I have a 1970 Fastback with a 351Cleveland 4BBL. I bought Hooker Competition long-tube headers and the stupid things don't fit. The folks at Holley of course said they've had no problems with them. I've been told that header fitment is more of a black-art than a science, but I'm not sure what to do.

On the driver side, they hit the steering box in two places, and on the passenger side they hit the idler arm bracket. My uncle suggested some new motor mounts to raise up the engine a bit, and also possibly use the old "torch and hammer" modification method to create some clearance. Personally I'm about this far from just tossing the stock exhaust manifolds back on the car so I can at least drive it again.

[IMG]local://upfiles/70499/0251980B177A4EBE814F33BBC6AAC974.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/70499/146ED103D2E04FCDA839897CB66F7C31.jpg[/IMG]

Has anyone else successfully put headers on a '70 with this engine, and what brand did you use? This isn't going to be a racer, but I want it to be quicker than my Dad's '69 Mach 1

 

torch and slight pressure in various spots

 

ahhhh son of a bitch!!!!![:@]


i just bought hooker longtube competition headers for my 69 mustang 351C 4v heads

 

LOL that sucks

 

crap and this is my second pair of headers, the first was for 71-73 applications, not 69/70, hopefully these might fit a little better, then with some southern engineering make them fit[&:]

 

nice looking car 70fb - more pics please

I had long tubes on my 66 and had similar troubles with steering box and also clutch mechanism
Now have Tri Y which fit much better.

 

I had similar 'issues' with these headers but have used them for over 15 years - after I took a hammer to the areas that touched. The idler arm still hits on hard left turns but I have learned to live with a larger left-hand turning-radius. I did put adjustable motor mounts on last winter and they helped, but did not fully solve the hits.

 

Pics and history:

Bought 2000.
[IMG]local://upfiles/70499/88406E3792C8434087C2F3805146C6C8.jpg[/IMG]

Year 1, paint & body
[IMG]local://upfiles/70499/C40D4E558E024B5DB8E20A66C16FF11C.jpg[/IMG]

Year 2, interior
[IMG]local://upfiles/70499/2439B43D62C2456AB71E94A57745748A.jpg[/IMG]

Year 3, suspension, steering, brakes, rear axle
Year 4, DRIVE IT for a while on tired engine and 3-speed[sm=happy046.gif]
Year 5, pull out the engine to rebuild it buy 5-speed tranny, make good progress, get engaged [sm=love.gif]
[IMG]local://upfiles/70499/47172960A1FC45DDBF47B30BB3FE45EA.jpg[/IMG]
Year 6, plan wedding, get married (car sits) [sm=chairshot.gif]
Year 7, drop engine back in, buy house (car trailered for move, but now have 3-car garage)[sm=happybounce.gif]

If I can figure out my exhaust issues and get the cable clutch in, I am "praying" to have it back on the road this summer.

 

well 70fb351c, i am in the same boat as you, if you fit it in before me, make sure to tell me what you did[&:]

 

So I read... I don't understand why they can't make these things so they fit.

Already tried a little of the "southern engineering" and burnt a couple holes in em with the torch (oops). My Uncle is a welder and can fix em, so we may try again. Everyone says that I'll miss the headers if I don't put them in (except my one buddy who says they'll give me nothing but trouble unless I'm going to race it).

I see two main obstacles to being successful:
[ol][*]being able to modify them properly. How much clearance do you need to allow for engine vibration/movement? I think stiffer urethane motor mounts will help this.[*]the cable clutch... would run right in the middle of em, and that scares me. I want to clamp it to the block if I can to keep it away from the pipes, but not sure how well it will work, I need to play around with it a bit.[/ol]