Just got done wasting 5 hours of my day (on top of 4 hours yesterday) installing my transmission cooling lines. These lines were absolutely no where close to fitting as they should of. I essentially had to reconfigure both lines to get them on the car. They don't look all that great now with all of the rebending I had to do and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they won't leak when I finally start the car in a few weeks. All that being said, my question is how much clearance do the transmission lines need to have from the headers? In a couple spots they are only about the width of my index finger from the header tube.

BTW, I posted some time back about all the grief I was having with the fuel and brake lines as well. I had managed to get the fuel line in place but like the trans. lines only after a hell of a lot of rebending of the line. The main brake line from the master cylinder to the back of the car also had to have some work but it wasn't real bad. However, the two short lines that go from the splitter mounted on the rear end housing to the wheel cylinders are both way to short so I can't use them at all. I'm going to have to get some straight tubing from the auto parts store and fab up new ones. I purchased all of these lines from Fine Lines some years back and I will never purchase anything from them again.

To answer the clearance question, More is better (obviously). If possible a piece of aluminum between the headers and lines will help tremendously. Possibly bent at 90 degrees and supported by a couple of pan bolts? One can also wrap the lines or headers with industrial grade pipe wrap and SS tie bands

as long as they aren't touching them it will be fine. The lines have a "coolant" running through them and won't pick up any heat worth worrying about. Probably even if they touched them but that's just poor workmanship in my mind.

Coolant ??? I guess one could consider the trans fluid exiting the convertor coolant ?

Yep thats what I mean.

I got tired of fighting that fight years ago. Now, on any car I build with a 727 or 904, I run the trans cooling lines up the inside of the drivers side frame rail, behind the steering box. I connect them to bulkhead fittings that go thru the radiator support. Them I make hard lines from the front of the radiator support to the transmission cooler. I connect them to the transmission end with steel braided lines ran over to the hard lines on the frame rail. Gets them way above the exhaust, leaves more room to replace a starter if needed. It costs more to do it that way, but is actually less than having to go to the Proctologist to get him to remove the pain from my ass that the factory way causes!

Small air gap at the least is fine. Just lie spark plug wires nea a header. Air gap works. Even if the line touches it won’t transfer enough heat to do anything.

I use the insulating sleeves/tubes that you find on late model vehicles. They use them in a lot of places, even on the A/C lines. The right ones will fit you tranny lines like a glove, are dirt cheap, and will do a super job. The self-serve or pick-a-part yards are good sources with lots and lots of choices. I keep a lot of different sizes and styles from different manufacturers and from different kinds of lines lying around. Always finding a use for them on my car or on buddy's cars on fluid lines that we want to keep as much heat away from as possible.

We have used the sleeves/tubes on fuel lines, tranny lines, p/s cooler lines, and even some wires/cables that run too close to the exhaust or headers. That helps to guarantee that over time, wires/cables that are close to the high heat sources don't eventually or accidentally touch.

We've used the insulator "socks" on our plug wires since we built the engine.
Going on eight years and no stiffness or cracking/discoloration from heat exposure.

The right size for coolant lines I think would work too.

Joe