Dougs or TTI's fit better?

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ratvon

ratvon

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I've heard issues about both headers hitting starters, z bars, and just about every thing else I have a 68 barracuda with a 340 four speed, power steering and 11 inch flywheel I would like to hear some input on these issues and how everyone worked them out also which one has the best fit
 
It depends on the individual car and accessories.

The factory tolerances on these cars are such that either brand of header will clear easily on one car and not on another. There are dozens of threads on the topic, and plenty of people in one camp or another. I've seen Doug's installed with no dents or dimples added, I've seen TTI's installed with no dents or dimples, and I've seen both brands installed where they needed dents and dimples. Just the way it goes.

The Doug's on my car fit pretty well, I did have to dent them a bit at the torsion bars but I run 1.12" bars, and I have the later spool mount K with poly inserts. But I've also got a bunch of other stuff going on, Milodon road race oil pan, relocated oil filter, mini-starter, flaming river manual steering box, 4 speed with all the original mechanical linkage (z-bar, rods, etc). The torsion bars were the tight spot on mine, but it's close everywhere with my set up. Both the Doug's and the TTI's will require modification of the Z bar.
 
I think dents and dimples come from people who don't bother or take the time to alter/correct the surrounding parts correctly.
On my Dougs installation I had to reposition the engine about 4-5 times to get the headers clear the torsionbars (left/right/up&down). Also angled the powersteering steeringbox to get some more room at the cyl. 7 tube.
Had to remove the lower support struts between engine and transmission too.
Had to drop the steering linkage and remove the oil filter to get the header installed on the pass.side, and remove kickdown-linkage and lift the engine high enough to get it installed on the driverside.

But I can understand not everyone has a car lift to play around on.
 
Yeah that makes a big difference I got my k frame out and was going to set the engine trans and headers on then lower the car to it
 
If you can, installing the engine, headers and trans onto the k-frame before it goes into the car is the way to go. Gives you a chance to see where you may have clearance issues and address them. Way easier than trying to make the headers fit with the engine in, especially if the engine is already out.
 
BigBlockMopar has a good point, but I'll add that it's easier to make adjustments on the pre-'73 K frame mounts than it is with the spool type mounts. There's very little you can do as far as moving the engine around with the spool mounts, there's almost nothing you can really do for shimming or adjusting them like you can with the early biscuit style mounts. And of course it depends on your set up and other accessories. Between my spool mount K, oversize torsion bars, road race pan etc there's no where to go, everything is fighting for clearance.

The modification for the Z-bar is the same as for the TTI's, you can use their diagram

IMG_3770.PNG
 
72bluNblu said:
BigBlockMopar has a good point, but I'll add that it's easier to make adjustments on the pre-'73 K frame mounts than it is with the spool type mounts. There's very little you can do as far as moving the engine around with the spool mounts, there's almost nothing you can really do for shimming or adjusting them like you can with the early biscuit style mounts. And of course it depends on your set up and other accessories. Between my spool mount K, oversize torsion bars, road race pan etc there's no where to go, everything is fighting for clearance.

The modification for the Z-bar is the same as for the TTI's, you can use their diagram

View attachment 1714995440
Click to expand...
Got it thanks
 
Repositioning the engine with spool mounts is not easy indeed.
I decided to use one size smaller bolts through the spools to be able to shift the engine left/right a bit more.
 
That's a good idea, though I wish left or right would help me. I'm on the torsion bars on both sides, so left or right just determines which side gets the bigger dent. :D Life with 1.12" torsion bars. I did consider slotting/welding the spool mounts to lower or raise the engine a little, but decided I was already pretty close to as good as I was going to get.

The Duster is getting TTI shorties anyway for additional ground clearance so I can lower some more, my '71 Dart is going to get the Doug's that are on the Duster now so I'll get to see how much difference it makes having the biscuit mounts for header clearance.
 
When welding together the X-pipe in my exhaust-system, I pulled together the header collectors about an inch with a ratchet strap to gain some more play at the torsionbars. This helped some, but it was still a tight fight, eh fit.
 
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