tire and header?'s

[Jaysam]

OK guys I know, I know, i'm beating two of the biggest dead horses around by asking these two questions but i'm looking for people with first hand experience.
I have a '74 Satellite w/318
#1. Headers that fit with out any clearance issues with steering, plugs, linkages, starter, ect. Hoping to find a full system that i can install with no issues. My '74 satellite w/318 has single exhaust. I saw Mopar Muscle do a full TTI exhaust system, but i'm looking for something i can install myself in my garage with basic hand or power tools. Also if i swap to a 360 can i still use the same headers off the 318 since there both small blocks?

#2. Tire size? The P.O. gave me some American Racing rims 2-15x7's and 2-15x8's. Right now my car has skinny little white wall 14's and they look like garbage. I've seen 2 or 3 similar years have as big as 295/50/15's. I want to fill the wheel wells but that seems pretty big. Right now i also have stock suspension. Any help or advise would be great.
Thanks, Jason

 

[67 coronet]

1)headders are almost always gonna take a bit of fitment,these old cars are not all exactly the same.they are an example of something that the more $$ you spend,the better the fit and quality will be.318 and 360 motors are interchangable.
2)tire fitment will depent on the back spacing of the wheels you have.best way to see what fits is to put your rear axle on jackstands(keeps it close to ride height)bolt up those wheels and do some measuring.

 

[WP29440SE]

the cheapy A- B Body small block long tube headers fit with absolutely no fitment problems. get good gaskets.

 

[Jaysam]

thanks for the info guys, like i said just looking for info from people that have already been through this stuff before i spend my money and find out that i totally wasted it on the wrong items.

 

[HawkRod]

Jaysam,

Headers: All headers I have seen for these cars have the driver's side that hangs down very low, under the steering gear. See attached picture of my son's daily driver 73 Roadrunner with a 340.
(318, 340 and 360 all fit the same) Many years ago I ended up welding a piece of angle iron to the bottom of the k-member to keep the headers from getting crushed. I all but guarantee you that if you just put the header's on and make no other modifications to the suspension, that you will ultimately crush the header pipes darn near flat.
There may be other header designs out there.
As far as installation, I had no clearance problems and even the stock starter fits. Of course, you need to take the steering apart a bit to route it through the header, but that is not too bad.

Tires. I like 275/60R15 tires. They fit very nice, have absolutely NO fitment or rubbing issues. This assumes that the 15x8 rims have a 4 1/2 inch backspacing. Some have fit larger tires, but I think the 275's work great. See a couple of attached photos. Not the greatest for showing the tires, but hopefully they help...

my $0.02

 

[Jaysam]

hsorman, thanks alot for the info and the pics, that is a huge help. I think i may just go with that tire size, it looks great on the '73 RR. You have a sweet collection of cars, and i hope your son knows how lucky he is that you gave him your first car, an awesome car at that. Thanks again for everything.

 

[HawkRod]

hsorman, thanks alot for the info and the pics, that is a huge help. I think i may just go with that tire size, it looks great on the '73 RR. You have a sweet collection of cars, and i hope your son knows how lucky he is that you gave him your first car, an awesome car at that. Thanks again for everything.

Thanks for the kind words. My son is now a huge Mopar fan, and has been enjoying working on his car. Nothing too serious yet, just brakes, intake manifold gasket repair, new stereo, etc. He hates driving any modern day car - loves the sound and power of the 'ol girl...

I do have an extra set of small block headers if you are interested. Don't ask me what make they are, I didn't see anything on the headers and I bought them so long ago I don't remember who made them. They are NOT ceramic coated - they were just painted headers. I took them off to put a set of ceramic coated headers on the car (which, of course, are now rusty :angryfire. They have no dents or issues, just some light surface rust as any painted header gets soon after installation.

You can have them for $50, but the problem is the shipping. I don't have any box that will fit them, and I don't know what it will cost to ship. PM me if you are interested. You pay shipping (and any shipping materials, if needed) at cost. I can provide pictures if you want...

Hawk

 

[Bruzilla]

I have long tube headers on my 360 in the 74 Road Runner and have never had any clearance issues with the K-member or any other suspension component. The only issue I had with them was getting to the #4 spark plug with a socket took some twisting and turning, so make sure you do a tune up before you put your headers on. Also, if you have an ancient starter on the engine, now would be a good time to do some preventive maintenance and install a new one. Once the headers are on, you'll need to drop them before replacing a starter.

Your biggest problem is that while all of our cars started out roughly the same, lots of people over the past 40 years have been doing a lot of different things to them. So while they may have started out the same there's a few hundred things that might be different on them now, so what works on one car might not work on another.