So I take my Mav. to school since it is my daily for a while and the time being, and a couple hours ago something pretty "serious" happened and I need help as usual! On the way there my car began to smoke from the passenger side near the battery. I quickly pulled over, popped the hood and finally found out what it was. The header is 'weird' and began puffing smoke to my alternator wires causing it to get loose. After it got loose the wire began to touch the block and headers where the smoke had occurred. What I need are some headers that are direct fit to a stock 5.0L 302 ci engine, preferably one that doesn't need me to trim are morph the cars engine bay! Any know where to find them? I'd also like to add that it would be more convenient for me to buy it either off of JEGS, Summit, or any other performance parts! For now I'll post a pic of the weird header outlet that caused the problem and will add the rest of the exhaust pics after but for now I need an idea of what will work best with my set up! Please if anything needs more explaining with pics or verbally then let me know!
Is your car a column shift car, if so your best bet is Hedman 88400, they are a shorty header and will fit with power steering and column shift car . If the car is a floor shift car then Hooker 6901 headers fit about as good as any and are by far the most popular ones used but if you have power steering then you will need a power steering drop bracket for clearance. Both are available through Jegs and Summit but you will still have to take it to an exhaust shop to get them matched up to your existing exhaust. Hopefully you have dual exhaust. Much info about headers if you use the search feature
Looks to be a stove pipe from the pic'? If you have smoke coming from that pipe then you either cracked the exhaust manifold or have bad gasket. It's simply used a s a heat riser to control the valve in the factory style air cleaner. If it was a lot of smoke?.. then you have a bad cylinder.. could be rings, cracked piston/ring land, or bad valve stem seal.
Its a floor shifter but I realized that I forgot one key part to the problem. I'm on a budget, I have about $200 give or take a few depending on the price and quality of the headers! I dont think it is an engine problem because not too long ago I had my car tuned and fixed! I really dont know If i'll be able to afford the headers and the professional install at the moment! I do have the crises' to deal with economically so I need this as a Semi-permanent fix, at least enough to stop the damage! I will NOT be installing these alone, I will have either my father or an uncle to help since the both have some experience working on cars! I know I could've searched what headers others are using but I would rather have an immediate answer over desperately looking through each posted thread to find the best one similar to my setup/ situation!
does it sound like it has an exhaust leak? does it run poorly? if not repair the wires,wire tie them away from the manifold. also check your timing&mixture could be too lean getting manifold too hot save your money for now if you can, headers give off more heat than your manifolds
There is an exhaust leak but this is a bit different. The picture taken shows that there is a stove pipe popping up near the alternator and cause the wires to heat up! The mechanics at the shop where I took my car to couldn't pinpoint the leak, they also said that the leak was minor and that everything else runs great! I also realize that the suggested hooker headers are in the price range of mine I had just looked at the wrong item but the same brand!
You could get some flex pipe and a few fitting to hook it to your existing exhaust for a temp fix and should be close to your budget, yeah the ceramic ones are a tad bit over your budget. You will probably have to lift the engine a little on the drivers side, just unhook the bolt that goes through motor mount to the frame stand, be careful where you place the jack to raise the engine. Take the spark plugs out. Sometimes the pitman arm will hit the headers so dont be alarmed if that happens you may have to dimple the header or live with it, it will just stop you from fully turning by just a little Life is tough on a budget and it being your only car and school
It's not just a simple swap to headers. You'll need to redo the exhaust system too. Personally?.. if on a budget and time is a concern.. I'd just break off the stove pipe(surprised it hasn't been removed or at least rotted off yet anyways).. fix the exhaust leak(hopefully not a cracked or warped manifold/mild to moderate warp can be milled away).. and move on with life by keeping more money in your wallet.
I think its fine. Just zip-tie/secure the wires away from the exhaust. You never want anything touching the Manifold. It gets really hot.
I agree with what groberts101 and madman21 said. From what I see in the picture, headers are an over repair.
