Ok well I bought a set of the hedmen painted headers and ceramic coated them. Well it was an absolute nightmare putting them in. In fact I still havn't gotten the passenger side in and I hear thats the hard part. Well heres what I did:

1. Removed my stock manifolds and I must say removign the bolts was VERY easy with a (I presume) foot and a half breaker bar.
2. I removed all spark plug wires and plugs. Removed o2 sensor and the other sensor plug thats with that. Also removed the oil pressure sensor (This is on a 91 camaro).
3. Went to slide it in.... NOT EVEN CLOSE to fitting right in.
4. I gound the flange down to clear the side of the engine near the oil filter houseing. Still no go. (Mind to I removed the ball in socket flange before I had the headers coating and welded it so it was a standard 3 hole socked so I also had an extra 2 inches and still no go)
5. I then removed the driver side engine mount and cantered the engne sideways as far as it would go.... STILL didnt fit.
6. Finaly I had to cut one of the tubes on the headers and it finaly went into place.
7. I had to grind down part of the a-arm and then reweld the peice of the tube I cut off.

Well that was just the driver side header. The passenger side is the one with the million wires and air conditioner so I didn't even touch it.

Also I scratch the hell out of the ceramic coating trying to get it in.

Anyone know any tips for thats side?

Also just as a tip I wouldn't buy these headers unless you have tools like a saw-zaw, welder, and grinder.

 

You're trying to put them in from the top?

 

I tried the bottom but we could get the car up high enough on the jacktands or in the right angle. For the other side I will somehoe get it higher and see if I can get it in.

 

Mine slid right in from the bottom on regular jackstands. I had to angle them towards the center of the car a bit but the slid right in from the bottom on my 85 ta I used to have.

 

I've yet to see a set of smallblock headers go in from the top on a smallblock 3rd gen.I've always had great luck with Hedman headers,although I run Hookers on my Camaro.Get the front in the air,and don't be in such a rush.If you've got to cut header tubes to make them fit either:
A.Your putting them in wrong or
B.You've got the wrong damn headers.

 

Well considering it took 6 hours I didnt care. And since I can weld it didnt really matter. In fact if I would of thought of it I would of done it off the bat.

 

MIne went in from underneath on regular plastic pepboys ramps, but them again, my engine bay is bare essentials only...plenty room. Also, these headers make plugs super super super easy. I use an offset closed end wrench for all them, twist with the fingers, tighten, done!

 

As opposed to installing them correctly?

 

i installed my 68466 headers yesterday from the top but i have nothing under the hood but the engine. my problem was that my mini starter would not fit back in there i had to sawzall a corner off the mounting block.

 

i really have to agree with that. i mean i hate directions but if you do somthing the wrong way it will be harder than if you had followed the directions in the first place .

 

For one there is no directions. It worked fine and theres no problem at all it just took a while fo rme to learn how to get it done. I aplogize I did it at 1 in the morning and could not go out and buy higher jackstands. I really admire how you guys do that on this board. Quick to say somebodys wrong, slow to show them how to do it.

 

if your trying to put long tubes in from the top your doing it wrong there is not a sincle car I have ever seen with a V8 where the (long tube) headders would go in from the top that includes a 72 impala huge engine bay still wasent havin it

 

Ok, calm down Suzie ! If you would've done a search before you tried to put them on, you would've found numerous posts on installing long tubes and how it is described to get the front end up in the air as high as possible. You would've also found that people with worn out mounts have a harder time with it. I mean c'mon, don't you think that if you were supposed to have to cut the tube that they would have sent them that way

 

I beleive it was one of those wonderful times when we had no search function :-) like I said for cutting it I know you wernt supposed to but the fact is I am a pretty good welder so it wasn't a problem at all. It was just my solution to the problem.

 

No big deal. i had to butcher my hedmal LT to get them in too. I had to cut and weld the collector longer, and dent a bunch of primaries for clearance. It's what i had expected trying to fit big pipes in a thirdgen engine bay. I also had to jack the front end up as high as I could to get the driver side to go in. They almost had to go in straight up from underneath to clear my brakes and such. Passenger side, as far as in and out goes, as long as it was from underneath, it takes 2 sec to put in, and pull out. i'd put it in, mark where I needed to dent a bit for frame clearance, pull it out, and go dent it.

 

I Disagree... my Headman 1 5/8" LT's (made for a 2nd gen) fit right into my '82 from the top. I did unbolt the motor mounts and jack the engine up an inch or so but that's it. The drivers side did require a little help via a BFH but after 2 hits it fell right into place.

 

Ok thats the first I've ever heard at any rate how did they fit if there made for a 2nd gen I cant see them fitting very well the engine bays on 2nd gens are allot different than 3rd gens

 

I think the main problem is that you tried this a 1 in the morning. Easy things are much harder to do when you are tired and frustrated.

 

Dunno.. they were $20 and i was deturmined to get them in there...

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/exha...like-they.html

 

I had a-arm problems myself and when I called hedman and talked to their tech they asked what mounts I ran and because I had run energy suspension mounts it made the engine sit up higher then normal and I guess they said they have a had that problem a couple of times. just another idea

 

well the engine sitting higher would give you more room at the a-arm. But when doing a FL header install in a chassis like ours, you need to understand before you start that you may need to fabricate something to make it fit. There is just such a shortage of room to play with, and the chassis differences between 1 car to another are large enough to affect the fit quality. We don't have the open well room of the cars from days of old, so you have to make due.

 

I weld for a living,but that don't make it a good way to install headers.Good rule of thumb:if it has to be cut and welded to fit either it's a cheap piece of sh*t or your doing something wrong.

 

every one just chill this should be a place where we CAN go to help when we need it and not have everyone saying **** and big deal if he was doin it in the morning. you guys make it sound like you were never out under your car with some lights surounding your car cause what ever you were working on did go as planed or its just taking more time at least im starting to know what to expect when i get long tubes

 

In my car with solid motor mounts the drivers side went in from the top after raising the engine a couple of inches, the passenger side went in from the bottom was a PITA with a full size starter. I had to start the header in and then get the starter up into place as well. My car as well has nothing under the hood except for the engine (manual brakes as well to explain putting the drivers side in from the top

 

I may have missed it but what tranny are you running?

 

Car info is under our screen names, on the left

 

Yeah but the guy has 3 thirdgens listed

 

HAHAHAHA soo much for that laugh!

 

700

 

Put them in from the bottom and be done with. be thankful your not running a T5.

 

Im trying to figure out if the hedman 68460 and 68469s will fit with a t56! anyone know?