I have hooker ceramic headers and need to make a bend due to it leaning on my power steering box. Can i heat these up with a torch, or will the coating be messed up? And, why does the drivers side hang needlessly lower than the passenger side? With the Hotckis TVS drop and my 17"s, Im thinking this will be a crappy situation... Anyone have this set-up?

yes i have the same but with 16 i also had to dimple the header i think the number 4 tube? am i right...if so i heated it with a torch and got a long pry bar and used that to bend it a little and it did not do anything to the coating and i have the same header.....i also put a little paice of heat sheild b/t them....and no problems with either and that has been 3 years ago...and yes the headers are uneven and on my hotchkis tvs i have had no problems so far with 16's

I have the ZZ4 with the March serp/AC system. I wonder if block huggers would have been a better idea...

i have heard the block huggers that they put on hot rods and customs and htey dont sound so good on the camaro plus they steering box is an issue...i have facorty ac with some march pulley stuff and have no issuse i had the headers fitting in about 10 mintues...no prob and cant even tell ....jsut do it....

Yea, I got AC too... How do u like the march kit? One guy says he has a high RPM vibration... i also added a moser 9 inch with 3.50 posi and a 2500 stall th350. Its all getting done at ONE time... Im so excited!

I dimpled my header off the car with a roll of masking tape and a ball peen hammer. I did it on my garage floor with a blanket underneath the header. First I marked the area where the header was hitting the gear box, then removed the header from the car. Then wrapped the area to be dimpled several times with tape to protect the coating. Then took the hammer and began hitting the tube lightly at first, then harder going up and down the area until it was flat. Go easy because you do not want to over do it. It turned out real nice.

DON'T beat up a new set of coated headers! Send them back, and demand something better, that fit's right, straight out of the box.

We all wonder why it is so hard to find headers that fit. The simple answer is because we keep buying the crappy ones that they make. If we DEMAND better fitting headers, and stop buying the ones that don't fit, eventually the manufacturers will get the point and make the necessary changes.

Otherwise the post count for "how do I make my brand new headers fit" will continue to grow.

If you can, return the headers you have and buy a set of Thorleys. They have been talked about on here numerous times. They have been shown to work without beating, bashing, special motor mounts, or any of the other CRAP that other header manufacturers make you suffer through.

I ordered just about every pair Summit had and none of them fit my 68 (Summit hated me when I walked in the door with 5 pairs of headers to return) and the one that came the closest was Headmans 13/4's. Used a hammer and socket to dimple the one hitting the power steering pump with no effect to the coating.

Had the same problem, attacked the opposite way
I ground off a couple mm from the powersteering box so it still looks as if not been touched.
Then under the engine mount, next to the chassis, I slipped in a neat shaped plate with holes about 3 mm to lift the engine marginally..been like that for 20 yrs now. Its close, but doesnt touch, by a hairs breath lol

My hooker super comps (1 7/8 tubes) dont come close to touching the PS gearbox or anything and NO modifications

I can't say enough about Thorleys. First of all they hang no lower than the bottom of the subframe so NO dragging the headers even on a lowered car. Plus no PS box clearance problems and even the spark plug clearance is good!

My hooker super comps (1 7/8 tubes) dont come close to touching the PS gearbox or anything and NO modifications

Got the same headers & tube size on my '69,had to remove the steering box to install and haven't re-installed yet but they look like they'll clear easily.

Got the same headers & tube size on my '69,had to remove the steering box to install and haven't re-installed yet but they look like they'll clear easily.


I just lift the engine up a little to slide the header in or out. If you have the right frame stands and engine mounts you won't have any problems.

Yea... I may go thorleys after I trash the drivers side of these POS hookers. Unfortunately, its in a shop and Ive been waiting 2 months, and a local car show is in 2 weeks. :( Too make matters worse, Summit sent me 2 sets (black regular ones)