Exhaust System

I was looking into the possibility of fitting headers as a part of my exhaust system.

Photo showing the tubular steel headers sold by Cropredy Bridge garage. They say they fit all V8’s but couldn’t actually confirm they would fit the FF due to the restricted space for the right-hand manifold (the FF engine is offset to the right c.f. Interceptor)

Their had been various postings on the list about the difficulty of getting headers to fit.

I asked the list about this:

“Excuse my ignorance. Headers are, I think, a mild steel or stainless replacement for the exhaust manifold which because of their separate pipe structure give better gas flow??. Cropredy bridge garage sell these off the shelf . They say they fit all V8 Jensen’s so why does it appear to be such a problem to obtain headers in the USA?”

Replies and other info from the list :

1. In my case I need “performance” headers due to the fact that my engine is modified. I think the confusion has arisen due to the fact that some owners merely need replacement headers whereas some of us are specifically looking for large bore performance headers. It is the latter that is hard to source.

2. One problem is more people are using alloy heads which have an angled plug design, not straight like the original cast iron heads. The angled plug interferes with the headers that are designed for the Jensen. If someone is looking for headers there is a good chance they’ve done other improvements to the engine, alloy heads probably very near the top of the list, so it’s no surprise that these folks are looking for some large tube header that fits. That’s the other problem, the small tube design on the available headers. If someone has gone to the trouble of improving the performance of their engine they aren’t going to settle for a choked off exhaust system. I am still waiting for a solution and my Edelbrock heads are still on the shelf. I am not going to do this twice! Anyone working on a new design please, oh PLEASE keep me posted on any progress on a large-tube header design that’ll fit an
Edelbrock headed 440.

3. .Hughes engine do only Mopar stuff, and they do modified iron heads for about $800. Big performance gains, and original looks, and no problem with headers. There on my shopping list…

4.You can make the 383 heads into reasonable performers with the usual head work – you have your local speed shop modify what you have instead of buying new ones. Not as ‘neat’ as buying alloy heads, but usually a lot cheaper!

5. Have a look at http://www.hughesengines.com/heads/bulldog/bulldog_index.asp and if you cant see what you want, try an email to them.

Photo of the new type copper exhaust manifold gaskets which will supposedly stop the problems with them blowing regularly.