Exhaust clearence

[DRJDVM's '69]

I went back and forth on long tubes vs shorties and decided to try the longtubes.....the shorties were almost as much $$ and only came in 1 5/8.....

I bought some TTI headers for the Cuda.......which I cant return since I bought them uncoated...... and my concerns held true. Since we channeled the k-frame......which moved the motor up about 1.5 inches..... the collector flanges hit the floor. This is why I had considered the shorties

Since I cant return them anyway, I cut off the collector flange. With no collector flange the collectors get as close as 1/4 inch to the floor. So....looks like I'll have to cut some more floor....oh joy, more work..... make one change and it snowballs......

So....when I make the plan for the floor....how much space should I try and get between the floor and collector? I dont want to raise the floor alot and destroy my leg room, but I also dont want to cook the floor either....so I'm looking for some "try and get at least" ideas.....

The headers will be coated and I can alway wrap some areas too....

[GregWeld]

You must be exhausted....

[speedjohnston]

You could taper your collector right away into an oval pipe so you would have a minimal amount of floor mod to do? Spin tech makes all kinds of transition pipes. It also keeps more ground clearance if the car sits low.

[DRJDVM's '69]

Greg made a funny.....

Heres what I got....





Its closer than the pix make it look....probably 1/4 inch...in some places not enough to get my finger between the collector and floor

[rwhite692]

Ned I would try to get about 1" of clearance...any closer than that you are probably into carpet-melting territory (just my opinion based on past experience...YMMV)

For added safety margin you could install a piece of radiant heat shield (the aluminum dimpled type, mounted on small standoffs) or, a material such as this:

http://www.heatshieldproducts.com/in...eat_shield.php

[GregWeld]

If I was as smart as Ned -- I'd just put some dumps straight off the header and forget about all that weight and heat from that stupid exhaust stuff. It's California DUDE... anything goes!

[Vegas69]

What about lenghtening each header tube. That or scrap them and buy shorties...

[71RS/SS396]

Originally Posted by Vegas69

What about lenghtening each header tube. That or scrap them and buy shorties...

X2 That's what I was thinking. Seems like a lot less work imho.

[clill]

Heat them with a rosebud torch tip and bend them down to where you have enough room. A pipe shoved in the end would give you the leverage you need.

[DRJDVM's '69]

Charlie
I'm not quite sure on where the best place to actuallly heat them would be....plus I dont have a torch

When I priced out the shorty vs LT, the prices were almost the same. Remember guys this is a Mopar....there arent 10 diff companies making headers for these cars. There are ones being made for the new challenger, magnum etc, but no idea on if/how they will fit. On some of the pix I found online, the tubes looked like they would hit motor mounts etc etc...but no way to tell until they showed up.

I cant return the LT's (even before I cut them.....since I got them uncoated the company wont take them back)....shorties are gonna run me another $600....or I can spend a day or two cutting some of my floor.....

Took a chance and rolled the dice on the LT's....... didnt work out as well as hoped, but I'm at where I'm at.....