spent buying mandrel bent sections and having it fabbed in wound up costing basically the same amount as a set of long tubes from either Doug's or TTI..

ZACTLY ! !

A customer insisted on Shorty's for his 67.
It took longer to fab the "kitchen sink" head pipe, without interference, than it takes me to install complete long tubes.

Lose only 5 -10 hp over long tubes, - Bullshit, - there's absolutely NO scavenging effects from Shorty's, no tuned equal length, just BIG $$$ cost and extra time/cost to fab or buy headpipes !

 

[txstang84]

I bought them ONLY because I'd be able to: First, keep the pipes close to the body and off the ground, and; second, try to save a few bucks.

When well executed, they do keep the pipes close to the body and off the ground, but that's about the only thing they have going for them compared to the skid plate legacy style headers that wrap around the steering linkages

That said, I spent what I spent on the headers from scummit, another $120 or so from Columbia River Mandrel Bending, and another $275 having them cut/paste all the bits and pieces together...

Given the amount of bs I've been through, hindsight says I'd have been better off buying better headers...

 

[cudajames]

I used Sanderson headers on my 273 and moved them over to my 408. Mine was modified for column shifter but should fit "out of the box" for manual/floor shift cars
Here are some pictures of the installation on the 273 66 Barracuda header and exhaust upgrade

Passenger header droped in on the 408. I included some pictures of the mock-up during the motor installation. For the additional room, I converted it to manual steering, and eventually, I will change to a manual shift column for hopefully more space.

 

[Treblig]

I used Sanderson headers on my 273 and moved them over to my 408. Mine was modified for column shifter but should fit "out of the box" for manual/floor shift cars
Here are some pictures of the installation on the 273 66 Barracuda header and exhaust upgrade

Passenger header droped in on the 408. I included some pictures of the mock-up during the motor installation. For the additional room, I converted it to manual steering, and eventually, I will change to a manual shift column for hopefully more space.

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Nice pics and looks like great clearance for an early A!!!

 

[pishta]

passenger side is a generic LA header drop in, everything fits! Driver side is the bear. The designs with the #1 flying back then down are good, but the ones with the #3 going back then down have a fighting chance of fitting with only the #5 being redesigned. The time spent remaking the hookups around the steering can also be used to reroute the #5. I have a set of Hooker race headers that Im tucking the #3-#5 between the steering gear and the block, well see where that goes. Im not afraid to wrap them down there or make a heat shield for the manual steering box. But anytime you can keep em straighter out of the ports is better, ie upswept Hussler style.