has any one installed hooker side ount headers on a 79 or sb vette? any plug wire problems such as melting or clearance with plugs? any problems with any thing? any gain in performance? i did this on my bb many years ago and had no problems and i was wondering if on a sb there was. any info would help.
tia.
mike
:hurray: :p:

 

I've got sidemount hooker headers on my '78. I run Taylor 8mm wires with a 90 degree plug wire end, I've never melted a wire. This is with standard plugs, there are a couple that are close. You can get a bit more room running the Accel "short" plugs. But if you set up the wire loom right you shouldn't have a problem, I run mine over the top of the valve covers rather then from the bottom like the stock wires were routed.
As for performance, heck yeah anything getting away from the stock exhaust will give you a performance boost that you can feel. One other word of advice is stay away from the mufflers available from Hooker for the pipes. Thay are real HP thieves, go with the Spiral Turbo Specialties baffles. I know they're more expensive but the sound and HP gain are well worth it.

Scott

 

I've got them on a big block, and I like them. One thing I'd advise, is to either get them ceramic coated, or (preferrably...at least to me), apply header wrap to the portion of the headers that are inside the engine bay. The heat that comes off of headers radically effect the performance of carburetors, especially with today's ethanol-blended fuels. They have a far lower boiling point than 100% real gasoline. My old headers were unwrapped, and you could literally hear the fuel boiling in the bowls. And the boiling fuel likes to percolate out of the vent tubes, which really screws up how the engine runs. You may get down the road on a hot day, but try to punch it once and it falls flat on its face.

Since I wrapped my primary tubes, I have none of those problems anymore. And it doesn't really look that bad at all. At least not to me. The headers are still chrome where they come out from under the car and into the collectors. In fact, after a hard run, I can pop the hood and wrap my hand around a primary tube, and it's only warm to the touch.

Other than that, yes, the spark plugs are very hard to get to in some cases. But I would suggest getting the Accel shorty plugs. They give you extra room so your spark plug boots better clear the header. I used 90 degree boots on mine also, but use whatever you find the easiest.

You have to continually tighten the header bolts after every run for awhile. Do this religiously, or a bolt will back out and create a header leak, which sounds terrible. And DO NOT use the cardboard gaskets they give you. You will end up replacing them within a year. Spend the money and get a good quality set from Summit or someplace. You can also get header bolts that are self-locking, or drilled for safety wire. I still suggest going through the tightening ritual at least the first 6 times you drive the car, before locking the bolts in place. Because the gasket compresses and you want to make sure it's leak free before locking the bolts in place.

But big power gains. Mostly in the upper rpm's probably, when the engine needs to really breathe. The Hooker sidepipe inserts are highly restrictive. You can do better by getting spiral inserts, which convert your sidepipes into a true 4 inch exhaust. Only do this if you have a hipo motor, because otherwise, you'll experience a loss of torque by going with such a huge sewer pipe exhaust. If it's a stock motor, maybe a stock insert is best, because it'll keep the torque up.

Also might be good to mention that where the primary tubes come out from under the car, they interfere with little fiberglass tabs that serve no purpose. It's not visible under the rocker panels, but when you remove your rocker panels, which you have to do to install the sidepipes anyway, you'll see what I mean. Loosely attach the headers to the heads with the header bolts and let them hang off the bolts, and then lift the headers up from outside the car and you'll see what needs to be cut or ground. I found a sawzall and dremel tool to be very useful here. Don't worry, what you cut serves no purpose and is not visible at all.

And don't be tempted to omit the rubber bushings either. They isolate vibration, which would otherwise transmit through the frame like a drum. Oh yeah, you'll have to do some other minor clearancing around the holes you mount to, because there's some other crap in the way that serves no purpose. It's weird, because the holes are pre-cut in the frame for the purpose of hanging sidepipes, but then they hang junk in the way that you have to cut or grind, to access those holes. Don't worry, you can reattach your rocker panels once you fit them back into place. And it looks great when you're done.

Keep a towel in the car so your passengers can get out without serious burns to their legs. You'll learn quickly to step way out when you egress the car, but passengers won't know better.

Anyway, that's my advice. Good luck.
:cool: :cool: :cheers:

 

I've got them on my '79 small block. I use short plugs and burnt a couple of boots before I switched to MSD boots. No problems since changing the boots. I also have thermo wrap on my primary tubes. Now that I've lived with it I wish that I had gotten the Jet-Hot coated headers to avoid trapped water and spilled oil on the wrap.

 

'76 383 Stroker MSD 8.5mm w/ Moroso block hugger looms (under header). STS baffles too!

 

thanks for all the info gang. now i know what to look for at installation time. :cheers:

 

i have locks on my bolts and have no problems...

 

My recommendations: Get the headers coated and leave the tubes chrome or coat the whole works. If not the chrome portion under the hood from the collectors forward will not hold up unless it's a trailor queen. Also, use good gaskets (mine are made by Pearl) and get stage 8 locking header bolts; retighten them a couple of times and then lock em down. As far as the inserts, use something other than the hooker inserts as others have said; if you want info about my solution in my sig, email or IM me. You'll love the look and the sound better than anything else! :cool:


[Modified by Marks69BB, 12:10 PM 6/16/2003]