Can't get Pro Parts headers to fit.
Doing a 440 swap in a Slant 6 1969 Dart.
I purchased a set of Pro Parts headers from Mazzolini Racing. The passenger side was easy but I'm having a hard time with the driver's side.
As shown in the images here, I'm trying to get the middle two tubes to fit but they keep resting on the shock tower metal. I keep cutting away metal but the tubes want to rest lower. My question is, how much of the metal can I cut away or how close to the shock tower can I remove metal before I have to worry about the structural integrity of that area?
It is almost like the tubes needed a much taller bend to get over the shock tower area. Seems like these tubes were not made very well and a feeble attempt was made to put a just slight bend in the tube to avoid this area.
I also tried raising the motor mount on the driver's side as high as I could until I ran out of adjustment to try and help things out, but this also failed.
Might I need to put a 1/4" or 1/2" spacer under the motor mount to raise the engine even higher to try and make this work? Not sure how high I can go with the motor mounts without having the transmission hit the trans tunnel metal.
I also tried leaning back the engine towards the rear of the car but that didn't help either.
I have had the engine in and out literally 100 times trying to fit these darn headers. Been working on it months now with no luck. If you could look at the images and offer any advice at all I'd be very thankful.
Also the last photo shows how the headers want to sit (forward side wants to tilt up). You can see how they want to sit crooked when I try to mate them with the head. When I try to bend or shift them up they hit under the car. Almost no wiggle room.
Doing a 440 swap in a Slant 6 1969 Dart.
I purchased a set of Pro Parts headers from Mazzolini Racing. The passenger side was easy but I'm having a hard time with the driver's side.
As shown in the images here, I'm trying to get the middle two tubes to fit but they keep resting on the shock tower metal. I keep cutting away metal but the tubes want to rest lower. My question is, how much of the metal can I cut away or how close to the shock tower can I remove metal before I have to worry about the structural integrity of that area?
It is almost like the tubes needed a much taller bend to get over the shock tower area. Seems like these tubes were not made very well and a feeble attempt was made to put a just slight bend in the tube to avoid this area.
I also tried raising the motor mount on the driver's side as high as I could until I ran out of adjustment to try and help things out, but this also failed.
Might I need to put a 1/4" or 1/2" spacer under the motor mount to raise the engine even higher to try and make this work? Not sure how high I can go with the motor mounts without having the transmission hit the trans tunnel metal.
I also tried leaning back the engine towards the rear of the car but that didn't help either.
I have had the engine in and out literally 100 times trying to fit these darn headers. Been working on it months now with no luck. If you could look at the images and offer any advice at all I'd be very thankful.
Also the last photo shows how the headers want to sit (forward side wants to tilt up). You can see how they want to sit crooked when I try to mate them with the head. When I try to bend or shift them up they hit under the car. Almost no wiggle room.
