I'm reinstalling my motor this weekend. I'm adding tri-y headers. Will the motor go in with the headers bolted up? What if I put in two bolts and leave them loose? Or do I need to lay them in thebay and install them once the motor is in?

Also, I have the small hex head bolts that came with the headers and allen head bolts that came in a bolt kit I bought. Any comments on which kind are best (easier) to use?

 

I do not have try Y's, however, on my old mustang (69 302 and 67 289) I had to raise the engine on bothe to get the headers in. If I recall, the drivers side was the more difficult. Do not bolt them up, you will have trouble getting the enging in and prob. ding up your engin compartment. I would lower the engine into the bay (not all the way) work the headers in therethen lower the engine in place and then bolt them up.

Good luck.

 

Yeah put it in without the headers on it.No sence taking a chance in bending the header or worse yet snapping a bolt off in the head.
Jeff

 

+1 on the headers/installations already mentioned.

As for which bolts. That'll depend on what ends up being easiest to get to. I know that it looks like you can get to every bolt with any kind of wrench, but you'd be surprised. Sometimes, yeah, you can get the wrench on there, but there's not enough room to turn it. I've had some where I couldn't get a wrench/socket on there at all and had to use allens. One set of headers required the use of both hex and allens depending on which wrench I could get in there and turn. I hope you don't have the same trouble I did.

Either set will be fine and you can mix 'n' match if you have to. It won't look as pretty, but you can drive the car that way.

 

You get special reduced head size bolts in most kits to give clearance with the header. The hardware is typically grade 5 or 8 and has a special drive, hex socket or a 12 point. Most havesome type oflocking method. All are a pain to put in and will require some type of long bar to get a fit. On that basis, I would consider a 'dry fit' of headers with the engine out of the car. It's also a good time to take pictures.
Jim

 

In my experience, the cheaper the header, the more of a pain it is to install. I don't know if it is better manufacturing or simply quality control, but I've never had a problem with a single bolt going in or out on a set of JBA headers ... which is a good thing as they are so darned spendy. BTW, I'll never use those locking bolts with washers again. I think I've seen hell ... trying to take those suckers off after being on a car for 10 years. They are machined to pretty tight tolerances and the slight surface rust that forms makes them difficult to remove. I ended up "tearing off" half those washers with a good pair of dikes. [:@]

 

One of my neighbors, a bow tie type, didn't have any locking stuff on his headers. By the time he got around to fix the exhaust leaks, he had lost about 7 of the bolts. He now has some of my Mustang bolts with the lock washers on them in his 'thingie'.
Jim

 

I recently rebuilt my motor (289) 66 FBand installed Tri Y's. The motor will not go in with the headers even loosely installed. Mine went right in on the drivers side with no problems. The passenger side will be an issue unless you do the following:

Had toloosen the right motor mount and take off the left motor mount nut, jack up the passenger side of the motor and the header goes right in with no problem. Starter clearance is tight, but if you jack up the motor its a one man job with no problem. Clearance on the right shock tower was an issue. Had to heat up and bend in a small area to keep the header from rubbing the shock tower on the passenger side.

 

+1000000000000 That set was given to me by someone who'd bought the cheapest they could find. So for free, the pain was kinda worth it for me!

Since then, I've only used Hedmans. They fit my Dart heads best even though I still had to do some grinding. I thought the guy at the speed shop was gonna kill me because he must've pulled out 5 sets of headers before we found a set that'd work... And go figure, they were the most expensive ones! [:@]

 

I'm not suggesting not using anything to retain the bolts, just pointing out that the ones with the asymmetrical washer that fits over the hex-head bolts aren't without their drawbacks. FWIW, I haven't had a single problem with the fasteners that JBA supplies with their headers. They use a split lock washer, yet it is higher strength spring steel and about three times thicker than a standard lock washer.