[old66tiger]

I heard that Jet Hot is the hot ticket when it comes to header coating, but who has the best fitting headers on the market today? hooker, dougs, etc.

[TransAm525]

Doug's.

[Ron Landis]

only ones guaranteed to fit a Pontiac!

[nh68gto]

What about ground clearance, dropping the stance??? Am i going to have to go to manifolds to get clearance???

[DBONES152]

I put Doug's on my 66 a few years ago. Fit like a charm. I was able to get the boxed end of my wrench on every bolt. It actually took me longer to get the old Hooker's off than to get the Doug's on. Three years later the ceramic coating still looks like new. You can buy them right thru PY.

[TransAm525]

I can't speak for any model outside of the second gen Firebird with regard to ground clearance. I can tell you this, my 1978 Trans Am has been lowered 3" and I haven't had any ground clearance problems with the headers so far, even over speed bumps.

[PLAY400]

I have been using Hedman's with no problems

[4dblnkldude]

Dougs......hands down.

[i82much]

It depends on the chassis, tube size, round port or D-port, etc. If you ask me, find somebody who has a comparable setup and is happy with their headers.

That said, I have Doug's round ports on my 65 goat, and they are great looking headers, fit well, nice welds, nice thick metal, so I am very happy.

[67 Lamnas]

I've had both the d and round port Dougs on my '67. The drivers side slips in after removing the starter. The pass side header requires removal of the oil filter adapter and lifting the engine up 1/2-3/4". My transmission pan is lower than the headers.

[roadrage david]

To bad they dont make a 2inch primary header with that great ground clearense.
People wil be all over them to get those baby,s.

[David Jones]

I used Doug's. I bought them already ceramic coated from our sponsor, Performance Years. I'm a pretty good shopper and when I bought them, PY had the best price. I've heard/read complaints about the quality of the coating that Doug's has from the factory but mine look just like the day I installed them nearly 2 years ago. Before the headers I had Ram Air III manifolds with Torque Tech downpipes and the Doug's have slightly more ground clearance than I had. I think it's pretty hard to make the 90 degree bend right out of the RA III manifolds and still get a good seal AND ground clearance. Let me put it like this....with the RA III manifolds installed and 4 people in my 69 GTO the down pipes would scrape, ever so slightly, as I crossed the gutter leaving my driveway. With the Doug's I've had no issues.
http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=550283
The link is a thread about what I ran into installing my headers. I used Jet Hot to coat my RA III manifolds (inside and out) and ran them for quite a while. They looked great when I took them off, so my experience is positive with Jet Hot. I have a new (well, 35 years old but new to me) P4B-QJ intake that I'm working on for my car and I have contacted Jet Hot about a quote to ceramic coat it.

[old66tiger]

Thanks for the responses.
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I had heard something where someone cut the flanges apart on the headers to allow for thermal expansion of the headers which was suppose to help keep a more consistent seal. Something about the heat from the headers changes more rapidly in comparison to the iron or aluminum heads which can lead to the headers shifting ever so slightly creating leaks.
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I had also heard from someone that they bought a set of headers from PY with the ceramic coating and had some pimpling of the coating occur. Anyone else heard that story? One of the reasons why I had thought of Jet Hot. However, they only sell Hooker headers.
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Can you weld the O2 bung in the adapter pipe or should it go in the header itself? If I go with a pre-coated header, I obviously will not want to weld anything into the header pipes
*
Thanks

[Region Warrior]

My 5 yr Dougs are rusty.
But everything rusts in my garage

[RUDOLFSSON]

I've helped getting Dougs headers into a 68 Firebird and 69 GTO.. I wasn't impressed at all with the fit... there was definietly some room for improvement on getting them to fit better! But they have nice coating job and thick and good flanges, decent headers for the price I guess.

[old66tiger]

I was looking on jet Hot's website and they carry Hooker Comp Headers with a lifetime warranty (assume they mean coating) for $459 and Super Comp for $719. Are Hooker as good as Dougs for fitment??

[MandevilleBird]

I bought my hookers from JetHot for my '68 fireiird. No problems. They look great after 2 years.

[mrlhaygood]

I am disapointed with the Dougs headers. I tried three different sets of the D590 for my '69 GTO from three different suppliers and none of them fit. The first pair hit the frame the second & Third hit the front cross member. Baught a set of D-port Hooker headers and they went right in NO problems! So for now on, "I love my Hooker headers!"

[daves57]

not being all that familiar with pontiac engines what should i look for when buying a set of headers for a 400 with #16 heads? d port or round port. thanks dave.

[David Jones]

D Port