Question About Headers/Pavement

[HWY HNTR]

I'm driving the falcon around and my headers hit on almost everything (like it hits on the middle of neighborhood streets because the sides are worn out by cars driving on them and it kinda peaks in the middle). Anyways, some people have me worried about if the headers hit the road hard enough that it could damage the cylinder heads. I guess they're saying that there's not enough give and since they're bolted to the cylinder heads...you know what I'm saying. Well what do you guys think? My muffler used to hit on my mercedes all the time but I never worried because it was located further away from the engine and always thought that the worst that would happen is the muffler itself would just get torn off. Also I have thought about switching from the longtubes back to the stock exhaust but that would make it slower/lose performance, and raising it is not an option. So I was planning on cutting/rewelding the headers so they sit higher off the ground. Do any of you guys have any experience? Do you think I should just let them drag? You don't think if they hit the ground hard enough they would move vertically enough to rip the cylinder heads? Or do you think they would just bend up/break or maybe even do damage to engine mounts before they did damage to the cylinder heads? Shocks are bottomed out in the front as well. Not sure if that makes a difference.

Here's a pic for reference about how low the headers are. It's not an exaggeration, that's in my garage on smooth/level ground. The headers are pretty much the only thing that I"m worried about hitting because other than them it's just frame that's that low and I don't really care if the frame hits.

http://www.badintentionsracing.com/666photography/ipodlow.jpg

What do you guys think?

[HWY HNTR]

there's been quite a few views, but no posts. Is it because this is a stupid question and the answer is to stop being a bitch? Or is no one is posting cause they have no idea? I figured this would be the site to ask since it's about altitude and whatnot

[smokenyall]

headers on my 67 were about 1.5 off the ground . iv smacked them hard more times than i can count. and iv never had problem.

[HWY HNTR]

cool, thanks, ya I sorta figured that the cylinder heads wouldn't incur any damage from it but just wanted to be sure you know? Either way there's a big car show in Nov that I'm going to that's all about old cars and I'm hoping that one of the venders there will specialize in shocks that are made for lowered cars like mine.

[smokenyall]

ya i never had a problem with bottoming out the shocks . just the headers haha . i could get almost 2 inches of tire tuck in the from but i was already 1.5 past bottoming out my headers

[HWY HNTR]

well I actually already tuck too much tire, sorta. Like I can turn pretty good now, but I plan on widening them so I'm planning on going with a smaller sidewall for the fronts and a little stretch. Different story for the rears. Gonna run a little stretch but will go with a bigger/meatier sidewall. I don't really like the "tucked" look that older cars always go with. When I'm driving down the road/highway I want the front to look really wide just enough to where you can see a little bit of the wheels. Kinda like this: http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/9679/getattachment3s.jpg

[anth]

I don't think it would damage the actual cylinder heads, but it might put some pressure on the studs that the manifolds bolt to, might bend them a bit at worst? Just a guess. Is there any room in the exhaust system to weld in some flex-pipe?

[HWY HNTR]

ya that's true, you're prolly right about the studs. As for flex pipe, I'm not sure what that is. Like, if you see in that picture, the part that's really low to the ground is before the individual pipes collect into one pipe. So what I was thinking I may do if it was dangerous was to cut and re-weld the individual pipes so that it sat a little higher. But now I think I'm just gonna leave it the way it is. And go slow over big bumps that I think it will take a lot of shock from. It sucks that there's no travel in the shocks. Then if I can get some better shocks with more travel maybe that will take some of the shock from exhaust. So like rather than just hitting the exhaust, it will hit the exhaust and some of the force will go though the shocks rather than the studs? IDk. haha.

[trism]

the only real solution i can see would be custom headers, with a collector that sits heaps higher up, straight into some flex pipe.

[luvadubdub]

I would be careful if I were you, I have a stud that broke a little bit off my cylinder head from my header hitting the ground, sorry if this sounds worrying...

