Mopar guru of mine here in Aus says the only way to fit Dougs long tube headers is to remove the k frame then lower the engine with trans connected then fit the headers & refit. Also need mini starter which I've got already.
Quickest & least frustrating way of doing it.
Ordering some Doug's long tube ceramic headers D453's tomorrow from the states. Unless anyone can talk me out of it.
You don't need to remove the K frame at all. You can if you want, you can install the headers bolted up to the engine from the bottom with the whole thing bolted to the K frame just like the factory did it. But you don't need to.
The last time I pulled and reinstalled my Doug's I pulled the Z-bar, mini-starter, and dropped the steering center link (and cycled the steering side to side depending on which side I was working on). I slid the the torsion bars back, and I did not need to raise the engine as it says in the instructions. You heard that right, the Doug's came out (and went back in!) without moving the engine off the mounts. On the passenger side I also had to drop the oil filter relocation pickup, just like you'd have to drop the oil filter as in the instructions. And I pulled the exhaust studs on the passenger side too, it was easier to drain the radiator than jack up the engine. This was all with the car raised up about 2 feet or so on jackstands, they come in from the bottom so the more room you have the better. A lift would be easiest, but I don't have one of those.
You do need to modify the Z-bar for the Doug's, just like you have to for the TTI's. In fact, the instructions for modifying the Z-bar come from TTI. Same thing works great for the Doug's too though. TTI also sells the modified Z-bar, but it's pretty easy to do.
Here's the one I did myself using an original. Basically you take the arm for the clutch adjuster, cut it off the Z-bar, slide it down to the very end of the z bar and reverse it so that the clutch adjuster stud faces inside instead of out and weld the arm back on. It's a pretty simple operation if you have a welder.
You can take a look as some more info on my build thread, I did a little write up about switching from the Doug's to a set of TTI shorties, and then back to the Doug's because I liked them better than the shorties.
My "new" '74 Duster- or why I need a project like a hole in the head
That would be way more work than I'd be willing to do. The TTIs went into my 68 Barracuda , just fine, with the car on a hoist and the T-bars backed up. I had them in and out about a half dozen or more times, in the first 5 years. I don't recall it being a problem. I think one side went in from the top and the other from the bottom. But I'd be guessing if I said the driver's side went in from the top.
The Doug's install just like the TTI's, the differences between the two are fairly minor. The Doug's are a little tighter to the chassis, but it doesn't make a huge difference on install. If you installed something from the top I'm pretty sure it wasn't with a set of TTI's or Doug's, both brands and both sides install from the bottom unless maybe you pulled the steering box out.
