New build thread; 48 Plymouth

[falconvan]

Well, nothing like restarting a project and running into a huge goof right off the bat! I bought a set of stainless block hugger headers a few years ago and once I put them on I wondered how in the heck I was supposed to get the front spark plug in as the front tube was directly in front of the hole. I contacted the manufacturer and they said to use an Accel short header plug. So a couple of years and projects later, I finally picked up two of them today and tried it.

Not even close! Ok, so it's been 3 years, probably can't return them. Now it hits me that maybe I've got them on the wrong side. So I pull them off, switch sides and that's it! But no, there's more! I built the motor mount pads (now securely welded to the frame and painted) around the reverse placement of the headers. Now that the headers are on correctly, the collectors land squarely on top of the motor mount pads. !!#%&$@!!!!!!!! So, time to chop off my nice, painted motor mount pads and start over. Oh well, at least it's a cheap fix. Man, I love cars.

[Dave Severson]

Well, nothing like restarting a project and running into a huge goof right off the bat! I bought a set of stainless block hugger headers a few years ago and once I put them on I wondered how in the heck I was supposed to get the front spark plug in as the front tube was directly in front of the hole. I contacted the manufacturer and they said to use an Accel short header plug. So a couple of years and projects later, I finally picked up two of them today and tried it.

Not even close! Ok, so it's been 3 years, probably can't return them. Now it hits me that maybe I've got them on the wrong side. So I pull them off, switch sides and that's it! But no, there's more! I built the motor mount pads (now securely welded to the frame and painted) around the reverse placement of the headers. Now that the headers are on correctly, the collectors land squarely on top of the motor mount pads. !!#%&$@!!!!!!!! So, time to chop off my nice, painted motor mount pads and start over. Oh well, at least it's a cheap fix. Man, I love cars.

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Oh well, if building a car was easy everyone would be doing it!!!!!!!!!

[Henry Rifle]

Oh my! The law of unintended consequences. That's NEVER happened to me.

[cffisher]

Oh my! The law of unintended consequences. That's NEVER happened to me.

and I'd bet your nose is growing

[rspears]

I'd laugh, but I did one today myself. Pretty much wasted the day and get to reverse track tomorrow and re-group....

[40FordDeluxe]

1 step forward and 2 steps backwards is how my luck goes too!

[34_40]

Ouch! Well, it's not like you're alone in that one.. we've all been there... here's an example of why a painted frame is better than a powder coated one, at least you can restore it and no one but us will ever know of all the changes.

[Mike P]

"......Ouch! Well, it's not like you're alone in that one.. we've all been there....."

Ain't that the truth. Nothing hurts worse than a self inflicted foot wound.

On the other side of the coin, down the road, when someone is explaining having the same problem trying to screw plugs in and you say...."you just need to swap the headers around".....and it works, the kids wonder how you got so smart.


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[stovens]

Better than having to pull your motor to move it foward an inch and a half for the same reason! No not me!!!

[falconvan]

Very true; it looks like I'll be able to fix it without pulling it back out. I think I can put some blocks under the oil pan and fix one side at a time.

[falconvan]

First real progress in a long time on this. I did the final wet sand on the hood and should be painting it this week.I also decided to relocate the coils away from the valve covers for a cleaner look so I removed them and started building some brackets, plus ordered some aluminum valve covers, a fuel cell and pump, and some other misc I'll need to get the engine running. As soon as the hood is painted, the front is going up on blocks to fix the motor mounts and build some inner fenderwells. Sorry, no pictures; camera was out of batteries.

[chopt50wgn]

How that old saying goes................if it has tits or tires, it will give you trouble"

[falconvan]

Man, I though I had something but I ended up right back where I was. I cut off the motor mount and bolted the header on only to find now a different plug is blocked; even after i tried to ding the tube for a little clearance. I just got a crappy made set of headers, I guess. So I'm debating of either trying to cut the one tube on each header and do a little rerouting or just buying another set and starting over. The other three tubes fit fine and I hate to just pitch them.

[40FordDeluxe]

Man that is a bad deal!

[Mike P]

Ah man that sucks. I think I'd try rebuilding them, at worst your out a little time if it doesn't work out, and you don't know that a new set would really work out much better.


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