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I had a set of Hooker Headers on my 73 Charger. I couldn't keep it from burning plug wires (this was in the late 70's) I had a column shift, and converted it to console with slap stick. Headers interferred. I made micky mouse brackets that hung lower than any other part of the car. That didn't last long. I bought a B&M Star shifter. Could NEVER get the thing aligned right for the gear shifts. Cables melted on the headers and there was no way to reroute them. OVER AND OVER. I tried everything, muffler wrap, springs to pull them out of the way, etc. Mini starters were not an option back then. I was constantly rebuilding starters. I couldn't get to the plugs in some locations unless I raised the car, removed a tire, and loosened up the motor mounts to raise the engine. Also burnt my arms and wrists many times. Also leaks ALL the time. Headers are JUST NOT WORTH it. Just my opinion. Go ahead and use them if you must.On a street car, they are worthless. If you insist on headers, don't say that you weren't warned. There is something to be said about factory engineering. Factory Hi-Pos on a street machine is the way to go.

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I had a set of Hooker Headers on my 73 Charger. I couldn't keep it from burning plug wires (this was in the late 70's) I had a column shift, and converted it to console with slap stick. Headers interferred. I made micky mouse brackets that hung lower than any other part of the car. That didn't last long. I bought a B&M Star shifter. Could NEVER get the thing aligned right for the gear shifts. Cables melted on the headers and there was no way to reroute them. OVER AND OVER. I tried everything, muffler wrap, springs to pull them out of the way, etc. Mini starters were not an option back then. I was constantly rebuilding starters. I couldn't get to the plugs in some locations unless I raised the car, removed a tire, and loosened up the motor mounts to raise the engine. Also burnt my arms and wrists many times. Also leaks ALL the time. Headers are JUST NOT WORTH it. Just my opinion. Go ahead and use them if you must.On a street car, they are worthless. If you insist on headers, don't say that you weren't warned. There is something to be said about factory engineering. Factory Hi-Pos on a street machine is the way to go.

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My TTI headers don't leak at all and makes my car sound so sweet. There's no way I could get that sound with factory manifolds. And I have no drone whatsoever.

Everywhere I go, at every intersection folks are looking at my car because of the sweet sound and many thumbs up every time I drive it. MY TTI headers are no where near the ground and can not rub the road, the only thing I don't like is getting to the spark plugs on my 440. My 340 is easy to get to the plugs.

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I had a set of Hooker Headers on my 73 Charger. I couldn't keep it from burning plug wires (this was in the late 70's) I had a column shift, and converted it to console with slap stick. Headers interferred. I made micky mouse brackets that hung lower than any other part of the car. That didn't last long. I bought a B&M Star shifter. Could NEVER get the thing aligned right for the gear shifts. Cables melted on the headers and there was no way to reroute them. OVER AND OVER. I tried everything, muffler wrap, springs to pull them out of the way, etc. Mini starters were not an option back then. I was constantly rebuilding starters. I couldn't get to the plugs in some locations unless I raised the car, removed a tire, and loosened up the motor mounts to raise the engine. Also burnt my arms and wrists many times. Also leaks ALL the time. Headers are JUST NOT WORTH it. Just my opinion. Go ahead and use them if you must. On a street car, they are worthless. If you insist on headers, don't say that you weren't warned. There is something to be said about factory engineering. Factory Hi-Pos on a street machine is the way to go.

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My 74 satellite would have basically the same engine bay as your car and my el cheapo headers never had any issues with the slapstik linkage. Plus I found changing spark plugs to be way easier with them headers than with the log manifolds I had on the 440 before. I melted one plug boot because I didn't have my routing correct but after I fixed that I was good to go.

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I had a set of Hooker Headers on my 73 Charger. I couldn't keep it from burning plug wires (this was in the late 70's) I had a column shift, and converted it to console with slap stick. Headers interferred. I made micky mouse brackets that hung lower than any other part of the car. That didn't last long. I bought a B&M Star shifter. Could NEVER get the thing aligned right for the gear shifts. Cables melted on the headers and there was no way to reroute them. OVER AND OVER. I tried everything, muffler wrap, springs to pull them out of the way, etc. Mini starters were not an option back then. I was constantly rebuilding starters. I couldn't get to the plugs in some locations unless I raised the car, removed a tire, and loosened up the motor mounts to raise the engine. Also burnt my arms and wrists many times. Also leaks ALL the time. Headers are JUST NOT WORTH it. Just my opinion. Go ahead and use them if you must. On a street car, they are worthless. If you insist on headers, don't say that you weren't warned. There is something to be said about factory engineering. Factory Hi-Pos on a street machine is the way to go.

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http://www.moparmusclemagazine.com/techarticles/mopp_0106_manifolds_vs_headers/viewall.html

dyno results, stock 440 iron manifolds vs. Hedman shorties vs. Hedman Elite with 1 3/4" tubes:

Horsepower
RPM Manifold Shorty Elite
3000 256.2 260.9 271.7
3200 274.0 275.9 289.0
3400 295.5 297.0 319.1
3600 310.0 325.0 350.0
3800 330.1 351.9 380.7
4000 353.9 378.0 405.8
4200 375.1 401.9 429.2
4400 381.8 423.4 447.7
4600 402.5 439.1 464.1
4800 402.3 450.5 474.9
5000 405.4 463.2 481.3
5200 408.9 471.8 488.0
5400 422.2 478.8 492.3
5600 416.8 474.6 489.5
5800 411.9 468.1 487.1

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That's good info, but keep this in mind;

- 1) actual differences will depend on the build, heads and camshaft selection. My cam, for example, is designed for the HP manifolds and simply wouldn't have that kind of difference.

- 2) dyno is fine, but in the real world you need to compare the complete exhaust system, not just the first 2 feet of it.

- 3) There are a great many cars making more than 500hp using manifolds, so if 500hp is the goal, it can be done with manifolds too.


Not saying that headers don't have their place, but if you don't want to run them, you can make the power without them...might cost a bit more though.



Dave

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http://www.moparmusclemagazine.com/techarticles/mopp_0106_manifolds_vs_headers/viewall.html

dyno results, stock 440 iron manifolds vs. Hedman shorties vs. Hedman Elite with 1 3/4" tubes:

Horsepower
RPM Manifold Shorty Elite
3000 256.2 260.9 271.7
3200 274.0 275.9 289.0
3400 295.5 297.0 319.1
3600 310.0 325.0 350.0
3800 330.1 351.9 380.7
4000 353.9 378.0 405.8
4200 375.1 401.9 429.2
4400 381.8 423.4 447.7
4600 402.5 439.1 464.1
4800 402.3 450.5 474.9
5000 405.4 463.2 481.3
5200 408.9 471.8 488.0
5400 422.2 478.8 492.3
5600 416.8 474.6 489.5
5800 411.9 468.1 487.1

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