Repairing the Car – Headers

I ordered a new set of headers from Mancini Racing – they are the Hooker Super Competition headers for the Mopar small block.  When they arrived, I tried putting them on the engine.  There is just no way they would go on without at least lifting the engine out of the car a bit, and also removing the steering rods.

So I called up my friend, Jerad Flemming, for help.  He and another friend, Erik Gagnon, came over to my help with an engine hoist.  Jerad and Erik have been car guys for a long time so they were able to dive right in and work some magic while I stood helplessly by.  Wait, that’s not true… I held the flashlight! 

They connected the hoist to the engine and disconnected the engine from the motor mounts.  We were able to lift it up about 5 inches.  We also removed the starter, steering rod, and the header evac hoses.  After about 2 hours of grunt work we finally got both of the new headers on along with shiny new copper gaskets.  We put thread sealant on all of the header bolts and tightened them up.

Putting the starter back on was a royal pain.  After about half an hour of going this way then that way, my buddies were just about ready to give up when all of a sudden the starter just "fell" into place.  Not wanting to try our luck Erik quickly bolted the starter in.  There was also an issue with getting the oil pressure gauge line back on.  We ended up junking the old line and putting on a new one.  And of course by saying "we" I mean Jerad and Erik. 

Here are some pictures of the work up to this point (you can see Jerad and Erik in some of the pictures):