Say, has anyone used the Hedman 88400 or its snootier coated pals?
https://www.stangnet.com/mustang-forums/attachments/dsc02062-jpg.237454/
I’m doing a mostly period build on the '68 302. Want to avoid long tube headers, and hold down costs (hence, repro 289 cast hi-po headers are 2nd, not 1st choice).
Nice link to the port side.
hi. You may get space problems on the left side of the engine near steering gearbox with shortys. It did not fit my girlfriend her 67 mustang without mods. Passanger site is no problem.
Same ones?
OK, hearing no feedback beyond some earlier 88400-on-351W threads, I’ll post a how-to when I do it.
What you want to do is advertise for what you want !
What you want…if you are unwilling to Pony up… er…sorry claw loose the funds for top quality headers is buy them used. Dont waste thr time, effort or money on cheap headers…
Ex…FPA tri-y,s or JBA’s …are made out of cantaffordium…but if you go fishing you just might get what you want. They are sooo expensive and fit soo well…you never see them used. I scored a set of FPA TRI-Y’s for my 67 351C
They fit PURRRRRRFECT…have two pipes going into a ball collector …never bottom out…dont leak…
New these are north of $700…and actually worth it !
The JBA Shorties with ball collector also fit almost as good.GOOD LUCK !
I put D669Y Doug’s Headers Tri Y’s on the 69 351W in my 68- they fit well and perform good. Don’t bottom out. Installed with Header Buddies and have been leak free. Saved some bucks on the headers as they were listed as an “open box” item. Install was done with engine in car- just had to lift drivers side to slip header in. I think mid length are maybe an easier install than shorties.
I used the snootier 88408 (I believe, or maybe the 88404, whichever has the thicker flange at the heads and the better coating) on my 68 XR7. I have a 302 with a C-4, A/C, power steering, and power discs. They fit extremely well. I had to remove 2 spark plugs on the drivers side to get them installed. Passenger side slipped right in. I probably could have done it without removing the plugs, but I didn’t feel like fighting it. They went in from underneath and took all of 2 hours to do the complete install. You will have to get a custom H pipe for them since the stock exhaust doesn’t line up with the collectors.
I haven’t run it yet since I’m also doing some other ‘winter work’, like adding EFI and MSD. I also still need to take it to get an exhaust system made for her, but that’s coming soon. I’ll give you feedback on how well they work come spring.
Thank you, extremely helpful experience that you shared. That’s my car as well - A/C and PS, and power front discs. Did you tie the power steering hoses up and away a little better than the factory did?
I have a good custom exhaust shop (fellow drag racer) to do the hookup. Likely I’ll have him make a second H-pipe and keep the 2-year old one from Precision/WCCC. Again, thanks!
I had numerous issues with power steering hoses on my small block 68. When I did engine and header upgrades, I converted power steering routing to big block style routing. New hoses rout by lower control arm then up to reservoir. Required a different housing on power steering pump. WCCC has the parts to make the change. Cleared up the issue of power steering hose interference and failure. Nice upgrade for the money.
Power Steering hoses? I’ll have to take a look. I haven’t started the car yet, and have the timing cover off for a new timing chain. I didn’t notice anything coming really close to the headers, but I honestly didn’t look. They were easy to get on, and easy to tighten all the bolts, so I’m assuming if they were close, I would have noticed. Thanks for the heads-up on it though. I’ll make sure there’s plenty of clearance.
Could they have changed the hose design on them? I replaced all the hoses when I rebuilt the front suspension and replaced the control valve, Maybe I got a different style?
All of this is very much appreciated and read closely, thank you - these will go on a pair of freshened '91 GT40 heads that I snagged from somebody’s abandoned project, by the way. Not GT40P, but the original ones. I’m justifying them by pretending it’s 1968 and I’m “connected,” i.e., could get a set of the old sixties “HD” head that was the inspiration for the GT40…Or, that I’ve gone and bought a set of the massaged big valve heds in the '68 Shelby catalog.
I have a set of JBA’s I could be talked out of…thought I had posted them for sale here, but I guess not. I’ll put them up in the For Sale section shortly.
People might jump all over me for saying this, but i bought the el’cheapo Hedmann long tube headers, and the P/S drop bracket and installed them in about 4 hours. I have zero fitment or quality issues with these. I bought them with the crap paint on them, for like 200$ from summit racing. They work fine, sound good, I did however have to spend some time sanding and coating them myself. If you pony up a bit more you can get them ceramic coated too. I have heard horror story after horror story about header fitment on these cars, but I can assure you on my 67 A code 289 i had only one issue. The headers were very close to a tab hanging off the bell housing that was not needed on this model (C4 trans) I trimmed this slightly and other than that had no issues at all. For the money i would go with the longtubes, the Shorty’s are marginally better than a stock set of manifolds. OH and i should add, many people worry about the power steering hoses. I simply tweaked the routing (used a pipe bender on the steel sections of P/S line) and made sure they were tied together and tied to the chassis, away from the header. I went the extra mile and heat taped (that expensive silver crap at the parts store “performance” shelf) the soft sections of hose and i have had no issues in a few thousand miles.
A Lazarus thread! I wanted to report on my cheapo headers (Hedman 88400, steel with black temporary paint) that I bead-blasted, degreased, then BRUSH painted with two coats of a dull silver high temp paint from KBS Coatings. As of 2023-24, they look great, with no warping or paint problems. So it can be done.
Note they do not fit a stock H-pipe…my shop grafted them on.
