Hey all I'm in need of a set of SBC headers for my 53 Chevy. I read everywhere that people use Sandersons headers that are made specifically for this application. My car is a right hand drive and the Sandersons are not symmetrical, they only have the rear dump on the left side to accommodate LHD steering box, so, tried and true as they are, they wont work for me. Does anyone know of a super tight set of block hugger headers that will clear the stock steering box on these cars? I've seen pictures of people running tight block huggers on their stock steering 53/54 Chevys but haven't been able to find out what they are exactly. The RHD steering is a mirror image of the LHD setup, so if the headers are symmetrical they should work for me if they work for LHD applications. So far I have been eyeing off these: https://www.summitracing.com/int/parts/pte-h8052/overview/ https://www.summitracing.com/int/parts/pte-h8086/overview/ https://www.summitracing.com/int/parts/pte-h8027-1/overview/ Its just a daily driver, so not worried too much about HP gains, but would like to have lightweight headers to look nice and help keep weight off the nose. I am also running the V8 mounts from Walton Fabrication. Cheers in advance! J
You may have more problems than just the steering box. You have bottom swing pedals, and a clutch linkage to contend with. It is going to get really crowded, really fast in there.
I don't think it should be too bad. Once you're past the steering box it doesn't look too cramped. Nothing that you can't bend an exhaust pipe around I'd say.
I used this HPC kit for my 35 Chevy. It allowed me to move things around before tacking and final welding. My steering shaft tucks in behind the flat collector and all I did was fabricate a small scallop at the rear for clearance.The kit allows you to tuck the pipes in or pull them out to suit your configuration. Normal block huggers would have caused me more trouble that they were worth, I would have had to run the steering shaft through the collector and I wasn't shelling out on custom pipes for a stock SBC. Car is built LHD however I did the same modification to the RH side collector in case I ever decide to convert it to RHD and require steering shaft clearance. Then there are these generic ones for kit cars Not sure how your RHD configuration looks, post some photos. I used 350 HQ Holden 'Gennies' in my old OT van with 327&T400 as HT 350 'Gennies' wouldn't fit around the T400.
A few thoughts on your situation. As for weight, the SBC is already much lighter than the original 6 cylinder engine......about 75 to 100 lbs from figures I've seen. Beyond that, headers are usually more difficult to maintain a good seal to the head, unlike iron manifolds. Also, headers are 'noisy' and not in a good way. The thin sheet metal does not dampen noise like the iton manifold. Since you are not looking for a performance gain, which might not occur with tightly bent headers anyway, using one of the plethora of stock manifolds would seem to offer the benefits you are seeking. If appearance is a concern, have the manifolds ceramic coated. Ray
Thanks Ray, those are fair points you make about the cast iron being quieter, potentially seal better and being readily available. I wont rule them out but I do enjoy a nice looking set of headers, and I am looking to save weight where ever possible
Thanks for that info, Stumpy. Though that's a bit more work it appears to be a pretty fool proof way of tackling the issue. Whats the cost on a set of those weld together headers?
Does anyone know if there are some super tight tucking block huggers that will clear the steering box? Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I would ditch the header idea all around and find a set of 55 or 56 chevy exhaust manifolds. They will clear everything. and you don't have all the pains that go with block hugger headers. here are some pictures of them, as you can see you just have to snake your pipes around the steering and up to the manifolds. you could get 2 with the gen bracket, cut the Gen bracket off and run them on both sides so the one that is near the steering dumps out directly in the rear. Block huggers are a pain in the ass and don't flow any better than a pair of Ram Horns.
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