You might take a look at the Sanderson headers site. I put a 350 in a 1952 Chevy car and had the same concerns. They make a set of headers for the 350 with catalogue number CC-50 that work with 1949 to 1954 Chevy cars. These are block hugger headers, the passenger dumps in the middle but the driver side dumps to the back. The web site has dimensional drawings. The headers are for stock steering on the old Chevy's. They hug the block well, angle back into the block. Good luck.