headers or not to headers

dgc333 said
I have Hedman headers in my a-body 68 Barracuda. There are some compromises to be made; less ground clearance, more noise shorter life expectancy. But, though more involved than manifolds they were not hard to install. Dropping the center link is a non issue in my book, takes 5 minutes as is jacking the engine some for more clearance. Factoring in that I have had one starter failure in all most a million accumulated miles of driving over the past 25 years worrying about how hard it is to change a starter is not a consideration. The only spark plug wire issues are cylinders 5 and 7 and that is easily corrected with a couple of wires with 90 degree boots that are attached from below.

I probally wouldn't choose headers for a year round daily driver but for a weekend toy I wouldn't not have them.

Well I had my second starter failure in 25 years! It was a full size starter and I was able to remove it by disconnecting the inner tie rod end from the center link and cranking the wheel all the way to the left to pull the center link out of the way. I did replace it with one of the small starters from a later model truck, which I believe you could do without disconnecting the tie rod end. All in all less than a hour total time. It was actually an easier job compared to the only other starter I have had to replace in the past 25 years and that was my 89 Dakota pickup which was a royal pain in the butt.

So what I am saying is you can R&R a full size starter from a small block A-body with Hedman headers without touching the headers.