hey everyone, i want to get the hooker 2055 headers for my car but it is an 83 and its carbed. at summit it says it works on 86-90 tpi camaros/firebirds. would it work on my car??? if it would what would i have to do to make it work. thanks alot.

Mike

 

A small block chevy is a small block chevy is a small block chevy... I don't know why manufacturers split stuff up like they do. Application specific, or should I say induction specific, exhaust (TPI vs. TBI vs. CFI vs. carb) is just if you ask me. If you had a TBI motor making 350hp would you buy headers with a smaller y-pipe just because they were listed as specific for TBI??? Nope. So in short, I don't think you are gonna have any fitment problems, save the cat. But if you are going to an aftermarket 3" cat setup then it won't matter anyway.

Later,
Harry

 

thanks a lot for the reply.

Mike

 

your cat connection might be different. mine was.

 

how was it different?

 

The 2055 connection to the cat is a 3" slip-fit. Yours is not. Depending upon which '83 carb'd V8 you have, it will either be smaller or not slip-fit.

The "smart" route would be to get a direct-fit cat for the '86-'90 single-cat TPI application, and cat-back for the same. Then you can bolt it all together yourself.

The other differences are the A.I.R. on the driver's side points forward on the stock carb system, and backwards on the 2055's. And, the carb air cleaner has a thermovac system on the snorkel that has a flexible tube going down to a "heat stove" on the exhaust manifold that will not be on the headers, and which won't fit on the headers.

Mine is due for emissions inspection/testing in November. Could be interesting.

 

Ok, what I plan to do is get a 3" catco cat and 2 40 series mufflers and have a muffler shop mandrel bend some pipes for me. My 83 came with the stock dual muffler set up. Im not sure if you have heard or seen this before. Anyways, is the A.I.R. issue going to be a big problem? How would I fix this issue. Also what does the thermovac system do? What would you recomend about fixing this problem? Sorry if these questions may seem stupid. Im only 17 but Im learnin.

Thanks for all the help.
Mike

 

For the A.I.R., either route the tube around the back like TPI does, or use some elbows to point it back to the front. (I haven't done it yet, just too lazy to do it before I have to).

The thermovac provides warm air to the carb before the engine warms up. Without it, you will get an off-idle dead spot that is not pleasant. All I did was take the flexible tube and stick it between the center two header tubes to pick up warm air. I do have to clamp it onto the air cleaner to keep it from falling off (it's just held between the heat stove & snorkel in the stock configuration).

A universal 3" cat should do the job for you. A "Y" right after the cat with dual pipes after that would be a decent set-up.

I didn't realize they carried the dual-muffler set-up into '83.

 

Yeah, not a lot of people know about the dual muffler set up. They think im crazy or something when I tell them. I will attach a picture of what it looks like. I plan on getting the H.O. dual snorkel air cleaner soon and I think they have a thermovac system on each snorkel, so I would just do the same thing with the tube on the passenger side. Thanks for all the advice and help. I really appreciate it. Heres a pic of what the exhaust setup looks like.