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You have a nice crossmember, so you should be able to mount anything. Do you have a drop-down floor for the driver side powered seat? That might be the only consideration for what you choose.
Man does that look familiar! I am going down the same path with my 81. I have the same crossmember which makes running the exhaust system much easier than the stock crossmember. I am using American Racing stainless steel headers, Magnaflow stainless cat back exhaust system that I modified by removing the single pipe Y for true dual exhaust. The rest of the system from the headers to the modified Magnaflow exhaust are just stainless elbows and straight pipe sections that I bought and built myself. Not really a hard job at all since I built it while the body was off.
Since yours is an 81, it will have the dropped floor pan on the drivers side regardless of if you have a power seat or manual seat. If you try to run the drivers side exhaust straight back like on the earlier years, your drivers side exhaust pipe will be hanging down way lower than it should. Done the exhaust like this on both of my 81's. I am also running a 4L60E transmission and the Edelbrock Pro Flo 4 system. I got lucky when I was looking for the cat back and found a guy near me that had the system new in the box that he sold me for $275.00, Plus like everything else now days, the prices have gone up a lot when compared to what I originally paid a few years back.
I don't know how the headers would fit with your Borgeson box as I am running the Steeroids rack and pinion system. As far as everything else, I had no clearance issues with the headers.
Man does that look familiar! I am going down the same path with my 81. I have the same crossmember which makes running the exhaust system much easier than the stock crossmember. I am using American Racing stainless steel headers, Magnaflow stainless cat back exhaust system that I modified by removing the single pipe Y for true dual exhaust. The rest of the system from the headers to the modified Magnaflow exhaust are just stainless elbows and straight pipe sections that I bought and built myself. Not really a hard job at all since I built it while the body was off.
Since yours is an 81, it will have the dropped floor pan on the drivers side regardless of if you have a power seat or manual seat. If you try to run the drivers side exhaust straight back like on the earlier years, your drivers side exhaust pipe will be hanging down way lower than it should. Done the exhaust like this on both of my 81's. I am also running a 4L60E transmission and the Edelbrock Pro Flo 4 system. I got lucky when I was looking for the cat back and found a guy near me that had the system new in the box that he sold me for $275.00, Plus like everything else now days, the prices have gone up a lot when compared to what I originally paid a few years back.
I don't know how the headers would fit with your Borgeson box as I am running the Steeroids rack and pinion system. As far as everything else, I had no clearance issues with the headers.
I saw your thread on exhaust and it peaked my interest. This build has morphed, was supposed to be a stock rebuild and turned into a 383 and 200R4. Brews Cutsoms is making headers that will worked with the Borg box. I like your setup it looks clean.
That’s what happened to mine too. Originally I planned to keep it stock. When I bought it I was going to change out the fuel pump and lines. The next thing I know was that the car was completely pulled apart. 🤣😁
just running a 415 horsepower 350 in mine. Full roller setup with AFR heads. 4L60E trans and 2800 stall converter and 3.73 gears. I am using an HGM trans controller that talks to the Pro Flo 4 by using a buss connection.
Looking great! I had my frame and any parts on the frame sand blasted and powder coated. Well worth having done. They charged me $500.00 for the frame and all the parts associated with the frame. I couldn't have bought the paint for that. I bought new Lectric Limited wiring harness from from to back. I got lucky there again and found some for about half price that some other members decided they weren't going to use. Some I did buy through Lectric Limited. New windshield, NOS t-top corners where the front latch and pin go. I decided to do those corners while the windshield was out because it is pretty much impossible to change those when the windshield is installed. The list goes on....and to think it all started from just changing a fuel pump and hoses. LOLOL
All the A/C items have been all rebuilt, inside and under the hood. I actually found a NOS A/C vacuum harness for it too. Keep up the great work you are doing and keep us updated as you progress. I look forward to seeing it as you progress!
Looking great! I had my frame and any parts on the frame sand blasted and powder coated. Well worth having done. They charged me $500.00 for the frame and all the parts associated with the frame. I couldn't have bought the paint for that. I bought new Lectric Limited wiring harness from from to back. I got lucky there again and found some for about half price that some other members decided they weren't going to use. Some I did buy through Lectric Limited. New windshield, NOS t-top corners where the front latch and pin go. I decided to do those corners while the windshield was out because it is pretty much impossible to change those when the windshield is installed. The list goes on....and to think it all started from just changing a fuel pump and hoses. LOLOL
All the A/C items have been all rebuilt, inside and under the hood. I actually found a NOS A/C vacuum harness for it too. Keep up the great work you are doing and keep us updated as you progress. I look forward to seeing it as you progress!
