rdhigh1974

Hello all. Im new to the site so sorry if this is a well covered topic. I have a 78 Chevy truck diesel convert. Seems like thats the thing to do so there has got to be some headers somewhere to just be able to bolt in witbout having to cut bend weld. Its a truck, lots of room. My first Olds motor and super happy with it. Its a 72 350 with 7a heads. Truck has duel tanks and is shortbed. Not sure if anything else relavent info to aplication.

oldsmobiledave

Off the shelf headers for this application do not exist. Get your wallet out & buck up for an expensive custom instal. Start with a quality set of A body SBO headers & mod as needed. Good Luck.

rdhigh1974

Just checked. My wallet is almost empty, I think I can afford the bolts. I would think somebodys made some that would go.

oldsmobiledave

You thought wrong. No major manufacturer makes headers for this application. The only thing you can hope to find a used set of that someone had made. Sometimes there is not getting around spending money when you want something.

rdhigh1974

Well doesnt have to be major manufacturer lol. It just seems like this is a common enough conversion and for the few years of a production it was that needed the conversion, might spark an interest in a manufacturer.
Its just my luck. Ill come out ahead to buy a welder to do it myself. After trying to pay a shop, materuals and labor, It may cost me the same, or may e a bit more depending on welder. In the end, Ill have my job done, and still have a welder as bonus.

olds 307 and 403

The Sanderson shorty will fit. I used Flowtech A body full length SBO headers, I only had to clearance the bolts on the control arms.This was a 76 350 using regular car mounts in my 78 1/2 ton. Not all of us have deep pockets for all our projects.

rdhigh1974

If all I had to was grind off the ends of mounting bolts thats fine. I dont want to grind, cut, bend, or mold structural or otherwise permanent parts. I was thinking shorties would not be hard to work with, but then is there much difference between shorties and manafolds, they basicaly colect just past the ports. Im shore shorties are better than manafolds by some but long pipes seem like they would get the job done for exhaust more than short pipes. So SBO A body long pipes will get me what Im looking for with only grinding some excess off of the control arm mounting bolts, that will work great for me. So Flowtech, I think Advanced Auto carries. Website, or instore, I order some long pipe headers for a 72 350 A-body and I will get those parts?

olds 307 and 403

Correct on the control arm bolts. The Flowtech header are a cheap header. I haven't tried Hooker or Hedman headers for fit but should be better quality. The Flowtech have thin flanges and rust very quickly. Mine had rust pits after a year and peeling ceramic not long after. Yes A body SBO headers. I had to use double gaskets on the flanges to seal.

rdhigh1974

Awesome. Thanks.

jcdynamic88

altho headers for this truck won't show up in any catalog application , off the shelf headers are available that will fit with no problem,no need for hi dollar custom headers. headers for a 73 -76 cutlass with a 455 fit . I have a used set if interested.

jcdynamic88

my apologies,i failed to notice you were running a small block olds in your truck,the ones I have are for a 455. I would imagine 73-76 cutlass 350 headers should work with your engine

rdhigh1974

Thank you, really appreciate the info. When I get to that step Ill post how the fit goes. My exhaust is put on hold for a bit. I hax to replace the perfectly good lifters. When I pulled them, I cut out holes in a block of wood and filled the holes with oil, then numbered them. Turns out preasure treated 4x4 was not a good idea. Even tho the holes were filled with oil, the lifters still rusted in just 2 weeks.

oldsmobiledave

Your statement is half correct. The passenger side was a drop in installation on my 455 powered truck using headman A body BBO headers. The driver side required the relocation of two tubes as I documented above.

joe_padavano

Header manufacturers route tubes differently, so the fact that your Hedmans didn't fit doesn't mean that other brands have the same problem (and JC didn't specify the brand he was talking about) Unfortunately there's no way to know beforehand.

oldsmobiledave

Exactly right. All that is known is that one should anticipate problems & be prepared to address them or stick to OEM manifolds. I listed exactly what I used to be as helpful as possible.


If there were "drop in ready" headers one would think that me or someone else would have found them when addressing this problem in the past. I shared my experience to help the OP in his efforts.

olds 307 and 403

The driver's side had a lot of room as I remember it, even a full size heavy duty starter cleared. The passenger side had one tube very close to the frame but cleared. If I would have known what the fresh ceramic coated headers would look like in a year, I would have just dented the headers where they barely contacted the A arm bolts. Mine were the 1 5/8" primary tube, don't think Flowtech makes that size anymore. I would be tempted to try the Hooker Comp headers with 1 5/8" tubes. The Olds 350, heck even the 307 was a much better truck motor than the sbc 350, especially the 2.76 gears and tall 235/75R15 tires my truck had.