resdoggie

I rec'd my SS Hooker sidemounts from PerformanceParts.com. The right side flange was bowed a fair bit. I emailed PerfParts and explained the problem. A week later they informed me that Hooker was sending me a new right side header at their cost. Header arrived and bolted in perfect. No mention of a RMA. I live in Canada and thought this was exceptional service on the part of PerfParts/Hooker in resolving the problem. Btw, I still have the brand new (bowed) right side header in my storage. The left side bolted in as well but some cutting was required on the rocker cover. The left side also just nudges against the frame so it's not a problem that requires a BFH. Hope the OP gets his issue resolved soon.

ssenay72

Something to keep in mind about any/all headers and these old cars, the car they built the headers around could have been crooked or straighter than your car. Therefore the header " jig " can be correct or a little off. So then every set built is good for a straight car or bent car if you will. The other thing is motor mounts, gear boxes, after market steering components. All these slight bends twists and variations in clearance factor in.


For example, i had a set of hooker headers, basic long tubes, went right into my 75 like a glove no issues anywhere. Same thing with the side pipes. Changed out my ceramic sidepipes for a set of stainless and nothing fit at all. Had to dent everything.

Same thing in my camaro.

Headers have to be one of the most frustrating things to solve on any of these old cars. Find some that fit and buy extras LOL.

toddalin

If the left side "nudges" the frame, what happens when the engine shifts from torque?

resdoggie

Haven't noticed anything. As I said, it just nudges the frame. The headers bolted in no problem so there obviously isn't an interference problem.

AzMotorhead

Think about this. The car they built the headers for was new at the time. Since then they have produced how many thousands of headers from that same jig. Tolerances get fudged 1/8" here 1/8" there, fudge factors add up, pretty soon everything is way off.
It's too spendy and not economical to remodel a set of tubes for a 40 year old car.
I put a set on a 65 I did a few years ago. Yes they fit poorly. I was half tempted to cut the flanges off and redo the left side so it would give me clearance.
There's enough raw stock kits out there now that for my 71 BB I'm building my own

Dustup7T2

I was unaware that Hooker had relocated their manufacturing to meh-hee-ko? Seems that when long time Mfgrs move the operation, there are problems and issues crop up that did not exist before. Too bad.

I recvd my Hooker sidemounts back in '06. I have Edelbrock Performer RPM heads. Installed new OEM style motor and trans mounts to have the height dimensions correct, with no idea whether the body position over the frame was in or out of spec? I suppose, it's in.

Another issue I had to consider was the Steeroids. Anything else, didn't have an influence to fitment.

In the end, it all came out as expected without bringing out the BFH to clearance around an obstacle.







To the OP, good luck and hope Hooker fixes you up without further delay. Keep us posted.

htown81vette

I bought some hookers once and they fit like a glove

Dracule

Man, that's an impressive ride, it looks most excelent !

lars

The complete lack of product quality and the fact that Hooker Headers don't fit has been extensively documented here on the Forum. You can check out the entire 4-page listing of people who have had Hookers that flat don't fit, or just browse through a few of my posts in the topic thread titled:

Hooker Super Comp Sidemount Headers: Horrendous Product Quality

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-t...t-quality.html

After waiting 2-1/2 months for Hooker to deliver a set of polished SS Sidemount Headers (after promising each week that they were shipping the next week), I have finally taken delivery of these little gems.

I guess I should realize that if I'm only paying $1,000 for a set of headers, I shouldn't get my hopes up in terms of fit and quality... I mean, what could you possibly expect for only a grand..? A small block in a Vette chassis must be a pretty rare combination since Hooker can't figure out how to make them fit. Nor do they care.

My engine is a 400 small block in a fully rebuilt '64 frame/chassis. Engine mounts are new, the engine is in the correct location (which I have verified dimensionally), and all chassis parts are stock. Building a set of headers that fit this engine/chassis combination is not a difficult thing to do. Nor is verifying product quality and fit of the end product.

Here are my factual observations of this American manufacturing joke and travesty:

The appearance of the headers as received was marginal. The welds are wire-fed MIG welds, and look like they were done by my 12-year-old grand daughter on career day at school (actually, her TIG welds look better than these Hooker MIG welds). The polish job is inferior to what I do on my "Eastwood" polish wheel setup in my garage, so I re-did the entire polish job before mounting the headers.

The headers don't come close to fitting. They bolt up to the heads just fine, but they interfere with chassis components by as much as a full 1/4 inch. No kidding. Hooker can't build a small block Chevy header that fits within a freakin' quarter of an inch. Do they not have a jig...? There is a full 1/4 interference with the steering box, the pitman arm, and the idler arm. 3 header tubes have a 1/4" interference and have to be modified to avoid the chassis components. There are several inches of free space on the opposite sides of the tubes - it's not a tight fit at all - Hooker just plain ran the tubes in the wrong place and ran them right into the suspension and steering components. Simply garbage design and manufacturing. No excuse for this.

Once the tubes were modified to avoid massive chassis contact, it was apparent that my Hooker sidepipes (for an additional $430) were not going to fit: The exit point of the headers did not match the bracket configuration of the pipes, resulting in the pipes hanging at a severe angle to the body: they did not run parallel to the centerline of the car in the vertical or horizontal axis. Not even close. Upon measuring the location of the left and right header collectors, the right collector was 1" (ONE INCH) higher than the left collector. Further, the right collector was 1/2" further outboard from the frame than the left collector, for a total dissimilar displacement from right to left of an inch and a half. You gotta be kidding me.

