Best long tube header for under $1k?

Red 93 L1 #3383

Red 93 L1 #3383

Boys & their toys
I'm looking for options since my '94 came with a set of hacked up Mac headers which I suspect were originally for a manual transmission. At what power level do I need 1 3/4" over 1 5/8". BBK 15310 won't ship until end of June going into July. There are some Pace Setter 766-72C2223 in stock @ Jeg's & Flowtech 32104FLT @ Summit Racing. There is a set of 1 3/4" over at American Muscle https://www.americanmuscle.com/doug...ll-length-headers-metallic-ceramic-d6671.html . Only the Pace Setters say they are for a F-150, all the others are Fox Body Mustang that claim to fit all models & not limited to manual transmission only. I did get the driver side to bend out some & give me a little clearance but the passenger side has only given me about a 1/4" so far. I'm hoping to find a little time on Friday to get them to bend out a little more. I'd love to order Kook's but they are too much money & too far out. I plan to weld on V-band flanges to the collector so I don't care what they come with there as long as it has 3" collectors. Let me know what you have confirmed fitting that aren't listed as a fit by the manufacture, even if a slight modification is needed. The truck's frame was cut out for the Mac's so there is plenty of space.
 

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make sure the port shape matches the heads. they make oval and square port. flowtechs that i purchased were oval and not square/rectangular.
not sure on the pace settters, i know jba's are very good. im running the ford motorsport stainless shorties for the f150/broncos, and are square port, matching the gt40's perfectly with no spark plug or any other issues, just a double nut on the stud for the dipstick.

ive only beenable to fit bronco/f150 style long tubes years ago. anything for the musttang either hit the firewall or the big e4od, or my transfer case was in the way. the passanger side needs to almost 90 downwards due to the firewall being so close to that side of the engine, as well as both sides.

you may find some infor in the fullsizebronco website on headers, a lot of guys over there run them, and they are the same trucks but with a transfer case.
 
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Summit has both Hedman and Hooker in stock and ceramic coated for well under $1000. They are 1.5" primaries, but beggers can't be choosers. Even mild combinations usually do better with 1 3/4 primaries, but even 1.5 is better than stock. I've had a set of Hedmans on my truck for 23 years and over 300k miles with no issues at all other than replacing the collector gaskets a few times.
 
jetski247 said:
which hedmans are you running?

im looking for a set of these, start scrolling down till you see them

https://www.fullsizebronco.com/threads/gulf-coast-bronco-restoration.511539/page-9
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Are you talking about the tri-Ys in post 169? Good luck.

I've got the Hedman 89300s. They are on a 300 straight six. I'm pretty sure my wife's 73 Camaro also has Hedmans on it that have done well for us other than getting beaten up going over speed bumps. Those have been on since I met her in 1995. Unlike my truck, that car is not her daily driver and doesn't have that many miles on it. Mainly because it's a Chevy and won't stay running that long.
 
So this weekend I had a plan pop into my head on how to fix my header clearance issue. Why I didn't think of this sooner is beyond me. So tonight with a little help from the porta power I borrowed from work, I was able to gain some much needed clearance. I gained 1 3/4" between the headers. I had the headers bolted to a stock F-150 iron head 5.8 I had sitting in my garage which is why I was able to make this work & having an empty E4OD case laying around is letting me confirm that I have gained some clearance. Now I need to test fit in chassis & hope they still fit. If they do it will finally be time to start working on fabbing up the rest of the exhaust system.
 

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jetski247 said:
nice, how id you bend them?
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Once I decided to bolt them onto an extra 351w I had laying around the porta power made light work of the bending out. I was surprised how evenly they bent out. I was afraid one would move & the other wouldn't. I'm not sure what I would have done to keep one side from moving. Now it's time to start cutting & tacking together the rest of the exhaust.
 
I have JBA long tubes 1 5/8”. I like them. The fit good. On passenger side I ground off 1/8”-1/4” in off lower rail to clear.
 
yeah i wasn't sure if you bent them one at a time or what, you got lucky they both bent and not the weaker one first. with them spread out, now you can work on the x pipe
 
jetski247 said:
yeah i wasn't sure if you bent them one at a time or what, you got lucky they both bent and not the weaker one first. with them spread out, now you can work on the x pipe
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My first attempt was bolting them to an old iron head & using our payloader bucket to hold it in place I tried to use a 8' 4x4 to get them to bend out. I was able to gain some but not enough. After I put this spare engine on a cart & grabbed an empty case to try & check clearances with the headers is when I thought of the porta power.
 
jetski247 said:
lol, we have to be engineers, machinist, artist to work on our trucks cuz nothing fits right....
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I find it satisfying when I can make something work in an application it wasn't designed for. I'm half tempted to buy a set of BBK 1 3/4" primary fox 5 speed headers & try this again. I currently have 3 other trucks from '80-'95 that have a 351W.
 
Red 93 L1 #3383 said:
I find it satisfying when I can make something work in an application it wasn't designed for. I'm half tempted to buy a set of BBK 1 3/4" primary fox 5 speed headers & try this again. I currently have 3 other trucks from '80-'95 that have a 351W.
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I thought it was fox body V8 AUTOMATIC for headers. 5 speed is narrow.
 
If MAC is still around they had 1-3/4 primaries from a 351 swap AODE mustang. They fit with very small amount of grinding on the passenger frame. They were like 375 and change for painted 5-600 ish for ceramic
 
im running the ford motorsports stainless shorties for the f150/bronco and couldn't be happier. port match is perfect for the gt40's, bolting them on the block was no issues, minus a little dipstick finesse..........and they have held up the test of time, through all my offroading, beach trips etc.....they still look great, plus they have o2 bung threads on each side if your running a dual hego maf system.......and most importantly......all my stock stuff bolted right up......OTS Y pipes, EGR, all fit great.....but they are shorties........i want the grunt and sound of a set of long tubes.....

so what ive been contemplating is buying a set of longtubes that i like that "won't bolt up" but will "fit" with a little finessee, such as a set for the LS or like these below, cutting off all the tubes where they bolt to the block and welding in a chopped set from a sbf and getting a one of a kind, tri y or whatevery you like.....for our trucks.
https://genieheaders.com.au/listings/gen550e/
those are for the cleveland but you need to look at firing order to see if the tri y will even be close to our 351's.

what we all want is a long tube that has easy spark plug access, the driver long tube side bends towards the passanger side between the engine/e4od instead of pointing back, and is connected to a high flow Y'ish pipe where the two meet to go along the passanger side.
and i can't remember what long tube header i saw that the passanger side header tubes "all 4" bent to fit where the normal Y pipe goes and was connected to the other header with a Y type splitter...... im thinking it was for a camero but i'll have to google it
 
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95sporty150 said:
If MAC is still around they had 1-3/4 primaries from a 351 swap AODE mustang. They fit with very small amount of grinding on the passenger frame. They were like 375 and change for painted 5-600 ish for ceramic
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If MAC was still in business this thread wouldn't exist. Those headers would have already been ordered & installed. In fact the headers I have are supposedly MAC's but I believe they were 5 speed headers & not the AODE headers I needed.
 
SVT1077 said:
I thought it was fox body V8 AUTOMATIC for headers. 5 speed is narrow.
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The BBK 15940 1 3/4"are 5 speed only, the BBK 15310 that say they fit an auto are 1 5/8". Now American Muscle shows a 1 3/4" Fox body header but doesn't say if it will fit an auto. They are also $400 more than the BBK's. If I knew for a fact I could porta power another set of 5 speed headers I would probably go that route..
 
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