[bendutro]

Zero lateral movement of the body relative to the axle, tire to fender rubbage is no more. No more binding of the 4-link arms causing pushing then snap oversteering. Predictable and progressive cornering... those are the highlights.

[Nicks67GTO]

Originally Posted by bendutro

Zero lateral movement of the body relative to the axle, tire to fender rubbage is no more. No more binding of the 4-link arms causing pushing then snap oversteering. Predictable and progressive cornering... those are the highlights.

Pretty much this^^^ I believe it also dominates the rear roll center and artificially lowers it a bit. So instead of having a floating rear roll center, its consistent leading to a very predictable car. My understanding is that the 64-67 A body cars have a ridiculously high rear roll center and this brings it down and locks it in.

So the short version is its supposed to put the back end of the car on point, make it very predictable and much faster around corners. The downside is it will take the scary musclecar unpredictable feel away, which is part of the fun. If I want it back it will take all of 15 minutes to disconect the wats bars so no big deal.

[imposter]

I've been contemplating it for a while now as well ill wait till you drive it a bit

[Nicks67GTO]

I posted this in the street section too....

Now that the back end is done i'm reworking my exhaust with some Dougs headers and a few other things. As we all know there's always been a debate about what headers are best for the 64-67 A body D port crowd. Hooker Super Comps or Dougs. Since I have both on hand I thought id snap a few pics of them side by side for a compare and contrast.

My analysis: The Dougs win by a very wide margin in every category

-More room for bolts, especially on the center ports

-Much tighter to the floor/better ground clearance which is big for me running auto X

-Though both sets of headers I had were used the Dougs had the better finish quality and they were used far more than the super comps I bought

-Install went far easier than the old hooker removal. By that I mean it required far less horsing around with a floor jack moving the car up and down. In fact I only had to use the floor jack one time for about 1/16" of movement on the drivers side, jacking the engine up with the driver side motor mount bolt out.

IMO this is a dead topic now. The Dougs win hands down. The dougs are the clean headers, the super comps are the dirty headers

[rohrt]

Nice write up Nick.

Looks like you have some good sized dents in the old pipes.

[Nicks67GTO]

Originally Posted by rohrt

Nice write up Nick.

Looks like you have some good sized dents in the old pipes.

Yep I do. They would be pretty easily fixable if someone wanted to....first guy that shows up with $75 bucks and a case of beer can have them

[imposter]

i cut my dougs flanges apart to make it a bit easier to install,. as for the hookers super comps i had them as well they SUCK amazing that after 50 years of making headers someone would change the Jig so they would fit

[Satyr1966]

Back in the early 70s I put a new set of Casler headers on my '66 GTO. The speed shop told me they were made by Hooker. They were awful. I had to make a lot of modifications on them and my upper A arm and of course the Z bar. I had to use several different types of bolts to mount them & they took forever to get on and off. They trapped the oil filter in and the gaskets went bad about every 6 months. After about two years of this nonsense I took them off & put the stock manifolds back on. I've never had headers on any of my cars after that. The Doug's headers look like they might win me over if I decide I want more performance from my mild custom '66. Jerry.

[Nicks67GTO]

Originally Posted by Satyr1966

Back in the early 70s I put a new set of Casler headers on my '66 GTO. The speed shop told me they were made by Hooker. They were awful. I had to make a lot of modifications on them and my upper A arm and of course the Z bar. I had to use several different types of bolts to mount them & they took forever to get on and off. They trapped the oil filter in and the gaskets went bad about every 6 months. After about two years of this nonsense I took them off & put the stock manifolds back on. I've never had headers on any of my cars after that. The Doug's headers look like they might win me over if I decide I want more performance from my mild custom '66. Jerry.

I had some cheap hedmans for this car when I was in highschool. They were awful. It took forever to get them in, they didn't fit at all. It was like they were for something else.

[Nicks67GTO]

Got a little done this weekend...

Installed my UMI driveshaft loop. If you want a no frills driveshaft loop with a nice black finish ill recommend this. Fits like a glove and took 45 minutes to install. I also bought a new drive shaft last year with 1350 Ujoints on both ends to replace my stock necked down unit since ill be beating heavily on it. I had a local business do it. They did a fine job. I cleaned her up and shot it with some satin black paint.

