headers?

[gregfull]

I'm new to this site and need some help. I'm doing a ground up on a 72 burb, I've planted a Ram Jet 502 between the rails and need some suggestions on headers or cast iron manifolds. The deal is that I need an O2 bung in the header or manifold. Does anyone know of a header that will fit the 72 and have the O2 bung for the sensor?

thanks.

[rage'nrat638]

buy your headers uncoated weld the bung into place then get the headers coated

[rage'nrat638]

by the way looks sweet so far buddy.....

[gregfull]

rage'nrat638,

Any brand better than any other? I've never used any headers before, I've always been a "stocker".

[dinnut]

are you in sugar land tx near houston? im in missouri city... welcome to the board. nice looking burb. you can get o2 sensors put in to headers. some people might actually sell them already.

[gregfull]

Thanks guys. Yea, I'm in Old Sugar Land. What are your takes on headers. My Dad is old school and says they always leak, he prefers cast iron. What do you think?

[rage'nrat638]

i run hookers my self....on the 69 350....and on the 85 638..
very happy with them.....
use the copper gaskets and stage 8 bolts you will never have a problem

[Longhorn Man]

I agree, headers are a pain if you get cheap ones and don't use the right gaskets. Use the dead soft alluminum ones on the collectors. You can reuse them a million times, then put them on your next set of headers.
You should be able to get headers with teh O2 hole in there, the same p/n goes from 68 - 87.

[jhow66]

I have the same set up as you have except I have the 502HO. I used Hedman part # 69130 ( 2" primary-3" collector) and had them Jet-Hot coated. They fit like a glove and have not had any leaks with the stock gaskets that came with them. Been on the truck for over 2 years now. Just weld in a bung before having them coated. Good luck on your project.

[dinnut]

if youre going the cast iron route, frank (pickmup) has some sweet ones that might work. i dont know what theyre for other than big block chevy. they look sweet.
i thought i saw where you can put an o2 sensor anywhere before the muffler in the exhaust? or was that just anywhere in the header?

[Longhorn Man]

it needs to be in the header. You don't want the gasses to cool down too much before the computer gets the reading.

[chevy blazer guy]

I have a set of hooker supercomps on my 468 BB and i used earls gaskets on the head and colector and havent had a leak in over a year.

[Rooster's 67]

most O2 sensors are within the first 12-18 inches of the closest exhaust port. What type of injection are you going to run? you may have the option of running a heated O2 sensor that will help bring the sensor up to operating temp. In theory you could put the O2 directly after the collector but that is getting a little far downstream. Heated or non heated that is the question, see if the computer you are going to use will support the heated, it gives more options.

[1972C10]

I personally dont think too much of collectors i always get my pipes welded to the header one leak you can eliminate .. I like them Mr gasket graphite header gaskets that do not have the provision to drop in little harder to put in but worth it i soak mine in water before putting them in and they seem to seal

Make sure you have good mounts engine flexing is a big cause of header leaks.