daturbosix

really quick... i was fittin my new valve covers and they dont fit because of this baffel type thing that bolts inbetween the rocker sets and i assume in there to sheild the oil spray from the push rods. anyway what im gettin at is, are they nessicary(sp?)? the covers fit SO nice, but i have to take the baffel thing off.

flyitlikustolit

yes and no. your car will run without them, but the rockers WILL spray oil up your pcv valve and breather without them.

Project: 85 2.8 bird

From hedman sight: some block hugger hedders

PONTIAC

Application Street Rod

Engine 326-455

Painted Hedder Part# 28164

HTC Hedder Part# 26164

Elite Hedder Part# --

Repl. Gasket 27600

Hedman Turbo Muffler --


Tube & Collector 1 5/8-1 3/4", 3"


Footnotes 15 Shortie style hedder. Maximum ground clearance.

daturbosix

somebody buy these and let us know if they will work!!!!!!

swimster

you can also use stock exhaust manifolds.. some pontiac manifolds work MUCH bettewr than some shorty style headers. with the exception of weight, of course..

Most people want long tube headers. and if you plan to use subframe connectors, long tubes are definitly the way to go.

daturbosix

RamAirRestoration.com
i found this guy. and talked to him about the pontiac power plant in a third gen. he said hes seen it done and they used these factory headers: click

now, the problem i see is for $420 i dont think its worth it. i mean yeah theyre nice and all, but when i can spend another
$100 or so and get those indian adventure long tubes....why wouldnt i?

swimster

Unless you have EXTREMELY rare round port exhaust heads wich were pretty much SD 455 heads or Ram Air III and up heads, that's WAY overkill. and if you DO have round port heads, sell them on ebay and buy a complete 455 with the money. There are pleeeenty of factory exhaust manifolds that flow extremely well.. in ALOT of cases, the cast iron manifolds flow even better than shorty style headers. You need to look for "D" port style manifolds or headers. Modifying some full size car pontiac headers is not a big deal. Just make a small "Y" pipe after the trans pan into a 3 or 4" factory style exhaust. As i've said a 1000 times, there's links in this thread that go to pictures of the whole thing completely done step by step. For info on manifolds you can check out "www.performanceyears.com" and search them out or just ask the question. Or do a search for "3rd gen 455" or something like that and you'll get ALOT of info...

daturbosix

he has them in D-port too. same price tho!

plathegame

im mounting the tune port on my 72 455 pontiac mtr for my 3rd gen t/a.. any suggestions what injectors i should use??

daturbosix

first i must ask what exhaust your using! LOL
and how your putting a tpi on a pontiac block?? but if it all works out i would say 30lbers for a close to stock motor, and 42s for a mildly built one.

plathegame

the tpi can be mounted on a torker II intake w some milling work.. you just have to be careful when you drill the holes for the injectors that you dont egg them..

i have a set of long branch 66 tri power motor factory headers i was going to try but im not sure if they will fit yet i still havent taken them off my 66 grand prix

daturbosix

the long branch wont work. the factory k-member is in the way. however if you have some ram-air III factory headers, they will work. but i think if im gonna spend that much money, i might as well spend the extra 100 and get the swap long tubes from IA.

plathegame

thanks for the info.. i figured since i have to take the mtr out of my gp i would try 1 of the headers to see if they would fit before i bought another set. you saved me some extra work.. i have a set of ram air III heads but no headers unfortunately

poncho@home

Can you expand on this. I am researching a TPI solution for Pontiac motors. I am in the process of setting up a motor for my 89 GTA.

Project: 85 2.8 bird

I've mentioned them in other Poncho swap posts, but Rance,

http://www.rancefi.com/ManifoldsforSale/pontiac4.htm

and

http://www.rancefi.com/ManifoldsforSale/pontiact.htm

makes some interesting conversions.

__________________
Team Comero

daturbosix

well guys, im actually almost done with my swap. all i got left is fitment of my indian adventures headers, then im sending them off to be coated.. installation on my spohn th-400 swap crossmember and torque arm, and some misc. wiring. if you guys have any questions feel free. ill do my best to take as many pics as i can this next week.

Project: 85 2.8 bird

any thermal coatings on the pistons, head cc, or valve faces?

daturbosix

no, i have aluminum pistons. and i didnt coat anything else. only thing that will be coated are the headers.

poncho@home

hood clearance? What's it like? Can you run a tall intake under a firebird hood? What intake/car/air filter you running and how does that clear?

Can you take a pic of the installed engine with intake/carb/cleaner?

daturbosix

hahah, hood clearance! good joke. no im kidding, if you ran a low-rise intake and a airfilter with a drop base, you MIGHT be able to get it to clear the stock hood.

i however didnt realize this untill i had bought all the **** for the build. i have indian adventure motor mounts which you still have about a good 1" inbetween the bottom of the oil pan and the k-member. on the motor i have a edlebrock torkerII, thats a single plane- highrise. and toping it of i have a proform 750cfm. im pretty sure its the same size as a standard holley carb, but its got a billet aluminum throttle plate, and billet aluminum metering blocks. and then just a off-the-shelf 14" round airfilter(i think its a 2" or 2.5" tall filter, not a drop base). ive put a peice of wood across the tops of the fenders, and the whole filter assembally is above that line.

but thats ok, im thinking about trying to make a shaker hoodscoop....or somehow graft one from a 2nd gen onto my car. ive also thought of puting a nostalgia SuperDuty scoop on. like this one:

and i dont work but one day this week, so ill try to borrow a camara to take some quick shots.

plathegame

that is a nice old school pontiac

i will post more about the torker II tpi set up as soon as i can find the plans i made. i just moved recently and i cant find where i put them

daturbosix

FYI, i got the indian adventure headers today!! damn, there nice. some real quaility products!

daturbosix

engine 1


engine 2


engine 3


engine 4


hood clearance


indian adventure swap motor mounts(pass. side)


"Full Frontal"


and a quick side shot of as much of the car as i could get in my little 2-bay garage.

daturbosix

oh, and i tryed fitting the headers today after school...

well its true, nothing that has to do with custom work is ever a direct bolt-in. the stock k-member is in the way of clearing primary tube #3 and tube #4. if they were tucked up about another 1/4 - 1/2 of a inch closer to the heads, i think it would work...

so now im at this crossroad, do i call up IA and ask them about the clearance problems, or do i try beating my k-member to make them clear? i really dont want to take a ball-peen to the headers.

LT1guy

I'd mod the k-member if it were mine; dent it if the problem is minor, or cut and rebox a section if thats not enough.

__________________
Altered State Customs
1987 Trans Am w/455 (in progress)
1985 Trans Am (getting 500ci Caddy)
1997 Camaro SS #359 383 LT1
Co-Builder of RAIF (As seen on TLC's RIDES!)

daturbosix

thats exactly what i was planing on doing. and i dont want to deal with cutting/reboxing. i mean it prolly only needs like a 2" long dent about 3/8" down. i think i can pull that off. but i really would rather not pull the motor/trans out. so i have to figure somthing out.

chevymetal

I'm going to be putting a 389 into my 1984 S/E Firebird over the winter here. Right now I'm rebuilding it. Basically just adding myself to this thread so I can get updates emailed to me. I'll post my progress as I go.

Project: 85 2.8 bird

would a tubular k-member provide enough clearance?

LT1guy