I have now fabricated new frame standoffs for mounting the sidepipes so they run parallel with the frame and with the collectors. I have used a Porta-Power, concrete anchors, and hydraulic rams with chains to bend the collectors into their proper location so they point straight aft. I have modified my header tubes to avoid chassis contact. And I have polished my tubes and headers. I have thrown away the garbage gaskets that were supplied with the headers (after all, I only paid $1000, why should I expect good quality gaskets for that price..?) and I have installed good gaskets that don't leak.

When I finally went to install the sidepipe clamp bolts that secure the sidepipes to the header collectors, I found that Hooker had welded the bolt clamp hole closed during their sloppy welding - I guess the 7-year-old on field day at the factory that day was not properly supervised. I removed the pipe and opened up the hole, removing the weld slag, on my drill press. Upon attempting to install the hardware, I found that Hooker had supplied fine thread bolts with coarse thread locknuts. They really did not need to spend the money on locknuts since the coarse thread bolts will lock themselves onto the fine threads bolts with no problem.

Hooker and Holley should be ashamed of themselves. This type of "product quality" is a disgrace to American manufacturing and an insult to those of us paying hard-earned money for an expected standard of quality.

Shame on you Hooker & Holley. I hope Barry Grant and the custom header builders kick your butt.

(Hooker is owned by Holley, for those who don't know)

Lars Grimsrud
Denver

Because I'd like to have my car running this year... The last guy I talked to who did that went through a 6-month ordeal before getting a good set of headers.

It iritates the poop out of me to let them off the hook so easy, but I've now spent 4 evenings of my time, removing and installing the headers 5 times, modifying the tubes, bending the collectors with a Port-A-Power, re-fabricating the sidepipe mounting standoffs, and getting the pipes level and parallel. The entire system is now installed. I didn't buy headers and pipes from Hooker: I obviously bought a "fab-it-yourself" kit. I can't imagine someone doing this amount of modification and fitting with the body on the frame or working on a car on jackstands: I'm "lucky" to be working on a rolling chassis with no body and having my own lift in the workshop with tie-down anchors in my concrete floor...

Lars

The Hooker system looks very good when mounted – don’t get me wrong. The point is that the installation, “tweaking” and mounting can be a tedious process requiring more than a few wrenches and a screwdriver. I used a Port-a-Power, concrete floor anchors, a chainfall, floor jack, hammers, a drill press, tap-and-die set, and a ton of patience and fabrication ability to remove and install the headers 5 times before they fit right. The sidepipe mounting hardware supplied was junk and did not allow alignment of the sidepipes, so I fabricated all new mounting hardware including thick, ¼” stainless threaded frame inserts and adjustable stainless mounting studs to interface with the supplied rubber cushion mounts. Here are the final results:

Here are the headers mounted to the engine after being “tweaked” a bit:



The sidepipes were mounted on custom made standoffs to make the pipes run level and parallel to the frame rails:



So, after an extensive wrestling match between me and the Hooker SuperComp Sidemount Headers & Sidepipes as outlined in this post, I have finally managed to get the system installed on the car, eliminate all the interference points using a Port-A-Power, floor anchors, a chain fall, and 2 hydraulic rams, I have fabricated custom sidepipe standoffs to get the pipes parallel to the frame, bent the collectors to equalize the height from left to right sides, cut my rocker panel moldings, and polish them out along with a little painting. Here are the final shots of the end results:

2 more days of cutting, tweaking, and polishing of the rockers produced the finished product:



Sidepipes installed with modified rocker moldings – moldings were cut, sanded and polished on the top surfaces, and given a satin black epoxy coating below the polished surfaces. This accented the polished pipes nicely. The adjustable pipe mounts were used to make the pipes perfectly parallel to the modified rockers:



Lars

larryg3

I got my hookers last year from summit no real problems. The best part they look great

resdoggie

Lars, with all that intimate time you spent with your headers you can truly say "I love my Hookers".

blkhrt12

Hello All
Just an update on our Hookers. We contacted hooker/holley and they send ups to pick up the header that was not fitting and I have to say they were awesome. Within two weeks we had another header that now FITS, it is still tight but nothing hits. I got to give hooker credit on this one, they took care of this issue and quick! Now going to get our car to MASS to Stan at 2nd gen resto for some other issues. Getting excited to FINALLY see a finished (well I guess never really finished) product!

scottyp99

I have family in Maine, i drive up there every year or two, next time I'm up there, I'll keep my eyes open for a pretty lady in a red 'vette!


Keep the shiny side up!
Scott

blkhrt12

Thanks Scott LOL... I will def be riding soon... With my hookers

resdoggie

Glad to hear that it worked out for you.

jn76vette

After reading this thread, I'm glad I didn't get a set of Hookers. Doug's slipped right into place, no beating, dimpling, or grinding.

BrooksCJ

I wish Doug's made their side pipe in stainless steel. If they did, I would get a set from them.

scottyp99

This is totally off topic, but man, your avatar is one of the most pathetic, heartbreaking things I've ever seen. It's like it grabs you by the throat and says "FEEL EMOTIONS........NOW!!!!!!"


Keep the shiny side up!
Scott

billet351

bought hooker sidepipes, I only trial fitted the left one as I figured thats the most restricted and it went on with ease, luck of the draw maybe

canuk99

The Doug's side pipes I'm fitting right now to a "73 are requiring massaging to fit. It doesn't help that the car has a Merlin 3 BBC 540 in it, which is based on the truck tall deck. Its about 5/8" taller which caused the right side to touch the frame. The left side has been a test of patience as the relief for the steering box was the beginning, now it also needs work around the frame as well. Hope to get it done tommorrow. I feel for all having fitment issues!