Some pictures of a fitment issue with my 1-3/4 3 inch primary stainless works longtubes headers. Called hawks in January, but were not interested in hearing much about. Not posting to bash hawks( I have had good purchases as well, although this is not my first gripe about the workings of the company). I am posting for future reference of others who may have same issues, to find this thread to help find a result. As always, one pic at a time.....

 

This is with the passenger side header being way too close / wrong angle to the frame rail in the trans tunnel area.

 

The plan at the moment is to cut the collector off and try to angle it slightly toward the center of the car. 1/2 inch clearance I think would be ideal. Thought about tweaking the header as well, but afraid of warping the flange and chasing leaks. Spohn engine plates with poly inserts in stock ls1 clamshells, with spohn trans xmember. Xmember will be changed to hawks double hump, but I don't suspect this will change it. The trans mount center bolt is lined up with center bolt hole in xmember. I do think using center hole on mount in drivers side of xmember would give me proper clearance, but I feel this would risk drivetrain vibrations by forcing the drivetrain crooked.

 

My drivers side is perfect, but my passenger side hit. I clearanced it the best I could but when idling my still hits. It is BS that for what these cost. There is plenty of clearance if they would have just angled the header towards the trans. I welded a piece onto the end of mine to turn it away from the frame then welded a v band onto it. For the record I am using a BMR k-member and hawks 6 speed crossmember.

 

Here is a pic of mine off the car after I welded the angled piece on it.


Here is what it looked like when I first welded on the V-band:

 

Very nice fix and solution to the problem Ricky. I might order a stainless 3" elbow and do the same, rather than cutting and re-welding.

 

Thanks, but on mine it is the actual merge at the collector that is hitting now. Fix one problem and another one remains

 

I too have a BMR kmember with Hawks t56 trans mount. I have yet to get it in the car though. I was wondering if maybe the engine sits a bit lower in the BMR kmember than if using hawks mounts with the stock kmember ? I read in the header description that the hawks headers are designed for use with their mounts and stock kmember, and their trans mount. Now i am worried about this becoming a problem for me too when i get to that part of my project. If your trans was mounted a bit lower in the back, would that help your clearance issues with the headers ?

 

It's get possible I am wrong, but I have been under the impression that spohn mounts and hawks mounts are two of the same.

 

sorry, my question was for rickyzZ28, i see he is running BMR kmember, but hopefully your hawks trans mount gets you where you need to be. Good Luck, and your build is looking great ! i was just reading through your threads this morning, excellent work !

 

My problem is not an issue of the k-member or trans member. My header hits the framerail on the inner edge against the outer edge of the header collector, if that makes sense. Moving my tranny mount side to side or up and down makes no difference.

 

maybe i will consider the hedman mid lengths instead.

 

Wow thats way out. Heres how it should hang (still too low for my taste)





Try putting a 3" OD pipe in the collector and bending the whole header towards the trans

 

Thanks for that pic Jon, my headers are tucked quite a but higher in the tunnel. If the trans was dropped a little it would help. I would think the local parts store would have a 4 foot section of pipe to fit a it inside the collector to try and tweak it a little. Is warping the header flange something to be worried a out if I do this?

 

Not if its bolted to the head completely

Dont expect a huge change when bent. Hopefully enough to get by though

 

I had some of the first ones made and they fit great, even the o2 bung. Maybe I just got lucky lol

 

Pocket are your collectors 3"? That may make up for a little of the difference if not. I agree mine seem to stick out a good bit more than yours but not hang as low. Maybe they had a redesign or tweak to the design?

 

If you can receive pics on your phone you cam PM me your # and I can send you pics of my clearances, sorry. posting pics here is mighty time consuming. Have you tried loosening your engine mounts to the X-member and seeing if you can wigle the engine enough to clear both sides? just a thought. I am gonna do this for my oil pan clearance. But for the record My Hawks Long tubes seem to be right as they can be.