Thanks! I went with vintage air for AC takes up less space, plus went eletric on the head lights. Which eliminates the vacuum lines. I also went with Lectric limited front to back, wish I went Painless. Deleted the alarm system, AC will not use stock harness, removed cruise.. have a bunch of connectors with no home now. I have rebuilt calipers and all new rotors, when they leak again will go Wildwood.
Did the stick carrier take the 3.73 gears? I had mine rebuilt with the 2.87s with the Th350 in mind..200r4 will need different gears..
We are going down very similar paths. LOLOL. I too went with electric headlight actuators so the only thing that runs off of vacuum is the A/C control and the brake booster. I upgraded the condenser to a parallel flow condenser for better A/C cooling. I liked the idea of the Lectric Limited plug and play, I just added a separate fuse block and ran wires for my add-ons.
The biggest issue with the D44 rear end is there aren't many parts options for them. If I had to do it all over again I probably would convert to the earlier C3 pumpkin. I had the rear end rebuilt with the 3.73 gears and used the C4 carrier because the stock carriers were known to break the clutch pack retaining clips in the stock carrier. When this happens, it eats up the carrier where it holds the clips in place. From my understanding, the C4 carrier is no longer available new for upgrading the 80-82 D44. I also used the manual stub axles and yokes (80-81 manual cars and all 82 cars) instead of the automatic ones as they use a larger u-joint on the half shafts. I honestly don't remember if the stock carrier can take the 3.73 gears. I want to say yes but I could be wrong.
I had Edge converters build the converter for the 4L60E and had the Sonnex 1-2 gear set put in to close up the gear drop between the stock 4L60E 1-2 gearing. Makes the gear spacing more online with the 200R4. I like the idea of the HGM trans controller working with the Edelbrock Pro Flo 4 and being able to change shift points, converter lock up, etc. from my tablet or phone.
U-joint caps, stock caps vs billet caps. A friend of mine made these for me. Billet cap for the carrier to beef it up.
We are going down very similar paths. LOLOL. I too went with electric headlight actuators so the only thing that runs off of vacuum is the A/C control and the brake booster. I upgraded the condenser to a parallel flow condenser for better A/C cooling. I liked the idea of the Lectric Limited plug and play, I just added a separate fuse block and ran wires for my add-ons.
The biggest issue with the D44 rear end is there aren't many parts options for them. If I had to do it all over again I probably would convert to the earlier C3 pumpkin. I had the rear end rebuilt with the 3.73 gears and used the C4 carrier because the stock carriers were known to break the clutch pack retaining clips in the stock carrier. When this happens, it eats up the carrier where it holds the clips in place. From my understanding, the C4 carrier is no longer available new for upgrading the 80-82 D44. I also used the manual stub axles and yokes (80-81 manual cars and all 82 cars) instead of the automatic ones as they use a larger u-joint on the half shafts. I honestly don't remember if the stock carrier can take the 3.73 gears. I want to say yes but I could be wrong.
I had Edge converters build the converter for the 4L60E and had the Sonnex 1-2 gear set put in to close up the gear drop between the stock 4L60E 1-2 gearing. Makes the gear spacing more online with the 200R4. I like the idea of the HGM trans controller working with the Edelbrock Pro Flo 4 and being able to change shift points, converter lock up, etc. from my tablet or phone.
U-joint caps, stock caps vs billet caps. A friend of mine made these for me. Billet cap for the carrier to beef it up.
The billet ujoints look beefy, your friend should sell them. I will definitely keep in touch with progress, might have some questions along the way. I now want to get the exhaust all laid out before the body goes on, after seeing yours. Lol, I'm battling space issue in my little garage..
Oh I completely understand the space limitations. When I first started this project I had to keep it to my side of the garage. I told my wife she would always get to park her car in the garage, so I came up with this setup. I built a stand that held the body high enough to work under and roll the frame underneath the suspended body when I wasn't working on it. We moved since then and I now have a little over 800 square foot garage. Plenty of room for 3 cars now.
Yes it is much easier to do the exhaust with the body off. Just keep the drivers side pipe tucked in close to the crossmember where it goes behind the transmission. If you run it too far back, that is where the drivers side floor pan will get in the way. Doesn't matter if you have manual seat or power seat, the floor pan is the same.
