my 70 camaro still has the factory exhaust manifolds, although it has
brand new dual exhaust from previous owner, will i have to jack up
the 350 to install headers or will they clear, i was gonna go with
hooker, any suggestions?? thanks

 

Depends. I'm not familiar with how Hookers fit ingeneral, but there's lots of different styles, and each fits differently. Some will have equal length tubes, which require extra bends to keep the length the same. This creates a little extra that can cause installation time to take longer or be more involved.
Others concentrate on getting lots of clearance, and in doing so the installation is easier, but might not make a couple extra horses that equal length can make.
Best to contact Hooker and ask them to email you installation instructions for the specific model you're looking at, then you can decide if it's worth the work.
Surprisingly, most small block headers have more clearance issues than big blocks in a Chevy. My Doug Thorley headers dropped right in from above by simply removing the old cast exhaust and the spark plugs. Lots of room due to the exhaust port angle, which allows for a faster turn out of the head, vs. a pretty gradual turn on most small block headers. All I had to do was jack the car up to allow the collectors to miss the ground when I installed them from above.

 

I have a 78 with 1 3/4 Hooker Super Comps. They fit well. Ground clearance is the same as th el-cheapos I was running before. My car doesn't have AC though, that can be a nightmare.

 

I'd recommend shorty headers for ground clearence. I have longtubes and I don't really have enough ground clearence. They've already scraped a couple times.

 

i hear that, the headers in my 78 have hit a couple times. But i did have to undo the drivers side engine mount and put a big steel pole in there and leveraged the engine up just a couple inches to get the drivers side header in (clutch linkage was in the way and i didnt want to disconnect it) not sure if an automatic would have the same problem, but the passenger side fit right in there like a glove. (not sure if the early 2nd gens had more engine bay clearance because they still had the big block option for a bit)

 

I've never scraped anything on my Doug Thorley headers. They tuck up nicely, and no scraping problems.

Yikes! I just looked at Summit for Doug Thorley headers! What the heck happened to those guys? Looks like they've gotten really proud of their workmanship! Mine were $69 a set back in 1975, and now the same headers are over $400! Talk about inflation!

 

Its that super duper high quality mild steel.

 

thanks for all the replies, gonna go to the hooker website, ask a few questions, i do have automatic, maybe a little more clearance!!