Hey, im about to get angry, if im going to have a problem here. Ok, the deal is, I am doing an engine swap in my 83 TA. I pulled out my 305, and i have a '78 350 block. I do not know the casting # on the heads. I bought the engine off of a guy at work, and its all cool, except for when i tried to put my exaust manifolds on. Yeah, can any one call what happend? 3 out of 4 bolt holes lined up, the one in the very back did not. Also this engine is a drivers side dipstick, and my manifold does not clear it. So, i drove all the way out to summit today. (luckily for me its about 1hour) picked up some summit headers (ya i know they are flowtech too) and a flowtech Y pipe, (hey, atleast its a bolt on Y pipe). But it got dark before i had a chance to try to bolt the headers on the block. My question is, if these headers are made for 82-92 F bodys, Am i still going to have this same problem? The guys at summit did not hear of such a thing, but i swear it did not line up. Also the dipstick was totaly in the way of the manifold, but i dont know about with the headers. I got to test fit them, but i canot do it untill thursday.

So, does anyone know whats going on? Im thinking i have non smog heads on my new engine, and maybe the one bolt hole is diffrent between the smog and no smog heads. But if they are, and my headers are made for smog heads, how the heck do i get an exaust on this car? Its frustrating to think about.

Anyway, If you can help me out, thats one less step im going to take twards the cliff, pushing my car off.

Thanks.

 

It shouldn't matter what heads they are. Any type of GEN1 and GENII head will accept a header made for a 3rd gen small block. Did the headers bolt on?

 

like i said, i cant check till thursday, because the car is not at my house, its at my friends, and he is out of town till thursday.

Hmm, so basicly what your saying is, all the headers and manifolds out there should bolt up to the same bolt pattern that my 305 has, bieng that thats the most common bolt pattern, and thats what my headers should bolt up to. So, odds are, my headers will not work either.

So, i guess i got 2 options, Drill out the header, or look for diffrent heads. crap.

I dont know, if anyone has any other imput on the situation, let me know.

 

yep, you should be OK, with the headers. Those heads have both holes on the end exhaust port, why GM did that, who knows, but headers will only use the innermost hole, the exhaust manifolds are whats the problem, they are cast to use the outer hole. as for the dipstick, you may have to get a little creative with it, and just tweak it so it will fit, if you bent it carefully, you should be ok, you can even use a tubing bender if you need to.

 

Its common for old manifolds to expand. Ask anyone who replaces a lot of engines... I'll bet if you line up the holes on the manifold with the holes on the headers the manifold holes will be spaced farther apart The header bolt holes should line up OK.

 

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...73#post2245773

 

i had this problem when i installed my headers. Try loosening all the bolts on the header or manifold so you can move the manifold around freely, but the bolts are still in the head so it wont fall off. Then see if you can get the manifold at the right angle to get that last bolt in there. worked on my headers.

-chillen

 

his problem and mine is not from warpage, you did not look at the link I guess.

 

The 70's heads do not have the extra threaded holes your 416's or any newer head has excluding vortec. Instead of 9 exh bolt holes the older heads have 8 per head only. It's not a big deal and it will still seal minus the one bolt on the one side, the other side is fine.


Edit:
The headers will work fine and you will have no problems with the bolts or the dipstick anymore.

 

get a flexible dipstick from ebay

 

wow, someone pulled this topic out of the grave... over a year old. wow.
Anyways, i just got a set of headers, and called it a day.

 

That just means the search button works.

So are those flowtechs still intact or have they rusted out yet?

 

ya, its a good thing i guess.

I only ran this car for about 2 months then pulled the engine, so no the headers are still intact. very g/c by the way.