project "C10 Fever" (68 factory black 396 swb)

[68bowtie]

The driver side header (Sanderson BB8) bolted right in, no conflict anywhere.



The passenger side was another story.

1. I have wavered back and forth about pulling my th350 (functional, in the truck) and rebuilding my th400. I have the parts, it's just that I'm trying to draw a line so I can move closer to getting this thing on the road. If I pull the drivetrain, I'll end up replacing the driveline and diff (I have a set of posi 4.11's also) and then I'll decide to pull the cab, etc, etc. So anyway, I leave the thing in there, and go to bolt in my headers and wham. The th350 dust shield flange is freaking huge, and sticks out at least 1/2-inch too wide. It hits the header flange. So I cut and grind and cut and grind the trans flange, and finally get it to clear (thankfully with the fenders off, I could sort of reach in there). Problem solved. Which leads to the second issue.

2. Now that the trans clears, the starter solenoid case hits the side of the headers. I already bought the wrong starter once, which was for the wrong flywheel teeth apparently. So I bought another that's correct for the flywheel, but hits the headers. So I am frustrated at this point, and ended up carefully and surgically (not, ha ha it's called a BFH) recessed a small portion of the header to clear the solenoid. Fortunately I got these cheap, and no one will see it anyway. I would have bought another starter, but I would have had to buy a $100+ mini-starter, and there was still a chance it might not have worked. Anyway, I got it to clear. After I knew it would work, I pulled it back out, and mocked up the trans cooler lines. They run RIGHT in the exhaust path just below the header. LOL! I'll deal with that later. Headers are installed.... I made sure to wire up the starter first, because it will NOT be easy getting in there later if needed.