LUVTruck.com

OK I am . I thought block hugger headers were supposed to work on a luv so I got some ceramic coated ones to install. Well I got my exhaust all loose and walla. The friggin driver side will not go in. There is only 4 inches between the block and steering rod and the block huggers are 5 in the middle two ports.
I am just about to ditch my whole truck and give up on the minis and pull the motor and tranny, fuel cell etc and get rid of it and go back to the allready V8 machines. The setbacks are getting to be not worth it.

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Too much to do and not enough time or money!
Courage is the other side of fear!
Pain is the weakness leaving the body!

I know what you are going through. On these trucks you do 1 thing and down the road it afecks another. I wanted to scrap my truck a 1000 times for this. But when I started this build I was determined to finish it. That's why it took so long because of the frustration level I had, I would just quite working on it for long periods of time. Everyone who has built a V8 Luv has gone through this. Your in good company. Don't let it beat you.

Look under circle track parts and you will find u-joints and supports to cut and reroute your steering shaft around the header.

A lot of people have been surprised by little things when doing conversions ,just roll up your sleaves one more time and go on cause the best part when you are done is you can say"i built it my self"

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1978 pro street step/side 455Buick, 4sp,4.11s, 31/18.5s

Well, I slept on it last night, got up and went downstairs. Sometimes I surprise myself and come up with something once in awhile.
Thought the header would go up through the bottom. Nope. oil filter in the way. Just changed the oil last week so I didn't want to drain it and do over but not sure it would go anyway.
I decided to pull the steering column loose and move the shaft over. Walla the header went on and guess what. It sits low enough the rod clears. Woohoo good to go? Of course not. Now I have to grind my solid mount bracket down some and I think the header will go right in.
Hope the passenger side isn't as tough but it is looking up again.
Just can't let my little truck beat me.

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Too much to do and not enough time or money!
Courage is the other side of fear!
Pain is the weakness leaving the body!

I 'm in the same boat man. I cant tell you how many times i've had to pull my motor in and out just to get the damn thing to fit right. Then when i thought everyting was fine and dandy i had to pull the motor out again and rebuild it. I'm starting to think the little bastard is starting to beat me too.

When I redid my truck I was careful and planed everything, I was able to install everything without any fitment problems. If I can help you PM me with questions or if you need any pic's.

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Certified pilots, looking down on people since 1903.

After 3 hours of grinding and checking I finally got the driver side header in. Passenger side I should be able to get it in in one try .
Only thing worries me now is the down tube is right over the cross member. Hope I have room for the collector and 90 degree bend for the pipe. Might have to bend a 3 inch pipe and have it welded up on the collector close to the point were they bolt together.
At least it will be back on the road soon I hope.

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Too much to do and not enough time or money!
Courage is the other side of fear!
Pain is the weakness leaving the body!

Well being from the show me state someone here in LUVland needs to show me a pic of blockhugger headers fitting to work as stated here.
I got mine on but there is no way you can use a collector bolted up and have pipes run on it. The crossmember is right under the middle. You might possibly get one hooked up on the driver side but with the starter on the passenger side there is simply not enough room for the bend.
The flange is allready touching the front nose of the starter. Do they make a short starter.
I would like to see someones pic of their block huggers that drop straight down and work.
Will probabably have to get custom one built from the block out or buy the hooker long tubes.

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Too much to do and not enough time or money!
Courage is the other side of fear!
Pain is the weakness leaving the body!

I will post pics later tonight for you.

Edit: here they are







I only have 2 1/2 inch pipes for now, like you I plan to have headers made and run 3 1/2 inch later after the summer is over and I have had enough time to play with it for some time. But you can see it does fit and work.

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Certified pilots, looking down on people since 1903.

Cool, would appreciate it . Guess I should have left well enough alone with my stock manifolds or find the old ram horns.

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Too much to do and not enough time or money!
Courage is the other side of fear!
Pain is the weakness leaving the body!

looks like space is a luxery.....

Kind of curious why the headers arnt wrapped nor coated... seems like trying to push the heat out of the engine bay will take every effort to do it.

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Under hood temps are no problem, so I do not want to waste money on that. I have plans for new headers to be made.

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Certified pilots, looking down on people since 1903.

Looks just like mine. I see that the 90 is welded right at the top of the collector like I thought.
Was wanting 3 inch pipe, still might fit.
Will have to just trailor it down to the muffler shop and let them look at it.
Hoping to have it ran to the side or drop under the truck and have cutouts and my origianal exhaust hooked into it.
Thanks for the pics.

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Too much to do and not enough time or money!
Courage is the other side of fear!
Pain is the weakness leaving the body!

I have Hooker super comp block huggers on mine . It is a newer block and takes the factory mini starter . Mine has Hei dist , homemade mounts and dumps like your talking about . I'll try and get some pics up later .

i built a set of headman 1-7/8" headers that fit my small block. the only thing is that i had to pull the oil pan to get them on and off. still got them sitting on a shelf. also the shorty headers work real good after i modified them. i cut the collectors off and bolted them up, then took a 3" collector off and old set of full tube headers and cut them at the correct angle to miss everything. worked pretty good. i'm now running a bbc. bought a headman weldup kit and made some fender exit headers like the ones for an s-10. real nice...

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9.75 @138 496
luv to race

Cool, took my truck down this morning to the shop and getting mine hooked up hopefully. The guy has been doing custom exhaust for 30 years so he should be able to get it done, then I'm back on the road.

New grandpa here too so I have been a little preoccupied the last 2 days.

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Too much to do and not enough time or money!
Courage is the other side of fear!
Pain is the weakness leaving the body!

Well, congrats on the grandpa thing.... and the exhaust.

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OK, I'm over it. Where's the beer?