I have an 86 Sport 305 AT. The exhaust is total garbage and I was wondering if I can put a set of headers on and temporarily bolt them to the stock Y pipe? Eventually I'm putting a whole new exhaust system on. But for cost reasons right now, I was wondering if I can get the headers on before doing the back piping. Any input helps. Thanks.

 

Your best bet will be to just wait and do it all at one time.
The only thing you gain by this is being able to say "I have headders".
Just save up for a good set of headers(i.e. Hooker2055) and the cat back of your choice......

 

Whatever you do dont buy the holly flowtech headers. Yes they are cheap, yes they are headers however they flow worse than a stock manifold and you wont see any performance increase since they are 1 1/2 primary.
My neighbor had a really nice 330hp engine built by a local shop, put a really nice carb on it, then decided to go cheap on the exhaust and the car wont even spin the tires its so corked up. he ran the Flowtech with stock sized pipe.. Its a bad idea and a waste of money.

best bet for price is hooker shorties, they are 1 5/8 and they are usually 100 or less used. Ypipes can be found for just over 100.

 

Dude, have you ever even saw the mainfolds that come stock on these cars lol. For you to say that they flow better then any header is so stupid lol! 11/2 is plenty for most engines except for really built ones especially when you consider the stock junk your replacing. Your buddy must not know how to tune an engine cause a v6 camaro will roast em. Keep up the good advice lol! I cant beleive u said that holy ****

 

Just so you are better informed...
1 1/2" headers are 1 3/8" inside diameter, the port on the head is 1 1/2" the valve is 1 1/2"...so no, 1 1/2" headers are a waste of time and money.