Hey guys; I just did all that work on my 83 with the complete top end swap on the 318; I had wanted to have custom duals run anyway but i was gonna wait til the stock single was used up; and stay with the stock manifolds at that (minus the heat riser, that I've already done away with) but with what I found at the swap meet today I could not pass up;
Try this on for size; you guys woulda bought them as fast as I did;
I got a BRAND NEW but probably 25 year old set of smallblock truck Hookers (YES genuine Hookers; its stamped right into the flanges and collectors) for.... get this.... $45.00 think I got screwed?? the last set of SB truck headers I bought were back in '91-92 and were the old BlackJack "aluma Cote" ones; remember those? Are they even still made? and they were on a Hell of a sale at the local speed shop at the time and they cost me $140 back then! (but they wound up going on my brother's Ramcharger instead:bawl:) conveniently his blew apart from rust just before having to take a road trip. so I never got to put the headers on my '81 W 150 i bought em for.:bawl::bawl:
I even got the "accessory kit" with gaskets , bolts,and the heat stove for the air cleaner for that same $45! Hooker catalog # 5811.
You would not have believe the packaging, the instruction sheet partly stayed with the plastic when I tried to open the package; get this; some how they say only for a '77 truck to pull the dipstick and tube from the tranny to be able to install these! what's different from a 76 or a 78?
I wonder for curiosity sake, if they are date coded? and the gaskets are unusable crumbling POS' from sheer age.
My question is this; I may have gotten a steal on these things, but headers dont last forever; I have a can of POR 15's "factory manifold Gray" here and was wondering if it would preserve these or would flake off right away due to the thin ness and lack of heat retention because of that? would it be worth coating them with this stuff, before installing them?
thejudges69
03-08-2009, 09:55 PM
in all my experience with por 15 i don't care what you put it on, I personally think its JUNK. Plus i'm not sure that the por 15 can handle the heat. A set came with my 78 that i think have been sandblasted. i'm thinking about taking them to get ceramic coated that what i would do with them. Another 150-200 bux you gotta nice set of ceramic coated headers. Are these hugger type headers? that go right down along the side of the block? straight down discharge?
volaredon
03-08-2009, 10:19 PM
REALLY? POR 15 JUNK? I have had great luck with the stuff and this particular POR is made to supposedly take 1400*F. I bought it for my Volare (which as a resto project has temporarily stalled) but I have VERY recently bead blasted the manifolds that I plan on using on that build, and know that it won't take the whole can just to do those manifolds, so I thought I'd try it here; as it turns out, I looked these exact headers up on Hooker's site by the number stamped into the flanges, and they are Super Comps, and are already ceramic coated! (I looked on headers.com --a branch of JEGS-- and the closest I see to these are $600-and-some; (1 number off, for '71-and-earlier) even comparable Chevy headers from Hooker are "up there"; I seen them elsewhere for $349 online; so for $45 and they are brand new, I stole them! (I only "jewed" them down $5; tried for $10 off their asking price)
these are full length 1-5/8 primaries with 2-1/2" collectors, "tuned length" (the regular Hooker "Comps" are not tuned) and very close to the same money)
I will most likely fire up the MIG and the Sawzall to modify the original Y pipe to bolt up to the collector flanges temporarily, 'til I can get it in to the exh shop; so I can at least drive it til then, to keep the cops off my ass!
Speed Dragon
03-08-2009, 11:41 PM
I just sandblasted my set of who-knows-what headers, and painted them w/ some 1500-deg matte black paint from CarQuest. Haven't put them on and run them yet though, I have to buy some 12-24 set screws to plug the air-pump holes in the heads. Problem is, NO ONE local carries that size :(
volaredon
03-08-2009, 11:54 PM
I just sandblasted my set of who-knows-what headers, and painted them w/ some 1500-deg matte black paint from CarQuest. Haven't put them on and run them yet though, I have to buy some 12-24 set screws to plug the air-pump holes in the heads. Problem is, NO ONE local carries that size :(
12-24? I have seen them at fastenal and such; but why?? I have used and even the instructions that came with my new headers say to use commonly available 1/4-20! (but I didnt have to worry about that one with the Magnum heads!)
3834B
03-09-2009, 04:21 AM
REALLY? POR 15 JUNK?
Wow! That makes two of us. Not sure how POR15 would handle headers but my experience with it has always been good. Poors mans powder coat.
Speed Dragon
03-09-2009, 08:02 AM
12-24? I have seen them at fastenal and such; but why?? I have used and even the instructions that came with my new headers say to use commonly available 1/4-20! (but I didnt have to worry about that one with the Magnum heads!)
Well, it seemed to be just the right size :) I was using some carb screws to gauge it with, the one that seemed to fit (would start in the hole stop due to no threads) threaded into a 12-24 die. And 1/4-20 seemed to be a lot bigger than 12-24. However I was just going by the gauge plate they had at the hardware store.
DiverDwnPowrRam
03-09-2009, 10:01 AM
Speed, I was also thinking you have to tap out 1/4-20. My experience is if you bought a less expensive header...to sand blast it, put on a good reliable coating (I use VHT) and then heat wrap the headers.
Speed Dragon
03-09-2009, 10:55 AM
I'll pick up some 1/4-20's today then and try them out. I've heard good and bad things about header wrapping.
thejudges69
03-09-2009, 11:26 AM
Sorry guys its just my own opinion. I put it on a jeep frame, a generator box cover, and several other things and its always peeled off. We do the prep like they say and it still came off. i was just never impressed with it. I wasn't sure what the heat rating was on it. if it'll hold the heat and you like the product go for it.
Speed Dragon
03-09-2009, 03:15 PM
Are screw sizes different from drill bit sizes? I just looked at my 1/4 drill bit and it's way bigger than the air pump holes.
Edit: Nevermind, I found it, on yahoo of all places :YO: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080401203217AA7pUZo
13/64 is what I used to clean the carbon out of the holes, fits it perfectly and seems to be the correct size for a 1/4-20 tap, just like you guys said. Thanks guys :D:tup: Saved me some searching/headache/money.
DiverDwnPowrRam
03-09-2009, 03:59 PM
use 13/64 drill when tapping 1/4-20
bherder
03-10-2009, 01:12 AM
Here's a good one .... I worked with a guy once who SWORE this worked great. (Never tried it myself, because I didn't have the means to do it)
He would paint headers with VHT or something similar after he heated the header(s) up to about 500 degrees.
He had a son who worked at a pizza place, where they had fairly sizable ovens. After hours every once in a while he would bring in a set of headers, heat them up in the pizza ovens (Obviously headers are too big to fit in your 'normal' size kitchen oven) take them outside quick, while hot and paint them. He CLAIMED that doing it this way, after the headers were installed on an actual engine the paint never burnt or flaked off.
I never saw a set of headers 'treated' this way, so I have no idea if he was full of shit or not ... If nothing else I thought you guys would enjoy the ... story .... anyway.. :D
DiverDwnPowrRam
03-10-2009, 02:02 AM
That explains why my pizzas have been tasting like crap lately....
Speed Dragon
03-10-2009, 06:12 AM
I bet people behind him in traffic were like " (sniff sniff) Mmm, pizza, let's go get some" lol.
