Schumacher headers, grinding boss on block

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Uncle Bob

Uncle Bob

Shiny paint causes stress.
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My 400 has one of the "extra" bosses on the block that needs to be ground down to make clearance for Schumacher headers. Does anyone know if there's a limit on how far I can grind it before going too far? Or can I just go crazy grinding to make sure there's plenty of room?

It looks like it should be solid, but I would be hating life if I ground a hole in the side of my block.

This is a photo of the boss/header interference that I stole off the web:

drv-below2.jpg
 
Not familiar with this, in your case. Personally, I'd lay the header in, mark the Boss, pull the header outta the way, zip tie or bungee it up, grind some, drop er back in, and repeat. Don't do like I did when I dropped that seven or eight quart freaking Milodon pan in my Duster, with the 727 on and power booster on the way, on a Sunday afternoon, in July, fig the rain...and take the cordless grinder to the K member, took a Lil too much. Now, i gotta add a Lil steel and weld it. Yer Block? I've met some guys that have welded up Windows in blocks before, but why go there? Every vehicle is a little bit different too man... if I was in your shoes if I had to pull that header out five or six damn times and grind off an 1/8th" at a time, that's what I'd do. And no, I ain't no professional mechanic, and there's a lot of guys on here that have way more knowledge than I do. I just know sometime it's better to take your time and try to fix something that can't be unfucked... or you could take a three-quarter inch impact socket and dimple the header a little and minimally grind on the boss
 
I THINK that boss is solid, but I'm not sure. I tend to agree to "grind away" but maybe a little at a time.
 
RustyRatRod said:
I THINK that boss is solid, but I'm not sure. I tend to agree to "grind away" but maybe a little at a time.
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I'm trying to minimize the number of up-down reps I do in my garage-aerobics routine, so I thought I'd do it all at once and be done. Probably you and @Ironracer are right, and I should go slow and check often.
 
Uncle Bob said:
I'm trying to minimize the number of up-down reps I do in my garage-aerobics routine, so I thought I'd do it all at once and be done. Probably you and @Ironracer are right, and I should go slow and check often.
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I think that's a solid plan. I'm sorry I don't know more. Maybe before you begin someone will chime in who's actually done it. I'm sure it's been done before.
 
Here's an idea. You could center punch the outside face of it. The drill like a 3/16 hole in about as far as you think you're going to need to cut. God forbid you go through to the water jacket, BUT, if you do, then all you'd need to do is tap that hole to say 1/8 NPT and put a pipe plug in it. Of course at that point, you'll need to back up and punt on getting the header to fit......maybe heat the tube up in that spot and put a soft dent in it. But I don't think you're going to run into trouble grinding that off.
 
You can grind it. It doesn't take much to clear. Had to do my 400 block with the Schumacher tri-y's.
 
Thanks for posting this, I need to check a customers block for tri-y tube clearance now too before he goes to install his 451
 
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