Who all has put long tube headers on a 65 or 66 mustang with a 289? How hard is it to get them to fit? Most headers say they need 4 inches of clearance.. but i can tell by looking at my engine bay that i have no where near that kind of clearance..

 

Manual or automatic? I just took off a set of long tube headers. I did not put them on the car, but I imagine they were a bitch with the clutch linkage.

 

FPA has headers that fit up nice and tight so you won't have ground clearance issues. They're also wide enough to fit around my my 4R70W in my 66. Just be prepared to pay.

http://www.fordpowertrain.com/FPAindex/headers1.htm

 

It is a stock automatic three speed trans. I figured they would probably be a b**ch no matter what.. I was just wondering if they would fit without having to take a hammer to the shock tower.

 

Yea... I don't think FPA headers are going to be happening in the near future. I'm looking at something more along the lines of cheap hooker comp's. I'm a poor college student lol.

 

I would think you will have an easier time with them on an automatic. It was the clutch linkage that gave me fits with my 67. I am going with Hi-Po manifolds on my 66.
I bought a set of Patriots for my 67.

 

If you buy headers that are intended for the application you shouldn't need to beat and bang on anything...I have installed 3 different sets of headers on a 66 mustang..Non of them needed any banging and were relatively easy to install....I've never heard of any header claiming they needed four inches of clearance?

 

Do NOT take a hammer to the towers. They are structural, not decorative. Besides, they are like five times as thick as the headers. Bending (not bashing in) the thin, mild-steel header tubes is a much better option.

Just as a note, I ran long tubes (Caslers, fit was pretty good) on my 289HP for years. Finally got tired of the noise, the constant retightening of the bolts, and especially the waves of heat coming off of them. I switched back to 289HP manifolds, and drove happily for years.

Oh, and I don't know who told you 4" clearance was needed, that's a pure fantasy on any car, headers or not. This is the stone-stock exhaust on a 66 GT350H, and you can see that 1" is a much more reasonable expectation.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/FORD-FULL-SI...item4601117c2c


These headers say they actually require five inches of clearance. I know they're shortys and it's ebay but this is just an example.

And believe me, i would never take a hammer to the shock tower. this car is my baby lol. Nor would i be willing to bend brand new headers that probably cost several hundred dollars.

 

In my experience, sometimes headers fit as intended, sometimes not so good. Some headers accept a little "massaging" well, some not so well. Some headers need weekly tightening, some can be bolted up only once.

All of this can be attributed to how much you pay for headers, or sometimes not.... but irregardless of cost considerations, a minimum 3/8" thick flange (at the head) makes a difference.

I have found that (in general) long tube headers work well on stock height cars, and not so well on lowered cars. When the collector is drug across that first speed bump, things change for the worse just about every time, and all of the money, planning, and execution dedicated to making a set of headers fit and function flawlessly goes out the window.....

Sometimes,,, a car needs to be "clearanced" even for manifolds.... My son tried to put "hippo" manifolds on his 64 Falcon, this is how it had to happen. I am pretty sure that his Falcon bay is a little more narrow than the Mustang bay though.



A shock tower can be modified to one degree or another without smashing it with a hammer, or otherwise hacking it up.