Howdy Fellas
I have my new 512 sitting in my chassis but not mounted yet. This is in a 1954 dodge pickup on an 89 2wd dakota frame. I had picked up some crusty 30 year old new old stock headers from a guy that said he never got around to putting them in his 69 charger. They are scratched up with black bbq paint over old white paint but the insides have a touch of surface rust and no exhaust soot. I’m realizing now that my motor is sitting poking through a huge hole in my firewall that these old no-name 1 7/8” long tubes are going to be a ton of work to make room for not to mention install. I’m not sure I want to do that much work for a set of headers that I can’t replace when they rust out- I can’t find any for sale that look like them. The chassis has a rack in front of the motor crossmember so that helps clearance but my firewall is cut and the rear two cyls are under the dash so it’s not a normal install. I already have a mini starter.
I have 1977 400 B motor manifolds I had originally considered my backup plan but if I can get a little more flow out of a shorty I would like to get the horses and save the weight. The manifolds must weigh fifty pounds and I’d have to hunt down all the rusted out standoff nuts and studs too.
The obvious answer is the hedman angled shorties. Unfortunately I am short a few hundred bucks- trying to stick to a budget on this build. That leaves used or home made or cheap as my options.
I ordered a set of the sanderson style stainless shorty headers off amazon- which can get returned if they don’t fit or plug access is bad or whatever. They have tiny 1 5/8” (1.625) tubes but they are super short and all dump to 3”. I figured if they flow better than manifolds I can still probably get north of 400hp to the wheels and off idle torque should be fine with all the cubes and a 2500 stall. I have an rpm intake, 750 holley, .507”/.510” lift 240°/246° 10°lsa cam installed at 105°, unported stealths, a touch rowdier than a tow truck but definitely a street build.
I planned on probably being done making power around 5000rpm so I probably don’t need super comps or 2”+ tubes with 3.5” collectors but 1.625 is a header tube for a hot 318 not a warm 512. On the other hand Andy F made good power with manifolds and similar duration but I think he had 12° or 14° lsa. If this manifold flows worse than mannys I’ll just return it.
Or if the hedmans are really going to be worth it like +50hp +75tq maybe I’ll save up the $400 for them. I’m guessing that the tiny huggers I ordered will kill 20-30hp from street long tubes? I dunno this is all guesses but if you read this far thanks and hopefully you see the compromises I’m looking at.
Any ideas or comments are welcome. Please keep in mind I won’t be racing but niether do I want a 300hp stroker big block. If it’s basically done at 4700 I can live with that on the street that’s why ma made more gears
Here’s the baby shorties link:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01M991Q9ORdr