Ms.Mick73Vette

Hey all! Hope somebody can shed some light here. I have a 73 T-Top Vette small block/auto. We took the engine and transmission out to repair all the leaks. Also removed the old rusty headers and side pipes and bought new ones. Hookers. Ceramic coated.

We have the engine and transmission back in. The problem lies in the new headers/sidepipes. On the driver's side, they sit about 1.5 inches away from the car. (the side pipe is just test fitted at the moment) On the passenger side, the header is right up against the car. Not even going to put the side pipe on that side until we figure out how to get the header away from the car. The header needs to come out and down.

Of course, nobody paid any attention to how the old ones fit!

How are they "supposed" to fit along side of the car? The way they are now can't be right.

What can we do?

Thanks in advance!


Mickey

PatsLs1vette

i just did mine last week on my 73,my passenger fit great but the drivers side is closer to the body but not enough im gone to worry about it,but i had to make the sidetube brackets different cause they sat too high i couldnt close or open the door.you should check to see how the body is sitting on the frame maybe its off a bit.


[Modified by patsnitrovette, 10:11 AM 3/24/2004]

NHvette

:iagree: The body might be a bit offset in relation to the frame.

You might check the motor/tranny mounts.
It seems to me that you might be able to loosen the mounts and move the
tail of the tranny side to side enough to make them fit better.

:seeya

Stewart's74

:iagree:

Red73

Below is a picture of my driver side on my 73. Mine fit well on both sides. I also have a small block. Rod

Deslok

Mine has one pipe on the driver's side that touches, but, el sledgo should fix it.

JohnS_77

Very nice! :cool: How do they sound?

74 vert

Mine fit closer to the car on the drivers side. I have a small block.

red79c3

i have a 79 with hooker side pipes and they fit great. are they the same size when you put them together. one isn't a wee bit shorter or something???

70vert

I had a terrible time trying to my hookers to fit my 70 BB. Check your motor mounts, body mounts and check for any body work that may have influenced how they fit.
I went through 4 sets of hooker headers and they still didn't fit. I ended up cutting all eight of the tubes and fitted 3/4"-1" lengths of pipe to each to get the things to fit perfectly. This is ALOT of work; I don't recommend you do this unless you are somewhat skilled at fabricating. Then I sent then to Jet Hot for coating.
Hooker makes these things in Mexico and as such I think their QC suffers. Now I have 1 set of modified hooker sidemount headers on my car (well this weekend anyway) and two new sets of Jet Hot coated sidemount headers in my attic thanks to Hooker.

stingraymaniac

thats the same on mine,sometime in the past someone have had the body off and when they sat it back they didnt center in in the frame.
The body is a little bit too the left
could be that problem you have.

LOTAHP

My left side header did fit closer the the body than the right side by an ever so slight difference. I guess you're going to have to loosen up your engine & tranny mounts and see if you shift it around slightly but enough to make a difference.

Ms.Mick73Vette

Thank you everybody for your replies! Checked engine and transmission mounts. Everything is over the the right as far as possible. Doing anything with the body is out of the question at this time. We're just trying to get her back on the road. Just want her safe and reliable at this point. Talked to someone that has fitted several Corvettes with Hooker Comps and they said seems no two sets are exactly alike. Some fit, some don't fit so good. We're going to have the header bent out a bit. Sure hope this won't hurt the JetHot coating!

Thanks again!

Mickey

LOTAHP

I've had 2 sets and they both fit the same, slightly closer to the left rocker panel than the right.