 

I have a piece of 4' 3" inch pipe at the house, I assumed the collectors were 3 inch OD, not ID, so that should be perfect. If so, i ordered the wrong band clamps, lol. I will wait for the double hump crossmember before I try anything with the header, just incase it moves anything differently than the spohn piece.

 

Mine are 1.75 x 3"

 

Yes, I think the 3" measurement is from the OD of the tube.

 

I used a 2.5 inch OD pipe, with paint stir sticks to fill the gaps for a tight fit, and as not to oblong the collector when pulling the header inwards. It was all I could do to tweak the header as little as I did. I am not a hulk, but have good upper body strength to use a 4 foot piece of pipe to bend the header, unfortunately my wrist is a a wimp, I pulled something and hurt it pretty good, and stopped there. It doesn't hit anymore, and gained around 1/4 inch gap, maybe a little more. With poly mounts I hope it won't hit,

 

A after shot of clearance

 

There ya go!

 

I had the same issue. I cut off my collector and rewelded it. Shame you pay that much for something that doesn't fit. There is no reason for them to be that close..plenty of room down there.

 

I bought the smooth band clamps just because I knew the space was so tight after bolting them up. I am worried they won't seal that well after receiving them in the mail, and if I have to get Vbands, the collector will for sure get cut and re-welded.

 

Band clamps by design arent going to give a perfect seal. Some of the better ones try to remedy the issue with a gob of tar like goo at the bolt joint, and having soft, stretchy steel for the band making it conform to the collector as best it can. Its never perfect, but passable

Biggest issue is making the Y-pipe joints tight and strait. I had to berate the local exhaust shop quite a bit to make the expansions strait vs tapered

 

Wouldn't it be a lot easier just to go to a shop that builds custom headers & have them make a set of longtubes? I mean for the money Hawks charges & how they don't even fit or try to help there customers with technical support that's some bs.


-10 cool points for Hawk's 3rd gen..

 

Let us know how that works out for you. Remember, has to be stainless.

2 sets, zero issues here.

 

Mine are as well. I have the passenger side in, & from what I remember, that side fits great. I haven't been able to get my driver's side header in because of the SFI-certified bellhousing that I have - but once I get another bellhousing, I'll be watching out for this issue...

 

Driver side fits great, my passenger side physically hit the frame rail. Many other mention the same issue within build threads. I know five7kid hates people bashing these headers, but if he had the same issue that half of us others run into, maybe it would be a little different. They are awesome headers, they just need to re-direct the passenger collector, that's all.......

 

Holy crap that sits low! Hedman gets my money. I rather give up 10-20 rwhp (6.0) and have ground clearance than that. Ick.

 

Installed my new 1 3/4 ssw headers today, and i have the same issue with the collector hitting the inside of the passenger frame rail. I don't see why they manufactured them to be so close, there is a ton of room where it could be moved toward the center of the car.

 

Is it possible the passenger side collector is so close to the frame, because of fitment constraints with the 4l60e?

 

yea, i thought that after seeing some pics of the headers on the automatic cars. I have a manual, so there is much more room. I still have to figure something out, it is unacceptable to leave it hit.

 

Maybe try contacting hawks? Squeaky wheel gets the oil sorta thing if you know what I mean?

 

i seen where you bent yours with a pipe, did you get enough clearance ? your picture shows a gap, was it enough ?

 

I have poly motor and trans mounts. It doesn't hit, but it is insanely close still. With such little gap, I have to use the flat-band style clamps. I can't hear an obvious exhaust leak with them, but you can see the black soot where the band does not seal 100 percent like a Vband setup does. If enough people have issues, maybe they will correct it.

 

Run 1500rpms for 15 min, then hammer a wooden wedge between frame rail and v-band. Let cool, remove. Repeat of necessary.

 

thanks for the tip. I ended up pulling them together with a ratchet strap. I then welded a crossbar between the y-pipes to hold them in place, seems ok so far and gave me plenty of clearence.