[benz88]

the only real solution i can see would be custom headers, with a collector that sits heaps higher up, straight into some flex pipe.

aka shorty headers and not longtubes. You dont need to custom make them;)

[kaidotech]

OP, be VERY careful about this happen. I just finished helping my friend change out the exhaust on his 5.0 Mustang that was slammed. His headers hit the road everywhere and caused an exhaustleak at the block, and a small leak at the collector to Y pipe fitting. Its def not a good thing, and don't just ignore it.

Do you have any room to tuck the exhaust into the frame, or get a pair of shorties and tuck the downpipe closer in?

[HWY HNTR]

I would be careful if I were you, I have a stud that broke a little bit off my cylinder head from my header hitting the ground, sorry if this sounds worrying...
it's very worrying haha, thanks for the warning tho :)
aka shorty headers and not longtubes. You dont need to custom make them;)
I don't like shorties :mad
OP, be VERY careful about this happen. I just finished helping my friend change out the exhaust on his 5.0 Mustang that was slammed. His headers hit the road everywhere and caused an exhaustleak at the block, and a small leak at the collector to Y pipe fitting. Its def not a good thing, and don't just ignore it.

Do you have any room to tuck the exhaust into the frame, or get a pair of shorties and tuck the downpipe closer in?
Ya, I think one of these days I'm going to cut the exhausts before they collect into one and reweld them to bring them above the frame. In that picture that's the frame that the phone is sitting on, so if I could just bring up the headers prolly 6 inches? I should be good

[StatusRacing]

it's very worrying haha, thanks for the warning tho :)

I don't like shorties :mad

Ya, I think one of these days I'm going to cut the exhausts before they collect into one and reweld them to bring them above the frame. In that picture that's the frame that the phone is sitting on, so if I could just bring up the headers prolly 6 inches? I should be good

Shorten the runners (where they run vertical), and then run them at the slightest angle you can manage until they get far enough to meet the rest of the exhaust. Use some flex pipe if needed. The rest of the exhaust may need work as well.

http://www.google.com/search?q=exhaust+flex+pipe&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1920&bih=931

This is definitely not going to be the most efficient or power producing header around, but based on your ride height I don't think that's really a priority with this build, correct?

[kartikeya]

More likely to just damage the headers, or at most the studs, but really, do you want to push your luck? Even just a cracked or bent stud, or anything that causes a leak at the head will make for a very shitty day.

[HWY HNTR]

Shorten the runners (where they run vertical), and then run them at the slightest angle you can manage until they get far enough to meet the rest of the exhaust. Use some flex pipe if needed. The rest of the exhaust may need work as well.

http://www.google.com/search?q=exhaust+flex+pipe&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1920&bih=931

This is definitely not going to be the most efficient or power producing header around, but based on your ride height I don't think that's really a priority with this build, correct?
well, while I'm not trying to be the fastest guy on the road lol, I do **** going forward with performance then going backwards. I am building a 351w to put in it (hopefully before the end of this year) but yea I'm going to try and shorten the runners like you said, I mean, it's only got to be raised a few inches then it will be above the safety of the frame and then I won't have to worry.

More likely to just damage the headers, or at most the studs, but really, do you want to push your luck? Even just a cracked or bent stud, or anything that causes a leak at the head will make for a very shitty day.
I know, it's just that the car is finally on the road and looking good and I didn't want to take the exhaust and stuff, cause there's so many projects around here that if I take a car off the road for just a tiny bit it seems like forever. But ya I'm gonna raise it just enough past the frame

[Shade]

I had a Honda and the header was just as low as yours. Drove around bumping the road for weeks and thought I was gonna be fine, until that one bump. Don't ride around like that man. It WILL happen.

[CHIF8008]

if you hit them hard enough you CAN do damage to the tubes themselves and cause the welds to brake.(or maybe even shear the bolts that come out of the head that hold them on) i say get them shortened just a lil to be either flush with the bottom frame or close to it if you have room for them to sit higher. also i would weld an additional skid plate to the bottom of those so that i had to first scrape through that before my real exhaust.