I have a pair of of heddman shorty headers.I was wondering if anyone had any secrets on keeping the bolts tight.I tried the stage 8 locking bolts ,but the washers they sent didn't fit not enough room between the bolt hole and the tube.Whch brings me to my next question my sockets are too thick to fit btween the tube and the bolt what gives here.I cant really torque them down enough to eliminate leakes using an open end wrench. HELP ME PLEASE!!!

 

get header bolt that have a 3/8 head. i used ARP intake bolts on mine and have never really had a problem. when you first install the headers you will have to retorque the bolt ever so often.

 

I used the bolts that came with them, they are 3/8. I could barely tighten the close ones. I had to use a small open wrench, and try not to round them.

 

I had the same problem with Hedmans.

I tightened them to what I think 30 foot pounds feels like using sockets where I could and open end wrenches with the tips ground down a bit for the difficult bolts.

Then I retightened them about two weeks later and again about a month after that.

There are no leaks and they've been on there for about eight months now. Make sure you use a good gasket.

I think I'm going grind the sides of a thin wall socket to make it thinner so that maybe it will fit all the bolts. You might want to try that.

 

They are a nightmare. I am on the 3rd gaskets with this set up. I almost have to check them before every damn run these days The Felpro gasket that I have put on there now are the best, I thoroughly recommend them.

Intermittent tightening with an open ended spanner and socket for the few accessible ones seems to work.

 

Try 3/8th inch 12-point bolts. You may have to buy a "header wrench".

Or you could try Allen bolts. The tool fits inside the bolthead, so there's no interference between the bolthead and the tube.

As far as keeping them tight, I haven't had any problems myself. I torqued them to spec, checked them after the test drive, then re-torqued them after 200 miles and haven't had a problem (original gaskets that came with the headers). They're SLPs though, maybe that's why..

 

Oh, another good reason for the Allen bolts is that the tool is so cheap, you can buy several and bend/weld/modify them 'til you have a set that makes doing the bolts easy. (...and this one is for the driver's side rear bolt...it's shaped like a macaroni so it goes around the...)