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62-65 Fairlane Header's News Update!! 3-3-02 Dougs (Thorley) Headers, www.dougsheaders.com has a Tri-Y #D662Y now! But it doesn't fit early Dart heads or GT 40P's, or a AOD so beware. Crites Restoration, has new 351W headers that should be super trick! I hear they fit without any shock tower mods! Oop's, that was too good to be true! Need the shock tower mod & a remote oil filter. At $319, they look real good! Pics & article by Dwight Bowman in the May/June 02 FCA mag! -------- |
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| The extra fun part of owning a 62-65 Fairlane or 63-64 Meteor, is the challenge of finding "aftermarket" tubular headers that fit. It's a sure bet that if they are not made to fit only these cars, you will need one or more of the following to get them on, a big hammer, torch, crow-bar & too much cussing! | ||
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This is because the extra strong shock towers come all the way down to the cross member, whereas the Mustang/Falcon/Comet shock tower disappears across from cylinder's 3 & 7 just below the cylinder head, allowing more room to accommodate 3 header tubes at that point, with 2 side by side. But our stronger design also creates more of a road-block by angling inward, cutting the clearance even more at cylinders 3 & 7! This makes the Thunderbolt shock tower modification practical even for the small block Windsor, & mandatory for the 302C, 351C, 351W, 427 FE or 429/460 series. The 302 Cleveland, even with the shock tower mod, has problems with the exhaust because the ports are lower down on the head, leaving less room to clear the cross member. Hooker's 6134 Super Comp fits out of the box! It's a tight fit as they are big, 1 3/4" & equal length. But if you follow their instructions, like install the passenger side one from above & the driver's side from below, they fit! And they are well designed for big power & still have good street torque with a fairly stock 302, so Dave reports! See the Fairlaner, Nov/Dec 01, pgs 12 & 13 for installation reports by several owners. Note that two people both read the same(?) instruction sheet, with two different results! Hedman had good intentions when they listed their 88400 "Shorties" as available for 63-73 Fairlanes! But 2 things raise big RED flags! They left out the 62 & included 66-73's! Which makes it look like they really aren't familiar with the old 62-65's! The passenger side doesn't fit with maybe an inch of interference, so claims Kevin in Canada, who alerted me to the problem. They ran the tubes from cylinder's 1 & 2 side by side under cylinder 3's, & the shock tower doesn't allow side by side there. So what happened? Turns out they used a 63 1/2 Falcon Sprint as the model, thinking if they fit it, they would fit anything. Don't know how the fit is on the drivers side, but I'm sure it's the same problem, hope to hear from someone else who has tried them. So expect them to remove the 63-65 Fairlane listing from their next catalog! Hope they will do a redesign for the 62-65! Give them a call! The original cast iron 63-65 "K" manifolds work good on the street & last forever! One guy modified them by welding in the excess clearance around the bolt head area, & then porting the inside & even "extrude honing" the inside. Old, used cast iron exhaust manifolds don't take to welding well due to metallurgy changes due to the high exhaust gas temperatures. So use new repro irons if thinking of trying this. Even tho the Fairlane's passenger side (also has a port for heating the Air to the Choke) is longer then the Mustangs & the exhaust pipe studs are at a different angle, one can use a Mustang K "H" pipe if one cuts it in about 3 places ( across the "H" is one place) & reshape it a bit! Beware when getting reproduction Mustang "K" cast iron's, be sure you get a written, double-your-money-back (ha) guarantee! Some may hit the shock tower as the Mustang has more room, which the reproducer took advantage of! Others may hang-up on the motor mount, which I may have heard, can be trimmed (mount) a bit for clearance!! You would think the 351W along with the T-Bolt shock tower mod would be a piece of cake & desirable, but nothing yet! Hedman's 88660 Full Length is for swapping a 351W into a 64-73 Mustang can be used, but one has to change the collector angle & dimple them a bit, as Sunny has done! Unfortunately, these headers have Oval ports, which makes sealing Rectangular head ports tricky! Must have done it to save $ by using left-over flanges! They also make a "Shortie" 88650 for this swap, but no word on how it would work for the Fairlane. Doug Thorley Headers has been bought-out by Jardene headers, but they are considering adding the 62-65 to their line! Give them a call! Red's Headers, www.reds-headers.com made a Tri-Y for the 62-65 some years ago, but a customer, far away, clamed they didn't fit properly, so Red is waiting for another Fairlane to come by his shop so he can recheck the fit himself! So let's get a Fairlane to him! Fort Brag, Ca., 707--964-7733 PS: Don't let all the Flat Head stuff throw you off! Header makers, are you there? What we really need are headers that will clear the wider but great to have AOD, & will also fit the up & coming GT40P (from Explorer's) & early Dart heads with their straight-out spark plug angle!!! Jason says the "K's" work on the GT40P's with cylinders 6 & 7 tight but doable! Note: The original GT40 heads have the normal spark plug angle & are not a problem.
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