Bought mine off of E-bay - "Racing innovations and Supply". $169.09. Chrome, not powder coated or ceramic, and they will discolor, but fit was good and the price was right.

Is your frame wider than a stock '33 at the front? Looks like you have extra room.

just bought a cuda with a set of hedman block huggers----every tube is cracked at the collector area-----and someone had to dent one collector to keep it off the ministarter-----speed shop guy said throw them away--they all crack....this car was a daily driver and sometimes saturday racer-- dont know how many heat cycles these headers went through---but they didnt hold up well......

"they all crack"??

If you look at the way block huggers hang, its not real surprising there may be a cracking issue.

Standard headers tend to hang straight down from the exhaust ports, where the majority of the weight of the block hugger headers is a few inches inward of the exhaust ports. That would put the strain of the header weight on the tubes at the bottom of the tubes, and would cause the flanges to bow inward at the top, and outward at the bottom of the tube flanges. Picture the block hugger trying to hang straight down instead of bending in.

Usually, all header collectors are connected to pipes the are held stationary under the car. With normal headers, the weight is hanging straight down off the exhaust bolts, so the collector and pipes are hanging without stress. Since the block hugger headers are already trying to move away from the block, the collectors and pipes become another stress point that is caring the header weight, something they were not designed to do. Eventually, all that stress will create problems for the weakest point, probably the collectors and/or the block flanges. Then you add in a few years of heat cycles, the the header material becomes brittle, the collector is more subjected to the heat and cool cycles then the flanges are.

Probably a support bracket for the block huggers about the bell housing area would help relieve some of that extra stress, but I'm just speculating, I have no real life experience to back it up. Gene

on the block hugger header design[?] cracks i have had any experience with , those were for SBC's and they were the "cheapo" $89.95 models. those are the ones with the thin tubing and/or the "chintzy" chrome plating. those did seem to crack around the collector area, but i really blame that on the junk, offshore material. i can't recall the brand, but there were three different brands, and all three were bought from reputable outlets. they didn't last long, and i was asked to try to repair them if possible. well, one zip with the welder told me they were made from imported steel, and any of you who do ANY amount of welding know the action you get when trying to weld that stuff. and yes, the coatings/plating was removed before trying to repair. these things i agree, should be tossed in the junk, or used on your demo derby car. even on a derby car they would probably not be a good choice.

carrera and afco both use some kind of a heat treating [i think] process after they chrome their springs, and guarantee them for life to a 2% or so height and rate spec. i wouldn't be a bit afraid of using those chrome springs. like the aussies say : "no worries !"