Headers,headers,headers,shorty's

The price you pay for the ease of installation of a shorty header is you won't get anywhere near the power you would get with long tube headers and they are only marginally better than stock manifolds.

FWIW, I have had Hedmans on my 68 Barracuda 4spd car since Jul 05 and almost 40k miles. In that period of time I went from manual steering to power steering and the headers fit in both situations. I orginally had a full size starter that started acting up and was swapped for a mini, didn't have to distrub the headers to swap out the full size or install the mini. The headers do not interfere with the z-bar either (the instructions say to cut off the bump on the front of lower bracket of the z-bar, I did but didn't need to and don't know why it's there anyway). When I swapped to power steering the number 7 tube comes real close to one of the power steering box mounting bolts and it would rattle occasionally but a little tug with a pry bar fixed that without denting the tube. There are no other clearance issues anywhere.

The Hedmans come with a ball socket connector on the colletors which seals nicely. I initially had some issues with sealing at the heads but once I went to two Fel-Pro header gaskets per side I haven't had a leak since. The passenger side has close to the previously mentioned 40k miles the drivers side has about 1/2 (do to the steering swap).

Yes these headers have three tubes that wrap around the steering linkage on the drivers side but that is a non issue from an installation point (takes about two minutes to remove two nuts and seperate the center link from the pitman and tie rod). In the almost 40k miles I have not touched the tubes on anything on the road (did go into the garage to fast once and scrapped one on the 4" step I have between the driveway and garage floor but just made a scrape mark, no dent).

Installing long tube headers on an A-body is not going to be a simple chore like it is on some vehicles but it doesn't need to be a frustrating hassle either. The key is to remove the steering column and unbolt the steering box (don't need to remove). This allows the header to go straight in like it does on the passenger side with no jacking ot the engine or messing with motor mounts. Removing the steering column is only a 20 minute task; three bolts under the edge of the dash, three on the floor, a roll pin to kock out at the box and out it comes. The three bolts holding the steering box are accessable with sockets and an extension.

Bolting the headers to the heads is another thing that people complain about but if you purchase a set of header bolts with a reduced size hex (the ones I used have 3/8" heads with an intregal washer). This is will make any header installation simpler. The only bolt that you can't access with a 3/8" 1/4" drive socket is the rear one on number one tube, I just used an open end wrench on that one.

The only design improvement I would like to see with the hedmans is an increase in the thickness of the flange at the head. It's only 1/4" thick and can be easily distorted if over tightened.