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Original Message
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RE: Shoe I have a question |
By Gerry Proctor - 04/12/2004 6:47:36 AM; IP 207.133.188.254 |
The Hooker flange will actually allow you to bolt up the header to any of the FE heads but that's not exactly what Dave is addressing. He's pointing out that with the 14-bolt unibody heads (with noted exceptions) that the header port opening overhangs the floor of the head's exhaust exit by about a 1/4 inch.
While exhaust flow is minimal at the port's floor and will minimally affect header performance, the opportunity for a leak is pretty good. The problem is that Hooker (and nearly every other production line header) uses a weld on the mating surface of the flange. Many think, wrongly, that this weld bead helps gasket seal. Unfortunately, it's quite the opposite. It's a much better situation to have the entire surface of the flange contribute to gasket sealing rather than this narrow weld bead. If you look at custom headers, the tube is welded from the outside and the flange is flat. So rather than rely on a 1/16" weld bead to do the sealing, the entire flange does the sealing.
On the Hooker, this weld bead runs right on the edge, or even inside the port depending on how the header is fitted. The opportunity for the dreaded "pffft, pffft, pffft..." is pretty high when this header is fitted to 14-bolt unibody heads.
Hookers do match the port on either of the Edelbrock aluminum heads, pre-67 8-bolt iron heads, and 16-bolt Cobra Jet heads. |
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