Yes, but not sure how tire clearance will be if your engine sits too far forward? A friend used the typical Patriot Fat fender Chevy headers on his '51 coupe and they fit great.
But everybody is copying Patriot, and actually building better quality for much less! I bought mine in polished stainless off Ebay for $107 shipped. Now they're up to about $130 shipped, which is still a great price. Extremely thick flanges, and better than the Patriot I have on my Austin, plus they're stainless.
I had those same headers Vall. I need a 3 inch collector though because I want to run 3 inch pipes. So I sold them and am looking for a pair with 3 inch collectors. Or if I can find those headers in raw form, I can have them stretched to 3 inches.
Considering the cost difference I think you should have kept them Dave. I cut my 2.5" collectors off on my Austin, and for $30 I bought a pair of 3" collectors and welded them on. I cut them right below the weld, and they came off easily. Then just slid the 3" up until they butted and welded the joint again. That's still cheaper than buying the others.
Is there a reason you think your engine will need a 3" exhaust system? In most SBC under 450 hp, a 3" exhaust will result in a loss of low end power. A 2.5" will make for a lot more grunt and low end torque for the average SBC engine.
Not necessarily better Dave. There is such a thing as too large, which will result in lost performance. I run 2.5" on all my SBC engines, and most BBC engines too.
A good example of lost performance from lack of back pressure. When I first took my '71 Camaro to the drags to run it, I felt it was very fast with the 427 engine in it. I rarely got beat on the street back then. So off to the drags, and when I arrived I mounted my slicks, and uncapped the headers. Made my first pass and got a dismal 14.95 ET! I could feel the car had slowed down immensely, and with the help of a buddy we tried different timing, and changed the nozzles to get a larger squirt to overcome loss of back pressure. Next pass was close to 14.0 flat, and still felt doggy.
I finally told him I was going to close my exhaust and put everything back to street trim, except tires. Next pass was 13.10 et. A little timing readjustment and it ran 12.90 and felt good again. I never raced it with open headers again, and it ran great. Later after some head work, a different cam, and a Torker intake, and 780 Holley carb it eventually ran in the high 11's in street trim, with 2.5" exhaust.
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