I installed the lowered uprights from shoebox central, but now my exhaustmanifold hits the front end suspension. It has a 350 built in. I am planning to grinding off some metal from the suspension. Any better solutions?
Failure on the image uploud. I'll find out how it works and post some more pics of my driving project...
Lowered uprights should have nothing to do with exhaust hitting the suspension. The control arms don't move from their original position. I'd say you have something else going on or they hit before and this is the first time you noticed it.
Thanks for the quick reply. My English is not that good. So maybe I am using the wrong words and hopefully these pictures make sense. Now you see whats hitting the manifold.
I think that's the camber correction kit. It does, indeed, raise the upper arm a bit. I need that kit for mine...hopefully it doesn't interfere with my headers on my 302.
I suspect you have a fractured control arm. It's moved back and it is up against your front pipe. Pull the upper arm out and closely examine it. In your picture it looks fractured but maybe I'm seeing shadows.
It was a lot of work to get this engine in (and keeping the original steering in place). Not much room there. And I am glad it's finally in place and works excellent. I already drove it for a year of two. I just installed the lowered upright last week and I am happy with the looks. But there was too much vibration when I started the engine, especially on the steeringwheel. I thought I hit the steering arms somewere. but I didn't. I just noticed this thing hitting the manifold is the problem. Now I am wondering how much I can grind off of that without getting any (safety) problems
I believe the control arm is in good shape. It's because of this camber correction kit that it raised a bit.
It does look like the a arm bushings might be worn out. They are nowhere near being concentric with the trunnion.
I have to get my english dictionary on this one. I don't know what you mean by 'being concentric with the trunnion'. Can you explain trunnion?
Put a clearance dent in the header, it will not affect the exhaust flow at all. Nice little 'box. -Abone.
There is something going on with that control arm either the bushing is worn out or the the bushing and shaft are worn out. look how far off center the shaft is in the bushing. Orange arrow showing that it is offset to the inside, blue arrow showing how far it has moved. That alone is throwing your caster/camber off. If you look at the other end of the shaft the bushing isn't worn as much and the shaft is more centered in the bushing.
Thanks mr48chevy, I'll look in to that. I looked at the other side and it was indeed more centered. And when I got it out, I ll hit it the header with a hammer for that clearance bump thanks flamedabone
Those headers are going to cook the grease out of the joints. Then they are going to harden the rubber, and it will crack. Some tighter fitting cast iron manifolds would probably be a better choice for that car.
If you “already drove it for a year or two” the heat from the header probably ruined the bushing and now that the bushing is about the control arm is hitting the header. If you leave those headers on you’ll be putting bushings in annually. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I don't beleive the arms have rubber bushings but are steel on steel threads. I would wedge a large screw driver between header tube and arm and see what moves. While your there put a little dent in the header like Flamedabone said.
There is an episode of Engine Masters on MotorTrend on Demand where they tested denting headers and after denting the shit out of the thing it had just about no effect on horsepower or torque. Check/replace bushing, while its out grind a little off the back side of the control arm if possible, and dent the shit out of the header. Then wrap it in header wrap to keep some heat off the bushing.
New shafts and bushings aren't very expensive from Shoebox Central https://shoebox-central.com/1949-1950-1951-1952-1953-ford-upper-control-arm-shaft-bushing-kit-new They are a bit tricky to install until you get the hang of it and on that car need to be greased fairly often. Stock shoebox Fords when new got greased every thousand miles and now that doesn't get done as timely as it should. I'd take a look at the lower control arm bushings and the rest of the wear parts while I was at it. You don't want to replace one thing, then find out you have more worn out parts in a few months.
Sorry, I thought you might know "trunnion" as it is a word much used in England. It is just a shaft that is used as a pivot like the lugs on the sides of old cannons, or in your case, the shaft that the control arm rotates on. mr48chev pointed out what I was referring to more clearly.
Thanks for the comments so far. I will definitively look in to the bushing and control arm. Maybe there are manifolds that are even tighter than this. I will search the internet for that too. I'll post the progress as soon as I made any.
I doubt you'll have to look too hard to find replacement headers that are much closer to the block than the ones you have. Yours appear to go straight down; proper blockhuggers run in toward the block very noticeably. I have a couple of sets. One stainless pair needed some slight relief of the collector flange as it was hitting the pan rail. The other set has better clearance, but you couldn't get a finger between the flange and the block. My bet is that you have a ton of available space you're not using. Chris
I'd look at rear-dump Chevelle iron manifolds as a viable solution, I am pretty much anti-header on street cars. I use ram horns on my SBC swap in my car.