# Headers...need advice....



## Eshack80 (Aug 18, 2010)

I have a 1969 GTO with a 400 in it. My wife is buying me new headers for myy car fro Christmas and I was wonding if anyone had any suggestions on what headers to buy. I am currently looking at the Hedman 28140 Painted Headers. If anyone can give me any sugestions, they would be greatly appreciated.


----------



## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

Cast iron HO reproduction manifolds. That said, I've been running a set of raggedy, rusty Hedman's on my '65 since 1982, and they still work fine. Yes, they need constant tightening, and yes, they've blown gaskets. The fact of the matter is that with stock heads, cam, intake, etc, tubing headers may give you about 10HP max, and LESS than stock torque. Not a real gain other than bragging rights. With ported heads, big cams, etc, they make more of a difference. For a mostly stock car, the HO manifolds can't be beat. And they DON'T leak!!!


----------



## jetstang (Nov 5, 2008)

Doug's headers are supposed to be the best and fit really well. I got Headmans and they hit everything, I had to disconnect my linkage to my column and lose my neutral safety switch. They were the 3 pipe headers, plenty of clearance for 4 speed linkage, but I have an automatic..


----------



## jigaway (Jul 2, 2011)

:agree

Took the Hedmans off of my 71 and tossed them. Put on cast RA manifolds. Sound is badass and they went on like butter. Look great too.


Dan


----------



## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

Jet, my Hedmans didn't fit with the 4 speed linkage in my car. I had to do some serious blacksmithing with a BFH as well as some custom mods to the Z-bar to make them fit. Brake line mods, too. Same with another '66 I had with a stick. PITA. I agree, the RA/HO manifolds are the way to go. Doug's get good ratings, but they still don't just 'bolt on'. And they're $$$$$.......


----------



## Instg8ter (Sep 28, 2010)

I picked up a set of jet coated hedmans three pipes on craigslist and they fit the 66' with no problems and bolted up without issue in 15 minutes, where as my old four pipes took me hours to get on. also the dougs multi layer alum gaskets make a nice seal and are re-usable


----------



## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

Im running Doug Thorley's on my 69. I bought them in raw steel and had them shipped to Jet Hot coatings for their 'extreme sterling' coating. The headers are good quality, have nice thick straight flanges, and fit "pretty well" for headers. Any 4 tube header --- get ready -- you're going to have fitment and clearance issues to deal with, that's just part of the game. I had to move my brake distribution block from the inside of the drivers side frame rail up to the top to clear the header on that side. Also a factory starter is going to be a very tight fit, and might have heat soak issues from being so close. Whenever I have to rebuild the front suspension again, the passenger side header is going to have to come out in order to remove the bolt on the lower control arm on that side. Mind you, Doug's have the reputation of being some of the BETTER headers in terms of fit....

I also hear very good things about Mad Dog headers, but have no direct experience.

As others have said, you can "get close" to header performance using the cast iron ram air style manifolds and avoid all the hassles... Be careful about primary tube size. On a stock or close to stock engine, 1 5/8" is plenty big. Any more than that and you WILL lose bottom end torque. My 461 makes close to 500 HP and I only need 1 7/8" tubes for it.

Bear


----------



## bullet20cc (Apr 4, 2009)

I run Doug's headers. Perfect fit. 67 GTO 455 bored .035 over with Eld. alum. ported ram air 4 round port heads. Doug's headers are also round ported for the heads. .550 lift cam. Victor intake. Quickfuel carb. MSD ign. Mahale pistons,forged crank and rods. Scorpion roller rockers. 3" pipes super 44 mufflers. 200r4 custom built trans. 12 bolt with eaton posi, Moser axles and Richmond gears.


----------



## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

....I guess I'm getting old. The last set if headers I installed out of the box were a set of Hooker 4 tubes on a friend's '66 4 speed about 20 years ago. Lots of fabrication required. It sounds like the new stuff is much better engineered and installs a lot easier. I've put maybe 6 sets of tubing headers on 6 different '65-'67 GTO's, and not a single one of these was a straight bolt in deal. BUT, that was _many_ years ago. I have indeed heard good things about Doug's, and if I were running some real muscle, (500 hp) they would be a good canditate.


----------



## 69Goatee (Aug 14, 2009)

I had a set of painted FloTech four tube headers on my 69 for ten years. It took two or three different gasket sets before I got them to seal for any length of time. They cleared everything without any hammer time. The big issues were the keyhole slot on the fourth hole, and trying to contort your body and arms to get all the bolts tight. I got a set of brand new ceramic coated FloTech headers for a song, and I found it is alot easier to put em on without the wheelwells or fenders on. I am using Percy's carbon felt gaskets with Stage 8 locking header and collector bolts.


----------



## stracener (Jul 27, 2010)

I was running a set of Hooker Super Comp 2" headers on my son's '72 GTO and had to remove all air conditioning stuff as the cover got in the way of the headers. Also had to move the bake distribution block from inside the frame rail to the outside. After that the SuperComps still needed some denting to fit in there. Cut the flanges, had to slot one bolt hole, and it was still a *&tch to get installed. But the motor breathed easy! I attached a couple of pictures of the motor on the stand with the hookers installed. You can see how tangled those pipes are, rise up very high on the motor.

We had to pull the motor for a burnt up bearing, so we picked up a set of Doug's D567 used, they were ceramic coated and only fitment dents were to access the middle bolt hole. Fit very, very well. I was even able to reinstall the a/c fairing so will be able to put a/c back in the car if desired. Installed the Doug's in an hour or less, very easy compared to the Hookers. No cutting at all. Sorry, no pics handy on those pipes.

Haven't run it on the street yet, transmission is still in overhaul. But the motor sounds great and I really don't think I lost much at all in the way of performance. Sounds awesome on the open headers! Go with Doug's unless you're really needing extra breathing room!


----------

