Pro Parts A Body 440 header install gone awry...

Right now I'm roughing in a set of Pro Parts RB A-Body headers. Keep in mind that these are the "old" ones, I bought an unused set on ebay because I had heard how well they fit.

I was a little apprehensive, because once you cut the fenderwells there's no turning back.

I assembled them on a bare 440 on an engine stand first, and everything went together with little headache. Just be sure to take a small grinding bit to deburr the edges of the pipes and and clean the welding slag out of the collectors, or they won't go on very well.

I carefully cut out the fenderwells exactly as directed, and installed the empty 440 in the car...and the headers wouldn't come close to going in. I had to fit and trim several times, and in order to get them in and out without scraping everything up when they're coated, I had a much larger hole on each side than the templates showed.

Passenger side still needs trimmed closer to the firewall...


Drivers side also. It's almost as if the firewall edge on the templates were too far forward...


The driver's side will need "adjusted" to keep from hitting the shock tower...


The driver's side hits the bolt on the steering column with every turn of the wheel...


The passenger side problems are under the car. The collector hits the crossmember...


Which causes the collector to stop short of going onto the pipes as far as they should...
(sharpie marks show where they assembled on the stand)


And the tabs on the collectors should be on the outside tubes of the headers,
not here...where they will interfere with the transmission clearance.


The car has Schumacher A to B/RB swap mounts in it. The engine is level in the car. Raising it about 3/8" would help the driver's side problems, but would exaggerate the clearance problem of the collector on the passenger side. I'm thinking about taking the passenger side collector to an exhaust shop and having about 1-1/2 inch extensions added to each of the four tube receivers, and just beating the livin' crap out of the driver's side where the interference is.

All in all...after working a day and a half on getting them installed and still needing more modification....I just shut off the heat in the garage and came inside. Screw it...I'll get back to work on it once my blood pressure goes down a bit.

Any suggestions??

Seriously, your last line included the best advise...just walk away from it for a while and come back to it with a fresh perspective...get more advise on here while you take a breather. Here's a bump for ya.

a moterplate will help you adjust heigth

#1 pipe is kinked in to clear the pitman arm

On my passenger side collector, I had to ad 3" to get it pass the cross member. No problem with the steering shaft, the drag link hits when the wheels are turned. Still better than fenderwell headers.

I had a few minor issues installing the headers in my wifes car, but nothing like your having. My guess is that the schumacher mounts simply dont have the engine located in exactly the required position. I used the templates that came with the headers and just had to trim some minor extra material to get the tubes to fit. Your tabs are different than the ones that I had on my ProParts headers. go to TTI exhausts website, they have measurements as to the exact location from side to side and up and down for the crankshaft bolt. THis will let you know how close or far off your engine is in the engine compartment. I guess TTI has had customers call them with tube fitment due to the customer having the engine improperly set in the bay. Hopefully you can find it.

You're going through what I went through last winter getting mine to fit in my Dart. I invented plenty of new cuss words. Did quite a bit of cutting and welding. But now they're on and work pretty good. I'll go with customs next time no doubt.

For the collector flange, why not just cut it off and use a band clamp? Even if you slide it back like you mentioned, you still have to deal with getting to the top bolt on the flange.

For the tabs, I'd cut them off and weld them on the bottom for easier access and clearance.

Tomorrow I'll try leaving the passenger side collector off, and raise the motor about a half inch. Then I'll see where the passenger collector is gonna end up, maybe I can have it cut off and add a section in order to lengthen it and orient it the way it fits best.



I know it'll be worth it in the end...the old Tri-Ys were an easy fit, but they look really puny next to these!

When i put mine on 19 years ago,i cut those tabs off and got everthing lined up. I then welded the collector to the center two tubes on both sides. This makes installation a breeze,sliding in the passenger side center tubes from underneath,and the drivers side goes in with the wheel turned all the way to right with the car in the air. Great quality headers 19 seasons and have never cracked and still look great.

Do they seal well with the slip on collector?

mine on the pass. side one tube is all over the t-bar. it's a rb with indy-1 heads. brad

A lot of work 3 years ago for me, many of the same problems. My collectors are way longer than yours, the flange clears the crossmember by 2".

The collector tabs on the passenger side hit the trans case, and are nearly impossible to bolt up. I thought this was a manufacturing error on my set, but obviously it is a shameful engineering error. They apparently did this to avoid having to build opposite hand collectors.

You didn't mention having to re-route the fuel line and starter wiring.

Bought a used set at Monster Mopar and had them changed out in 1.5 hours with a liitle help from some friends. Of course I was lucky that the inner fenderwells were already gone. Only reason for the change from the Hooker fenderwell headers was to go to a larger diameter tire.

Don, which side of the collector are the tabs on your passenger (Sharon's) side?

Turn the collector over on the passenger side and re place the tabs on the tubes to the outside. Turning the collecter over, will place the triangle of the collector to the bottom, away from the frame.
On the driver side, raise it about 3/4 inch. This will also lower the passenger side away from the frame. A lot better than beating the crap out of the headers.

not to steal the post, but did i see a tunnelram on your motor ARI? steppin it up!

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not to steal the post, but did i see a tunnelram on your motor ARI? steppin it up!

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hi MARK

I sold that one and am working on a indy tunnelram with two 1050s


soon will have the cnc 345-1 indy heads