Hedman Header Installation Help Needed

-
snowymountainman

snowymountainman

Hair in the breeze
Joined
Dec 9, 2004
Messages
93
Reaction score
0
Location
Wyoming
Hey guys. The motor is in. Picture will follow. Now I have to get these damn headers in before I go any further, hooking stuff up. Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
 
Disconnect the driverside tie rod end at the center link and lay the headers in the engine compartment.

drop in the motor
Bolt the tranny up. Bolt up the starter

Bolt up the headers up.

You may need to lift the engine alittle with the host while your bolting the headers in. There a real pain in the rear.
 
AdamR said:
Disconnect the driverside tie rod end at the center link and lay the headers in the engine compartment.

drop in the motor
Bolt the tranny up. Bolt up the starter

Bolt up the headers up.

You may need to lift the engine alittle with the host while your bolting the headers in. There a real pain in the rear.
Click to expand...
Are these the ones that the center link goes through?
I split the flange on mine so I wouldn't have to disassemble the front end.
 
I went through this a while back, Hedmanns on my Duster.

I'll post how I did it in a little while... It was a major pain in the butt.
 
Ok... Here's what I did:

1. Disconnect the battery.
2. Jack up the driver's side of the car, place a jack stand underneath the driver's side front.
3. Unbolt the motor mounts (both sides).
4. Place a block of wood on your floor jack, position the jack underneath the oil pan.
5. The passenger's side header should drop in without much of a problem. You might have to jack the motor up a bit to get it in, though.
6. Jack up the engine as far as it will go. You can remove the distributor cap to give you some added clearance. BE CAREFUL, the distributor will be pressing against the firewall at this point.
7. Take a break, have a beer.
8. Disconnect the steering linkage under the driver's side of the car.
9. Have a buddy stand on the driver's side of the engine with a crow bar. Position the crow bar between the motor mount and the engine block.
10. As your buddy pushes the engine as far as he can towards the passenger side of the car, drop in the driver's side header.
11. Lower the engine down off the jack.
12. Take a break, have a beer. Offer your friend a beer.
13. Bolt the headers up to the engine.
14. Put the steering linkage back together.
15. Have the front end aligned.

I think that's it... Like I said, it was a pain in the butt. Next time I'm going with headers that don't wrap around the steering linkage.
 
Thanks Mike!! I'll give that a whirl tonight. I really appreciate the play-by-play. :thumrigh:
 
mikelbeck said:
Ok... Here's what I did:

1. Disconnect the battery.
2. Jack up the driver's side of the car, place a jack stand underneath the driver's side front.
3. Unbolt the motor mounts (both sides).
4. Place a block of wood on your floor jack, position the jack underneath the oil pan.
5. The passenger's side header should drop in without much of a problem. You might have to jack the motor up a bit to get it in, though.
6. Jack up the engine as far as it will go. You can remove the distributor cap to give you some added clearance. BE CAREFUL, the distributor will be pressing against the firewall at this point.
7. Take a break, have a beer.
8. Disconnect the steering linkage under the driver's side of the car.
9. Have a buddy stand on the driver's side of the engine with a crow bar. Position the crow bar between the motor mount and the engine block.
10. As your buddy pushes the engine as far as he can towards the passenger side of the car, drop in the driver's side header.
11. Lower the engine down off the jack.
12. Take a break, have a beer. Offer your friend a beer.
13. Bolt the headers up to the engine.
14. Put the steering linkage back together.
15. Have the front end aligned.

I think that's it... Like I said, it was a pain in the butt. Next time I'm going with headers that don't wrap around the steering linkage.
Click to expand...

Thats sounds about right. When we got done we were ready for the hard stuff though!
 
Done!! I'll update my signature pic and you'll be able to see it.

So without further delay, here is what has to happen to install headman headers in a 68 Cuda with a 340, 727, and power steering.

1. Drink heavily...before hand, you'll need it. :eek:ccasion:
2. Jack car up as high as possible (at least 1.25') and install jack stands.
3. Unbolt motor mounts.
4. Disconnect center link from steering box arm and drivers side tie-rod.
5. Jack engine up as high as possible.
6. Lay passenger side header under engine (grunt groan cuss and get pissed cause it's way harder than it sounds) :scratch:
7. Let engine back down slightly
8. Call wife out to garage.
9. Order your drink :eek:ccasion:
10. Crawl under car with left side header, crawl back out and orientate header correct way, repeat as neccesary, crawl back out and jack car up higher, reposition jack , repeat again..... :x
11. Slide header in from bottom until it contacts with the cylinder head.
12. Call wife back out to garage..another drink please, and please give me a hand once I finish this drink. :eek:ccasion:
13. Have wife use largest bar in garage to pry engine towards the passenger side and pull header up to mounting location.
14. Have another drink :eek:ccasion:
15. Maybe one more drink, this job sucks ***. :eek:ccasion:
16. Lower engine, verify that mounts are as they should be.
17. Slide in gaskets and bolt headers into place and take pictures.
18. Re-attach steering gear--schedule alignment.

