I bet this weekend will feel like it's a month long. Good luck on trying to keep your mind off this. From what I have heard about Crites, they should be worth the wait. Todd
It has indeed, but i now have a tracking number and the parts are actually on their way now!!! Now I just need to pull the trigger on this and get her back on the road and show those El Crapinos who is really king of the road, lol.
I just now got the headers, when I had ordered them I kinda expected them to arrive fully assembled and ready to bolt on, but it turns out that there is some assembly required... A little disappointed but for the price it's hard to beat.
Gonna snap a couple pics of them as I got them then after I finish what they started. On a side note what should I use to clean the oil off the pipes for welding and from there any things I should know about while welding on them?
What parts aren't put together yet? If it's the collectors not welded to the primary tubes, they're supposed to be like that. You install the primaries loosely, then put some high temp rtv on the inside of the collector, and slip them on....no welding necessary. Don't weld anything until you get them installed so you know if it's all going to fit and you can "tweak" them before doing anything permanent. Post a pic of what they look like now and I'll have a better idea what you've got going on. When/If it's time to weld, I clean with carb clean, then glass cleaner, and let dry. Lucas
Ya, some of the primary tubes aren't welded to the collectors. Does the RTV need to be high enough temp for opperating temperatures or just good enough to act as a temp glue while I get everything lined up and welded?
Hi temp. If the collectors aren't welded on, they're probably not meant to ever be welded. There's probably a reason for installation that you put the headers on one tube at a time....On my set, I put the front tube on loosely, then the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in order (because you can't put it on as an assembly with the 2 tubes going under/in front of the cross member, and two going behind/above.) Then I rtv'd the collector, slipped it on, and then tightened up the primaries. If your collectors have 2 little tabs with holes, and 2 of your primaries per side have the tabs with holes, then you put a bolt through those and it holds the collectors on the primaries. Plus, you're not going to be able to weld the tubes all the way around the collectors, because you'll never get a welder in between the collector tubes-you'll only be able to weld the outside half of each tube to the collector. Show me a pic of your parts and I'll be able to tell you more. Lucas
http://www.ranchero.us/forums/showthread.php?t=24855&highlight=welders Be careful using any aerosol cleaners and welding
With my Super Comp headers, the tubes to the two rear ports on each side slide in near the collector, similar to yours. If I were to weld them, they would never come off because of they'd surround the crossmember. It's surprising how little they actually leak; however, I bought some stainless band clamps to wrap around there anyway, because even that little leak is annoying.
Here is a pic of a set of Crites headers for a member of another forum, don't know if all of the primary tubes are welded to the collector or not. This member had issues with fitament dealing with the column mounted shift cable to header clearance. Hopefully you don't these same issues. I believe he ended up looking for and/or purchasing Hooker 6126's, due to the fitament issues. The Crites headers were designed for a '74 Torino w/460 & C6. Did you also order Crites' engine mounts?
I got a set of factory replacement motor mounts from Anchor, the only problem I had with those was getting a drivers side mount (the part numbers are reversed in their catalogue). Also, it looks like the other set of headers have the slip fit tubes to collector as well. Any recomendations as to which RTV I should use or perhaps JB weld?
So what happens then if you need to remove the headers for some reason? Something that surprises me about the pics; I had always thought that getting equal-length tubes was a primary goal for using long-tube headers -- but none of those in the pics would qualify.
Hey so long as they work who am I to argue, lol. I dug a little deeper into the box that they came in this morning and to my surprise I found a set of reducers and header bolts, wish I had known that before I welded up the mid pipes but whatever, gives me a bit of room for error, and the header bolts are an absolute god-send as I had been using 9/16 grade 10 bolts in the past. I also picked up a couple tubes of exhaust gasket silicone for the collectors and the exhaust gaskets. All that's left is to yoink the old motor out and drop the new one in and bolt it all together! Pics to follow!
Sorry it took so long to get back, was gone over the weekend. Your collectors are not made to be welded on. That's why they have the through bolt flange on the collector and two of the primary tubes. Ultra Red or Ultra Copper both work great, and they help slide the collectors on. And, no, if you slip them together, they will not leak if you let the stuff dry first.
Good info there. It's crazy how simple things can be overlooked and be so dangerous. That's why I glass clean after and let dry, to get rid of the chemicals left from the carb cleaner. About 25 years ago when I was in the 5th grade, my Dad picked up an aerosol spray can that had been sitting by my uncle's shop heater (one of those double 55 gallon barrel fireplaces that everybody used to make and use back in the day). Well, it was hot to say the least, and he dropped it. It exploded and took off like a rocket, and literally blew the left side of his face off. My uncle was outside and heard the "pop" noise. When he came in, he found my Dad on the floor unconscious. Long story short, after 2 months in the hospital and some reconstructive surgery, my Dad was ok (just some scars still). 1/16" closer to the middle of his face instead of off to the side, and he'd be dead because his sinuses would have been crushed. So, please people, be careful with aerosol cans. I also remove them from around my work area anytime there's heat or welding happening. Lucas