Well I got my 86001 Dynomax headers today. The ports on them are WAY off. The dynomax seem to have round ports that are narrow and tall. While the AFR's have a square/d style port. I figured I could try and port them to match the exhaust ports but they are so off. So what headers are you guys running with these heads??? My old blockhuggers where a MUCH better fit than these dynomax. Any help would be great. Thanks Ron

If you think fitting a 195 port is bad try a 210! They are really hard to fit.

Hooker 2131 come much closer to fitting a "D" port but still require an hour or so of fitting and grinding.

I run the 2131 Hooker Super Comps. I didn't touch the ports (not that they matched, I just didn't want to mess with them) but they needed some clearancing underneath.

At any point are the headers smaller than the head port? If not, slap them on. If the header ports are larger, you have built in anti-reversion! :D

It looks like on the two inside ports on the headers are quite a bit narrower than the head port. The Fel Pro 1404's fit great to the head ports but are WAY off compared to the exhaust gaskets that come with the headers. I just dont know if the headers have enough meat to them to port them to clear. It looks like in some places (middle tubes) there are as much as 3/16" of an inch smaller than the head port. That is not acceptable right???

What about the hedman 1 3/4"??? How do those fit??

I would say it's not acceptable and I would also not grind on the tubes that much but that's just my preference. Things get awefull hot right there so you don't want the metal to be too thin.

OK, I bolted the dynomax exhaust gaskets to the cyd heads. Its not bad at all. It looks like I will have to port the flanges a bit though but not nearly as bad as I thought. As long as I dont grind to deep into the flanges were the tubes connect it should be fine.

Just remember that if you do decide to modify the exhaust ports on the heads, DO NOT touch the bottom of the port, there must be an interference.

I wont touch the ports on the heads just the headers. Looks like it shouldnt be too bad. The outside ports look fine but the two in the middle need some work.

Hedman 1-3/4" bolted on without a hitch to our AFR 195`s

This is an interesting topic that I've wondered about as I ponder my next set of non-chevy aftermarket heads. Do these manufactures ( ie Dart, AFR, World ) offer any advice for exhuast suppliers, or vice a versa, Dynomax, Hedman , Hooker claim to fit certain heads? It's seems to me if we can land a robot on Mars, we can make a header to fit todays popular heads, without grinding/altering to fit???

well, they can't seem to make headers that consistently fit Camaros or Novas with small blocks, either. so the ports not matching is just another minor inconvenience.

What about grinding out the holes in the flange some, and moving the header to where you need it?

I called AFR today and they strongly advised me to send the dynomax back and go with either the Hedman Hustlers or Hookers Supercomps. Looks like the Hedmans are square ports and are supposed to work well. This sucks cause I had them but sent them to save some cash. Oh well...its just money. The hedmans are $393 coated and the dynomax were 229.

i had the heddman square ports. allthough my 195s have some port work the heddman still needed a lot of releif work. then they didnt fit the car (67 chevelle) ended up with lemoms with header spacers. ported to the heads on 1 side and the header on the other. before you grind anything make sure they fit the car. Dave