I also started my exhaust install. I'll be making a custom setup from parts I have laying around, a chop saw, my cheap lincoln flux core welder and an angle grinder. The first step was having a local guy tig me in an O2 bung for the EFI and a V band setup on the collector of the new Dougs I bought used from a PY member. Hopefully I can say... gone are the days of blown out 3 bolt gaskets and a leaking exhaust collector. I never got one of those 3 bolt setups to totally seal, on any car, ever. Ever. I did the v bands since the O2 sensor is going to be so close and will probably be sensitive to leaks. Ill be adding QTP electric cutouts and painting the whole exhaust with rattle can POR-15 exhaust flat black.

[Nicks67GTO]

Its been a few weeks and I got some more stuff done. From the get go I couldn't stand my X pipe. I threw it together in a hurry and it was easily visible from the side of the car. It hung low, caused issues with getting the driveshaft out, it just didn't seem to jive and looked like hell. So I pulled it, rounded up some scrap 3" aluminized exhaust pipe, a chop saw, 3" hole saw, level, bench grinder, angle grinder, and Lincoln flux core welder and went to work.

I ended up making the new H pipe setup from scratch. All in all it came to about 50 pieces. The offsets were made with pie cuts on a chop saw. I believe all the pie cuts were at 15* except a few extras were at 7*. The H pipe was made with a 3" hole saw. It was all a trial and error thing but it turned out ok. I really wish I had a better welder. The flux core welder just spits slag everywhere requiring that the surface be ground down a bit. It will hold anything and gets good penetration but the welds are never pretty.

This honestly took FOREVER but it turned out decent and fits well making the exhaust pretty much invisible at ride height. Its coated in POR15 exhaust paint and im just going to cure it by running it around for a few hours after I fire it.

I also did some QuickTime Dumps. The dumps are tucked way up there and you cant see anything except a 1/2" or so poking out under the frame from the side by the rear control arm mount. I cant wait to open this thing up with the flick of a switch!

[rohrt]

Nice work on the exhaust. I really like the clamps on the headers.

[lust4speed]

You might have trouble with the driveshaft contacting the top of the loop. We had to move our loop forward off the body brace to avoid scraping when hitting a hard dip. Maybe take the rear springs out and move the axle up to the snubbers and see how the driveshaft clearance looks.

Moving it just forward of the body brace allows the loop to sit closer to the floor and also puts it in a little less of the driveshaft arc movement. The 9" rear does have its pinion lower, and you will have an advantage over where ours sat with the 12-bolt. Could be enough to get the clearance needed.

[1966geeto]

How long will the coating last. I used the QTP cutouts and love them went with the electronic controller with remotes works great.

[Nicks67GTO]

Originally Posted by 1966geeto

How long will the coating last. I used the QTP cutouts and love them went with the electronic controller with remotes works great.

Im not sure. I had a pair of headers on my Nova that were POR15 coated by my neighbor when he had them. That coating lasted for like 10 years and that was on the header itself. I was impressed. I have to imagine once this paint is cured it will last a long time and look better than dirty aluminized pipe?

[Nicks67GTO]

Originally Posted by lust4speed

You might have trouble with the driveshaft contacting the top of the loop. We had to move our loop forward off the body brace to avoid scraping when hitting a hard dip. Maybe take the rear springs out and move the axle up to the snubbers and see how the driveshaft clearance looks.

Moving it just forward of the body brace allows the loop to sit closer to the floor and also puts it in a little less of the driveshaft arc movement. The 9" rear does have its pinion lower, and you will have an advantage over where ours sat with the 12-bolt. Could be enough to get the clearance needed.

Good call. I see what you're saying. Ill have a look at it, maybe just pop the driveshaft out of the rear yolk and see how far I can push it up and down until it makes contact with the loop? That should give me a good idea if im good on compression and rebound. Right now its dead center top and bottom so if this one hits, they're all going to hit and UMI should know about that.

[Nicks67GTO]

Originally Posted by rohrt

Nice work on the exhaust. I really like the clamps on the headers.

Thanks Ryan. I was so sick of leaking 3 bolt flanges I figured the V bands were worth a shot. I have never had 3 bolt header flange that I could get to seal well.

[Jeff Hamlin]

"Engine Turned" Insert avail; through several vendors.
http://snsclassics.com/haneline_gauges.html

[Vintech]

Thank you Jeff, had not seen that option. They offer satin stainless as well, hmmm...

[Tim Corcoran]

Where did you get that steering wheel with the Pontiac arrow head?