Which Chevy fenderwell headers suit (early) A-body best?

GunslingerFIN said

To re-iterate my first comment, the idea came from people who apparently have done this. That's why I'm asking for more info. And quite frankly I don't care, at all, if one collector is two inches closer to fender or other is two inches closer to frame rail, as long as they both end up in place where I can continue the exhaust pipes. Idea is to keep them outside of frame rails anyway, ending in front of the rear tires.

You missed the word ideally. Naturally if such headers do not exist, then some work needs to be done. Framing of the comments on the previous thread ("_just_ buy Chevy headers and change flanges") gave me hope that there would be headers which would fit with sensible amount of work. And like the title says, I'm not looking for headers that fit _perfectly_, I'm looking for headers which fit the best :)

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The engine bay on the early A’s is very small.

The engine is IIRC an inch or so offset to the passenger side.

That means that at least on the drivers side the down tubes that should be heading down the outside of the inside of the inner fender will be hitting the inside of the inner fender.

So rather than just cutting a hole in the fender, you’ll be dropping the hole down the inner fender. You’d have to take most of it out.

And who knows what else it’s going to hit?

On the passenger side the header will be an inch or so to the outside of the inner fender. What if the tubes are now going to hit the inside of the outer fender? That’s a big **** sandwich to eat.

IMO if you are serious about it you should fab your own headers.

I’d have the 1/2/3/4 tubes come off the head and go under the chassis and the 5/6/7/8 tubes go out the fender and have them meet at the collector under the car.

That way only two tubes on both sides are out in the fender well. It will also help with tire clearance if there’s only two tubes going into the fender well.

They’ll still be pretty long though.