The Dodge Challenger Message Board

Hello, i am trying to put a 73 Challenger back on the road after 19 years of siting in a storage locker"good shape minor rust brand new interior ". It had no trans or motor so I went and found a 727 and 440 out of a 1977 motor home "low miles".
Now for my question the Car came with a pair of hooker headers but with all the prob that come with them should i find a pair of normal Exhaust manifolds? If so what do i look for when locating them do they have to be a certain type made for a E-body?
Thanks,Charles

P.S. Thanks for all the tips from everybody here, with out this site i would be HOSED

HI Charles, welcome to the Forum. That car only came with a small block V8, so are the Hooker headers that came with it for a SB? You won't be able to use them on a 440. You will need specially fabbed BB headers for an Ebody. Easily available in the US. I have TTi headers for my 440, but thee are many other types and brands that are cheaper and/or better than these. You might as well put them on if doing a BB swap-in. Just be sure to follow any manufacturers advice (such as with TTi, they say to use a mini-starter and you have to reverse the shifter linkage etc on some types).

You might as well pull out the MotorHome cam (stump puller?) and put in a nice mild performance cam and double row timing chain, what you reckon Eddie?

You can get reproductions of the stock exhaust manifolds from the usual restoration places but they are not cheap. Originals come up for sale on ebay but shipping cast iron isn't cheap either. So you are probably better off getting decent quality headers.

What are you going to use the car for? Drags, road course work, fleeing the coppers or the wife? What 'problems' are you concerned about?

Thanks all, the headers are off of a 383 71 Challenger that a friend wrecked "Bad for him good for me" so i will prob use them.
I was told by said friend he had a lot of trouble with them becoming loose
and leaking and the fact that they are close to the starter and can burn it up.

The only prob i have ran in to is the trans mount from the motor home , i build aircraft so i will fig something out for it.
The engine was rebuilt with a nice .462 lift cam and should be good for the street.
Again Thanks,Charles

P.s Might be good for road work i think they use biodegradable concrete around here and state tree is the orange barrel....

Use good quality copper or aluminium gaskets and the headers will not leak. Re-tighten the header bolts after the first 50 miles and they should stay tight. Use gasket sealer on the bolt threads too as they go into the water jacket.

Thanks Dave i will give it a try. I think i seen your car run a few times at santa pod I was stationd at lakenheath for 7 years. Miss the U.K. some times.
Cheers,Charles

Be careful of lower quality headers (Hedman) as you will constantly fight leaks which I am doing on my 340. I will be changing them out this fall to Doug's as I am done removing the Hedman's and trying to fix leakage......

I have a pair of shorty Doug's on my Roadrunner (383) and they are outstanding (yes a bit more expensive) but never leak and the tone is awesome....

I always suggest when buying headers that you get what you pay for........

Completely agree with the above.

dave-r wrote:Use good quality copper or aluminium gaskets and the headers will not leak. Re-tighten the header bolts after the first 50 miles and they should stay tight. Use gasket sealer on the bolt threads too as they go into the water jacket.

I need to retighten my TTi's. should they be done when the engine is hot and just turned off, or dead cold? I was going to do them hot, but thought i'd ask first. thamks.

dave-r wrote:Re-tighten the header bolts after the first 50 miles and they should stay tight.

I need to retighten my TTi's. should they be done when the engine is hot and just turned off, or dead cold? I was going to do them hot, but thought i'd ask first. thanks

Cold.

Gracias

Hi Charles,

You may want to consider a set of FlowTech ceramic coated headers for you Challenger. They are fairly inexpensive at about $175.00 a set and fit really nice. I haven't had a problem with the 3 sets I've used. They look really good as long as you give them a light polish before you install them and run them through a few heat cycles to cure the ceramic coating before exposing them to long term heat. The part number for them is 33130 FLT and you can find them at Advanced Auto or Auto Zone or probably most of the other parts suppliers. I've bought all of mine from Advanced Auto so I know they have them. You can check on line at their web site to see if there is one close by where you live. They do fit with power steering and your stock starter too. The quality and appearance is outstanding for the price. Check them out for yourself and see what ya think. Good Luck.