Shorty headers for 360 in A body

[DusterDaddy415]

Anyone have experience with headman 78500 shorty headers with a 360 la in an A body? I heard they fit in an A body with power steering with no clearance issues.
I have some long tube in my ‘72 Duster with a 360 but they don’t fit well. I believe all the heat caused my steering gear box to leak plus there are many clearance issues.

 

[doug 371]

@70SwingerGuy

 

[Inertia]

Hi, that question is often asked, do a "search" and you'll find several threads.
Good luck.

 

[70SwingerGuy]

I had shorties in my 70 swinger 340 when I bought it, they fit good and the only reason I replaced them is that I wanted long tubes. I have manual steering in my car though.
@doug 371 bought them off of me, so he can probably provide you with some info as well since I cant remember what brand they were!

 

[doug 371]

I had shorties in my 70 swinger 340 when I bought it, they fit good and the only reason I replaced them is that I wanted long tubes. I have manual steering in my car though.
@doug 371 bought them off of me, so he can probably provide you with some info as well since I cant remember what brand they were!

They're headman tight tubes...sorry I thought your car had power steering

 

[RustyRatRod]

We had a member who modified those Hedmans to fit an early A body. The passenger's side fell in but he had to relocate the #1 tube to the #3 tube just before it went into the collector. No P/S of course. But they fit the later A bodies fine. Read the footnotes on the Hedman site. It's all there.

 

[niceolddart]

If you're going to go the shorty header route, I'd stick with the stock 340/360 H.P. manifolds. For the very slight horsepower gain it will get you, it's not worth the money, but, if you DON'T have a set of the stock H.P. manifolds, long tube headers are the way to go. TTI probably has what you need in long tube, but they won't be cheap. IMHO.

 

[DusterDaddy415]

yeh I do t have the stock manifolds. I’m in the middle of replacing my ps gear box and the long tube headsets I have are making it a pain in the a$$.
Also I can’t use exhaust studs in the heads with the long tubes so I had to drain my coolant since the fist and last bolts thread into water jackets.

 

[rumblefish360]

Shorty headers are a power looser everywhere and with the benefit of murdering torque down low until your past 4500 in which HP takes over and it’ll never catch up to any long tube header.

TTI headers are your best bet or Doug’s headers.

 

[DusterDaddy415]

They're headman tight tubes...sorry I thought your car had power steering

It does have ps. All the hear from the headers cooked the gear box seals

 

[DusterDaddy415]

Anyone have long tube headsets with studs in the first and last bike holes in the head? Mine doesn’t so all the coolant leaked out. I wanna put the studs back in but I’m thinking the last owner took them out cuz they. Opulent get the header in place with studs there. It’s a tight fit

 

[RustyRatRod]

Shorty headers beat manifolds all to HECK every day of the week and twice on Sunday. All yall whizzin on shorty headers are reading too many magazines trying to SELL PARTS and reading too many forums. The one thing all you "experts" never think about is this....Headers (even SHORTY headers) SEPARATE ALL FOUR exhaust ports on each side. Manifolds do not. This eliminates reversion from adjacent cylinders pulling in exhaust and contaminating the next charge. I'm not interested in what any loaded dyno results show from any magazine or online articles, because they are pushing parts from their sponsors. Shorty headers will beat manifolds every single time. If you don't understand that, then it's time to relearn how engines work.

 

[doug 371]

It does have ps. All the hear from the headers cooked the gear box seals

Yes, I know yours does...I had thought 70SwingerGuy's did.

 

[rumblefish360]

It does have ps. All the hear from the headers cooked the gear box seals

That would be brand new information time. Sorry for the sarcasm.
I’ve been using headers since I’m 19. I’m 59 now. The only thing a header has cooked on me was my arm.

I’ve been through 3 styles of headers now.

Anyone have long tube headsets with studs in the first and last bike holes in the head? Mine doesn’t so all the coolant leaked out. I wanna put the studs back in but I’m thinking the last owner took them out cuz they. Opulent get the header in place with studs there. It’s a tight fit

The studs can get in the way.
If they are out now, install the header but be ready to use a stud on the front side to hang the header. The stud may not be in the way if the engine is tilted enough.

 

[67Dart273]

Anyone have long tube headsets with studs in the first and last bike holes in the head? Mine doesn’t so all the coolant leaked out. I wanna put the studs back in but I’m thinking the last owner took them out cuz they. Opulent get the header in place with studs there. It’s a tight fit

All you need to do is to use teflon sealer AKA pipe thread sealer, or tape, on the new bolts. You can also order longer header bolts from various places to get more thread bite.

Back in the 70's I used RTV

 

[autoxcuda]

They are really low quality.

I have a friend with a set on a b-body and had to move the flange around for clearence. The headers developed cracks and flanges are very thin.

He finally dumped them and put TTI shorties on.

I thought there were dyno test that HP cast iron manifolds are about the same HP as TTI shorties. Not much gain. So just compare price of repro cast 340 manifolds vs TTI shorties.

 

[junkyardhero]

I thought there were dyno test that HP cast iron manifolds are about the same HP as TTI shorties. Not much gain. So just compare price of repro cast 340 manifolds vs TTI shorties.

@273 to the white courtesy phone

(iirc the test was 360 logs, 340 mannys, shorties, tti 1-5/8 & something else (step header design) and a 1-3/4 long tube?)

anyway, i wanna say that the 340's and shorties were within 4~5 hp&tq of each other across the range.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Hey if nothin else, headers are lighter.

 

[RustyRatRod]

They are really low quality.

I have a friend with a set on a b-body and had to move the flange around for clearence. The headers developed cracks and flanges are very thin.

He finally dumped them and put TTI shorties on.

I thought there were dyno test that HP cast iron manifolds are about the same HP as TTI shorties. Not much gain. So just compare price of repro cast 340 manifolds vs TTI shorties.

Are you sure you're talking about the same headers? They have .310" which is basically 5/16". That ain't the monstrous 3/8" some are, but it's pretty thick. I have a friend who has a big block set on a C body wagon and they're pretty nice.

 

[autoxcuda]

Are you sure you're talking about the same headers? They have .310" which is basically 5/16". That ain't the monstrous 3/8" some are, but it's pretty thick. I have a friend who has a big block set on a C body wagon and they're pretty nice.

Yes headman’s.

He drives the car regularly. I think had 20-30K miles on headers. They just had all kinds of quality issues.

The threads here are similar and they take time modifying to fit.

 

[a-bodyguy]

@273 to the white courtesy phone

(iirc the test was 360 logs, 340 mannys, shorties, tti 1-5/8 & something else (step header design) and a 1-3/4 long tube?)

anyway, i wanna say that the 340's and shorties were within 4~5 hp&tq of each other across the range.

4 hp is right 10 to 12 on long tubes
340s run low 10s with manifolds
1k bucks for 12 or even 15 hp nope

 

[RustyRatRod]

Yes headman’s.

He drive the car regularly. I think had 20-30K miles on headers. They just had all kinds of quality issues.

The threads here are similar and they take time modifying to fit.

That's surprising. And sad. Hedman used to make a good product.

 

[junkyardhero]

That's surprising. And sad. Hedman used to make a good product.

one of the few still privately owned companies and still built in the states.

i haven't owned a set in 20yrs but they used to make really good stuff. especially their truck headers.

 

[Unconventional]

Just curious, do the shorties have the same header sound as long tubes? I'm a fan of long tubes and turbo muffler sound.