Fenderwell header pics

I am putting some fenderwell (Hedman) headers on the CJ. Would some of you all post some pics of your install? They haven't arrived yet and I'm having second thoughts about cutting up my jeep.:v6:

 

Stick with the stock exhaust. You can always do some port matching to help exhaust flow.

 

The exhaust is shot and since I had to replace it from the manifolds back I thought it would be a good time to go to headers. Is there any torque pick up from a good high flow dual exhaust to a header setup? I can always send the headers back if there's little or no gain.:v6:

 

There is not much to gain with headers for a Jeep and cutting the fender wells will only ruin a good fender. My advise is to stick with the stock manifolds and put in new pipes, it will be cleaner looking and I like to use as much factory parts as I can on these old Jeeps.

 

Aside from the power gain and fender cutting, cast iron manifolds are more durable, quieter and cooler. Headers can also be a pain to keep from leaking.

If it were mine, I'd find a good custom exhaust shop locally and have them build a set of duals routed inside the frame rails. You can choose your mufflers to get whatever sound level you like.

 

If you absolutely must go with headers, and you don't need your old manifolds, please offer them up here as there are alot of members looking for stock manifolds.

 

I always like the stock exhaust myself

 

Yep...that's true. But I've seen a bunch of FWH's that had way too much of the fender cut out than was actually required, and it just makes it look bad. Hack jobs also make them look bad. I think if you get the right tools and start out small and trim a little bit at at time it would look much better.

 

I went thru one set of hedman headers in about 6 years, most of which was in hawaii, the salt air got them.

I blew my motor and got/rebuilt another (87 GN motor!). I put on the same headers but got them JETHOTCOATED. Actually they are the same header but I got them straight from Jethot. They are coated inside and out, and have a lifetime garuntee(sp?) for rust out. They are pricy, but this is the only way to go in my opinion if you want to run headers on a vehicle you plan to keep for a long time.

I bought a set of stock manifolds and would have run them but due to my custom installation of the V6 they hit against the steering box. So they were a no go.

If I had the option I would run stock manifolds and single (stock) exhaust.

The fenderwell exits are LOUD, even with my torque tubes, (look like glasspacks but are NOT straight thru), they are loud.

That said, these jethot headers do allow the motor to breath better, and with the coating do not let a lot of extra heat into the engine compartment.

There is much talk of losing low end torque with headers. I run an edelbrock intake, holley 4 bbl, msd ignition, small cam. Also 4.88 gears, T18 granny tranny, and 30" tires. Believe me, there is no way to kill off enough torque to be able to notice with this setup! That would not be my concern.

You only have to cut some on the driver side and it is really on the firewall, not the fender. Pass side I had to remove a downward support strut for the battery tray. I made a little bracket that comes off the battery holddown on the pass side to gain back some the lost support.

I might have some better pics, let me know if you are interested.

 

Here is a pic that might give you an idea of the cutting on the driver side. The rusty headers in this and the pic above are the old set. The silver looking ones above the jethot coated.

 

I used 1/16" plate to make a new lower panel on each side. made the driver side the templete for both sides. had to do some trimming on the driver's side for clearance thou. It is loud, don't notice it much without the top on. looking into new 'quieter' mufflers rather than the fenderwell quasi-glass packs.