Chopping Chevy headers to fit ford 302!

[A clueless college student]

Ok. So I'm trying to make my engine sound a bit louder, and by a bit louder I of course mean an absolute public disturbance. At a swap meet recently, I found what looked to be the perfect pipes! But they are actually for a small block Chevy. But for $30, I'm willing to gamble! The metal work, height adjustment, and welding is not my concern, I can do that part. What is my concern is O2 sensors and the smog stuff. I need some feedback on how I should go about the mechanical stuff and what I should be aware of that can mess up the car.

It's probably worth mentioning that my intention is to make blastpipes that dump a little behind the front tires. If you folks think it would be safer, more efficient, etc. to make a full exhaust system, then I'd rather be safe than sorry. I'm also hoping to avoid having the engine have to be tuned or recalibrated, if I can be avoided.

Thanks for taking the time to help me out with this! I have a picture of the headers, I'll put it down below!

[A clueless college student]

and there they are!

[86VickyLX]

I think you wasted 30$ I'm pretty sure the head ports on a SBC are round whereas the ports on the Ford are square. Regardless of that. If you manage to make them fit somehow, welding an oxygen sensor bung somewhere on each collector portion of the headers will give you no complaints from the computer. As far as the thermactor stuff with the catalytic converters, if you were keeping them would be near impossible.

[sxcpotatoes]

My dad likes to tell the story about back in the day, how they used 3"? or whatever cast iron drain pipe Y to make dumps just behind the header you could unscrew/open.

I don't know, you can get cheap chinese-ium headers for like $100 a pair on Ebay, and long tubes don't really fit on our cars at all so you're going to have to refabulate the entire things, who knows if the holes even line up with the block. The amount of time, effort, and welding gas you have to go through kinda makes this idea pretty uneconomical, or you would be better off starting from scratch making your own headers. You really should do some sort of full exhaust, with self-engineered cutouts (I guess the electronic/electric ones are for shit/crap out yearly), so you're not getting your car impounded or carbon monoxide poisoning.

[Brown_Muscle]

First of all, welcome to the forum! $30 is a good deal, however you will run into several problems. Other than pipe spacing needing to be changed, the collectors will almost certainly hit the cross member, even ford long tube headers do not work on our cars without major modifications, let alone chevy ones.

To be honest the easiest, and overall cheapest route to go is to get a pair of used 302 shorty headers, they sell for very cheap, like $50 or less if you get a deal, and then attach the rest of the exhaust from there. You're going to be spending a lot of time modifying those pipes to make them even come close to working, and by the time your done you could have spent the time working on something else on the car, been there and done that MANY times, especially if i get a cheap part i wanted to make work, but it never ended up worth it.

Also as you mentioned, theres no good place to put the o2 sensors, they will be farther away from the engine than is ideal if you end up somehow making the longtubes work, and if you still have the smog pump, there's no point to it if you don't have cats anymore. Most people on the forum removed that system, if testing in their state allows it. I know it wasnt exactly what you wanted to hear, but just my 2 cents

[Giraffe]

From my observations, it looks like the only reason Mustang long tubes don't fit our cars is because of the bulkhead in the frame. Do GM cars have a similar bulkhead? If so, I don't see why they wouldn't work.

[knucklehead0202]

Sell those to somebody with a chevy for $50 and then get this. https://www.ebay.com/itm/FOR-79-93-F...daZX5a&vxp=mtr
You can then do whatever you want with pipework and all you need is a ball-and-socket flange and 02 bungs.

[Brown_Muscle]

Sell those to somebody with a chevy for $50 and then get this. https://www.ebay.com/itm/FOR-79-93-F...daZX5a&vxp=mtr
You can then do whatever you want with pipework and all you need is a ball-and-socket flange and 02 bungs.

How in the world are those so cheap!? especially in stainless.

[rellik god]

its not stainless


Condition: New Surface Finish: Painted
Inlet/ Outlet: 1.25" / 2.25" Warranty: YES
Materials:: Painted Finished Steel Fitment Type: Performance/Custom
Brand:
AutoForever
Placement on Vehicle: Front
Manufacturer Part Number:
HDSFM8650L
UPC:
Does not apply

[JeffBoudah]

waste of time. the headers dont line up with your heads, SFB does not use the side by side exahsut port location, bolt pattern is wrong.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/s...view/make/ford
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/s...make/chevrolet

[Brown_Muscle]

That's conflicting, it says in the main description and title that they are made of stainless steel

[gadget73]

some steel stains more, so this is stain less.

but yeah, Chevy ports are different location and all that. As long as you put the oxygen sensors at the collector of whatever headers you run, the ECM won't care. If you need longer ones, Mark VII sensors should do it, or you can just extend the wires. I'd probably go for new just because getting the old ones out is usually a bitch.

Something to be aware of, there are fuel and brake lines right above the frame rail directly behind the front wheels. If you're putting exhaust anywhere up there, be very careful of where you weld, bolt, or drill. Honestly I wouldn't put pipe outlets in front of the door anyway, at a minimum they would have to be in front of the rear tires. I can just see burning the shit out of myself with pipes up front. Some states won't allow that sort of thing anyway, so check your local laws before you waste money on something you'll have to rip off.

[JeffBoudah]

It says they are 304 stainless further down the page, 409 is the usual go to for stainless exhaust components because it has like 90% less nickel making it way cheaper.

[Lincolnmania]

wonder if they are any better than warped rusty hedmans?

[A clueless college student]

Hey everyone! Thank you guys for your feedback!! I was originally going to splice these together in my selected topics course this next term ( it's kinda like a class where come in and weld whatever you want ), but I might hold off on doing it for now. I need to put her back up on the lift and take a good long look at everything underneath. I kinda figured I'd have to cut them up and bend em' into shape. I figured I might have to make an adapter to fit the heads and the cats. I want these to be bat-shit crazy and stupid, but on the off hand, I also don't want to screw up my engine. I've got a TIG welder and time, so I'm not gunna try and rush it.

Thanks again for taking the time to put in your 2 cents!! Your input is heard and any advice is good advice, to me anyways.