New headers

[Raiderfan001]

Awhile back I had a exhaust hanger break while driving home from work and by the time I got home the pipe was scraping the pavement on any little bump in the road.  So I cut the muffler off to get rid of some weight off the header and drove it to the auto parts store to get a new hanger.  I was short on cash at the time or I would have gotten a cheap cherry bomb to throw on it so it wasn't so loud so I just drove it open header for a bit.  Next payday I got the cheapest Thrush glasspack the store had and put it on.  But it had an exhaust leak somewhere.  Figured driving it after the hanger broke might have tweaked the header or blew the gasket or something.  Loosened the header up and took out the gasket but it was fine.  So I went and bought stock gasket set and doubled it up on current Felpro performance gasket it already had.  Still had the leak.  So I got to looking around trying to find out where this leak was coming from and low and behold I saw one of the pipes was cracked.  Pretty good crack too, about half way all around the pipe.  First I tried to temp patch it with some JB weld....that lasted about a 1/4 mile before it melted off.  Then tried some stuff called PC farenheit from Ace Hardware.  It lasted maybe 3 miles and melted off....smelled like rotten eggs when it gets hot too....I do not recommend that crap at all.

So eventually I parked it until next payday and ordered a whole new exhaust.  Got most of it in so far:

Flowtech headers http://www.summitracing.com/parts/BIG-31500FLT/
2x 5' stainless pipe http://www.summitracing.com/parts/BOR-30330/
2x Thrush stainless glasspacks http://www.summitracing.com/parts/WLK-24241/

Once I got the headers in I realized they came with 2.5" reducers, which it didn't say anywhere on the specs when I ordered...so I bought 3" reducers to mount up to the 3" pipe.  These are coming in the mail today so I can finish most of the project.  Only other piece i'm missing is the 2nd 5' pipe for the driver side...it comes in tomorrow.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-G4752SS/

Of course after some reading around the forum a bit it seems that a true 3" exhaust for my truck is a bit overkill...will it hurt performance even?  Engine is a 350 that as far as I know isn't too built up.  Has a stock intake, 4 barrel Quadrajet...not sure about the internals.  I've only had the truck a few months.  Runs pretty good though.


Here is the headers it came with.  I'll be replacing this one tonight.



Heres the one I put in last night.



Side by side of the old and new.



Side by side of the old 2" and new 3" pipe and mufflers.





For now I was going to just run it stright back.  Did some measuring and it will be dumping behind the axle.  Any thoughts on tail pipes?  Does it matter other then looks if I run it further out back, or have it turned out behind the wheel to the side.  Would one way sound/perform better then the other?

[Grim 82]

When I put my flowtech headers on I had to use an asbestos plug wire sleeve on cylinders 1 & 3. They work great and look a little better than taping the headers.

I always run the exhaust straight out the back, instead of the sides, so when I have the truck running in the garage it vents the exhaust outside a little better and doesn't spray it at the wall and at the wife's car.

[Raiderfan001]

Are 1 and 3 on the passenger side?  Will the plugs as they are now need some kind of protection?  I'm not the most mechanical person around. 

Another thing I need to check before starting it.  I think I might have crossed the first two plug wires on the new header...not sure if I remembered correctly when I took them off.

[Grim 82]

Front of vehicle to back, driver side= 1357
Front of vehicle to back, pass side= 2468

[motion427]

Yes,I think 3" would be too much. We ussually use 2.25" for mild applications,and 2.5" for a good 350 SBC.

It's gonna be LOUD with 3" and no tail pipes for sure  

But since you got them allready,might be a good idea to look at a more traditional style mufflers and tail pipes to quiet her down and it will give a little more torque.

[Raiderfan001]

I swear Summit needs to be more detailed with their descriptions.  dang reducers I bought I assumed would have been 3" ID in order to slip into a 3" OD pipe....well we all know they saying about assuming....they are 3" OD =/

So i'll have to either have them welded to the pipes or band clamp them...think i'm just gonna clamp them for now.  Should hopefully be finished tomorrow.

[Raiderfan001]

Well because of the angle of the headers i need to have the pipes bent a little bit to run the exhaust parallel to the truck.  Only had enough room to put the mufflers on and even then maybe just 4 inches from hitting the ground.  And yeah it's loud >_<  Like loud enough to get pulled over I think.  Hopefully with the pipe on and later some tail pipes it'll quiet up a bit.  I like loud but not that loud lol.

[SUX2BU99]

So the flowtechs fit good then? My local craigslist has a set of 31500 for $300. Very tempting.

If they are cermaic coated, should the plug boots be necessary where they might touch the plug wire? Ceramic coatings 'should' be cool enough to not melt anything.

[1980c10]

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/BIG-31500FLT/

[79HIGHSIERRA]

on my high sierra ive got headers two 45 degee angles to get up over the crossmember for the tranny then a set of 2.5 thrush glass packs 9 inches of 2.5 pipe straight into 90 degee tail pipes going down an out towards the side of the truck i comes right behind the second strap on the gas tanks and there true duals tuced up nice and neat all u see is abou 2 inches of the tips