Thanks for all the help fellas.
:supz:
 
I added this to the "How-Tos" section on one of my web sites:

http://www.burwoodboysracing.com/how-to's.htm
 
this is kind of funny, the picture is in your sig, and obviously updated, but i come in, looking over the thread. you say "im having a time getting these POS on here," i look at the picture... theyre already on. took me a sec, but then i realized you must have updated it, and im just a late comer :)
 
snowymountainman said:
Hey guys. The motor is in. Picture will follow. Now I have to get these damn headers in before I go any further, hooking stuff up. Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

How come you didn't lay the headers in the engine compartment before dropping the engine in?

That typically the preferred process if the engine is out. I'm curious because the 360 will be going into mine soon with the Headmans and I figured I would do that way.
 
I would have but I was very skeptical as to wether or not they would fit at all to start with. I was also worried about banging up the paint job that I worked on for days & days (engine and engine bay).

Truthfully, Had I been confident in their fit, I would have put them in position beforehand. Besides, what fun is doing it the easy way? :?:
 
Wow, the motor and engine bay look friggin terrific, good job.
Now I know that the Headmans are a beeeatch to install, can anyone tell me if TTI's would be a whole lot easier or about the same??
 
snowymountainman said:
I would have but I was very skeptical as to wether or not they would fit at all to start with. I was also worried about banging up the paint job that I worked on for days & days (engine and engine bay).

Truthfully, Had I been confident in their fit, I would have put them in position beforehand. Besides, what fun is doing it the easy way? :?:
Click to expand...

Actually if your doing a fresh install with hedmans, doing it that way might not have been that bad of an idea. I dunno how bad you had to dent yours in to fit but when I put them on my car I had to flaten the pipe that goes around the steering box pretty good because I have powersteering. I also had to clearance the other side for the idler arm but I think the Idler and pitman arms I got from NAPA are a little different than the orginals where. It would have been a pain to pull them out if you found out after the motor was in that you needed to tweak them.

When I had my motor out last, since my headers were allready preflatten this is what I was able to do. Hook the motor, trans, and starter together. Put the drivers side header in the engine bay. Take out the drop link. Jack the car up a bit (the farther the better but stilll keep it at a reasonable work heigth for you and your cherry picker). Drop the motor and tranny in almost all the way down to where it needs to go. Put the passenger header in from the bottom. And than put the motor down into place. Super fast in 30 mins I had the motor/tranny/starter/headers in place and bolted up.
 
I dunno how bad you had to dent yours in to fit but when I put them on my car I had to flaten the pipe that goes around the steering box pretty good because I have powersteering.
Click to expand...

Actually, I didn't have to flatten any of the pipes. My major issue is getting the bolts on the inside of the outer clinders in. There is not enough room for my bolt heads. I think I'll use a C-clamp to flatten them there enough to get the bolts in.
 
My major issue is getting the bolts on the inside of the outer clinders in. There is not enough room for my bolt heads. I think I'll use a C-clamp to flatten them there enough to get the bolts in.
Click to expand...

I had the same problem with my Thorley headers. In fact, I've been running them without the inside bolt on the #2 cylinder for several months now. I might try your C-clamp idea. Also, I learned that carburetor studs are the same size as those bolts. So I am using them on the outside bolts holes on each end of the headers. Makes 'stabbing' them a little easier.
 
If I'm understanding you guy's right, getting the last two bolts in/out on the drivers side at the fire wall is brutal. Try using a allen head bolt, you can make your own tool set up to get at them, works slick. when I put a new mini starter on the Swinger those two bolts took forever to get out and twice as long to get back in.We ended up using a magnetic telescopic, oh **** I droped it,looks like a pen tool. to line them up and catch a little thread. I will be changing them to allen heads when the motor comes out.
 
GotDart said:
My major issue is getting the bolts on the inside of the outer clinders in. There is not enough room for my bolt heads. I think I'll use a C-clamp to flatten them there enough to get the bolts in.
Click to expand...

I had the same problem with my Thorley headers. In fact, I've been running them without the inside bolt on the #2 cylinder for several months now. I might try your C-clamp idea. Also, I learned that carburetor studs are the same size as those bolts. So I am using them on the outside bolts holes on each end of the headers. Makes 'stabbing' them a little easier.
Click to expand...

Yea I know what you mean. Those 2 bolts are a pain in the ***. I kinda like that stud idea. You could have it support the header while you start those bolts. Almost like having a third hand to help you line it all up.
 
Sparky said:
Wow, the motor and engine bay look friggin terrific, good job.
Now I know that the Headmans are a beeeatch to install, can anyone tell me if TTI's would be a whole lot easier or about the same??
Click to expand...

TTI's are alot easier if you can get your car 2 feet in the air. Once you get the front in up that high, the header just slide in. :bom: :drunken:


Larry G
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top