Projects Block huggers vs ramhorns

I run ram horns on my 355, out of either a '65 or '68 Chevy. Actually only the driver side.I had all the alternator brackets, etc. The p***enger side of the 45* truck manifold was bought on eBay. It was an open-box Dorman I got for $48 shipped. I ground off the lettering and ugly-*** nubs on it, painted both with POR15 manifold paint.

 

Glad I stumbled upon this thread. I was about to ditch the ram horns in favor of headers but y’all talked me out of it.

 

I would use nothing but the ram horns. There's many different styles thru the years that you can mix and match and make fit pretty much everything. Had one set that I ground off and smoothed, then sent to HPC in OKC for jet coating. Bulletproof.

 

2.5” Ram Horns!

 

I wish I had a 2.5" Corvette style to try before I buy. I see the outlet is 4.25" from the mounting bolts, just not sure if that would provide enough room to bend the exhaust around the steering box. I definitely don't want to have a 2" outlet on one side and a 2.5 on the other....so maybe I'll just get 2 right hand side angled ones so the driver's will point forward and the p***enger side will point rearward. Ultimately if the center dumps would work that would be best so I can have 2.5" outlets.

 

I really want to get these, but I don't think there's enough room from the center dump outlet to the top of the stock steering box to get a headpipe bent up to it? And Im also not sure if a 68-72 right side manifold will work either, looks like it will point right at the motor mount. This is frustrating......

 

Enough room to fab the start of the exhaust with a section of a U-bend?
I’ve made some tight bends using those.

 

Look At Weedetr website.. he makes head pipes for fat ford's that clear the steering box.
They do take block huggers but can be made to work with rams horns. I have them in mine

 

ditto ! Rams Horns

 

I put Sanderson headers made specifically for these cars on my 49 Chevrolet sedan to clear the funky steering set up. it had rear dump manifolds before that where the floor mounted brake pedal hit the manifold before the brakes were fully applied!! if there was an exhaust manifold that worked on these cars I never found it..
I didn't have any leaks, but I only had it a few short years, what I did have was enough heat in the engine compartment where the dash was hot to the touch. with a stock six there is plenty of airflow to get the heat out, with a low hanging V8 that space was GONE. extra heat, extra leaks, and extra noise.