You may have seen the link in the "Sticky Faq" about 302 swap headers for the HEDMAN 88400 & the Patriot H8433 both have recently taken a price hike and are now $200 plus. I had a facebook Group member ask me if there was something less costly I told him some of the stainless ones on ebay look to be a "copy cat" of the Patriot so he rolled the dice and bought these and they fit. https://www.ebay.com/itm/For-63-77-Ford-Mustang-Cougar-260-302-V8-Stainless-Steel-Exhaust-Header-Manifold/392805853483?_trkparms=aid=1110006&algo=HOMESPLICE.SIM&ao=1&asc=20200520130830&meid=0e9990a36de04269b52e9d5fd8559e8f&pid=101195&rk=6&rkt=12&mehot=pf&sd=263371308081&itm=392805853483&pmt=1&noa=0&pg=2047675&algv=SimplAMLv5PairwiseWebWithBBEV2bDemotion&brand=PM&_trksid=p2047675.c101195.m1851 Quality seems pretty good,Stainless for $100 less,I'd call that a bargain.
On the upside the folks that process your order and the guy in the UPS truck that brings them to you are Americans and they have jobs so not all is bad I guess,given what is going on these days.
I am waiting for the pictures of them installed I'll post those when I get them. In the meantime compare the picture up at the top with the pictures here you can see they are a "doppelganger" https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/another-sbf-header-for-53-woohoo.1058469/ Sent you a PM "Conversation"
Headers are less restrictive and flow better so usually that means a little more horsepower and in some cases more MPG too as cast iron manifolds age they can crack and will have to replaced not much chance of that with a header.
He says they clear great with his 302,he wrapped them this picture shows the drivers side. This is the seller he bought them from,thick flanges and nice welds no complaints from him. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Header-Exh...on&brand=TOPCN&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851
I mocked up my 302 in my 55 and tried a bunch of cast iron manifolds I had and none of them would clear the steering box. Tried several "block hugger" headers as well as some for fox body Mustangs and no dice. Remembered I had some tri-y 66 Mustang headers in the rafters of the shop and they slid right in. Will need to shorten the collectors quite a bit but clear the steering box and motor mounts fine. Will try to post some pictures when I get the engine in the car for real.
Don't have a picture of the headers in the car but here they are on a run stand on the engine. The left side has been "modified" some with a hammer but not necessary to clear in my 55. I am using 66 Mustang motor mounts as shown on the engine on the stand.
I got the engine in the car today and put the left side header (tri-y from previous post) on and took some pictures so you can see the clearance between the header and the steering box.
I would imagine the collector is a lot shorter now,we had a member that used the Tri-Y about five years ago who sectioned and reattached the collector to change the angle so it would p*** through where the exhaust opening is in the frame member. That was before we knew of the shorty headers that do fit. The Tri-Y will have a different exhaust note.
Haven't done anything with the collector yet, will be going to the exhaust shop and let him figure it out cause he has a nice pipe bender! Wasn't aware of the sound change to the exhaust. I have had a set of these on a Mustang in the past and it sounded good, the 55 exhaust is pretty quiet so don't think I will notice much. Now on to the rear end and finding a driveshaft. Installing an 8 inch with some long gears and have several pumpkins with different ratios if I don't like this one. The beauty of collecting and storing Ford parts for years, if I can remember where I put it I probably have it.... somewhere!
I forgot I didn't post any pictures of the finished connection of the headers to the original exhaust. As Jeff pointed out the tri Y design collector needs to be shortened a BUNCH to connect to the factory exhaust. Thought I would post some pictures of what the exhaust shop did, a couple of how they fit before the collector t******* and a couple after they are done. Please ignore the ****** fluid drips, this C4 I installed leaks like the E**on Valdez, so that is my next project. Also will post a couple photos of the motor mount adapters I built.
Well, I found most of my transmission leak mentioned above. Something I haven't dealt with before. When I installed the driveshaft I had a bit of a hard time getting it to go into the transmission. The driveshaft I used is from a 88 Lincoln town car I parted out a few years ago, I bought the car cheap because the trans (AOD) only had first and second gear. I drove the car for a few blocks and it did not leak. So when I installed it on the C4 in the 55 I shoved hard and all of a sudden it went all the way in and jammed. Had to pull pretty hard to pull it back to the yoke at the rear end. Evidentially when I shoved it in to the trans I knocked the cup plug out of the transmission yoke behind the u- joint so fluid was pouring out from there but mostly only when you drove it, would stop leaking when you were sitting still. New one on me, never did that before. FYI
Good year for the AOD probably should fix it,but only having those two gears means the O.D. clutch pack is fried the pressure has to be set driving it without doing thatyou can toast one in less than 10 miles.
Good to know, thanks for the information. I have never built an AOD, done a few C4s. I understand you need to have a bunch of piston seal installers to build an AOD, will ruin piston seals without them?
There are some really good videos here showing the tools https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=aod+rebuild+video If you want your own video this is a good one from an all Ford guy. https://vimeopro.com/user12916025/badshoe-productions/video/47396044
This looks like the set my brother bought for my 54, only issue was the flange had a slight warp, easily fixed, and they were open box returns for $100
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