S-10 Forum banner

Stainless Works Header Fitment Woes

14K views 73 replies 19 participants last post by  84blaze 
#1 ·
Guys, I am having issues with my longtubes that is preventing me from finishing up my build. I purchased the Stainless Works Headers from Current and am having issues with clearance with my passenger side upper control arms. For the swap I purchased UMI upper and lowers, however the UMI uppers contact the #4 and 6 tubes preventing me from adjusting the caster/camber on my passengers side. I decided to purchase a set of SPC adjustable uppers and try them, but I am still hitting the #4 tube with the SPC uppers. I have zero adjustability right now with my front suspension and I am sitting at +.75* of camber on the right side. I cannot move the engine to the drivers side without having issues on that side. I am about to bust out the torch and BFH! What are you guys using with success and still being able to adjust your suspension? Thanks




 
See less See more
4
#4 ·
Truck is an 01 extended cab xtreme. AES 390 (LQ9 block), 317 heads, 4l80E, Ford 9", Current Mounts, Harness and Radiator set up. UMI uppers did not have the tall ball joints, but the SPC uppers do (not that it matters cause even with the control arm not connected to the spindle it hits the long tubes. I had to put 4 spacers in the front and 1 in the rear in order for the upper UMI control arm to clear by 1/8 of an inch still leaving me at +.75* of camber. Everything else fits great but this. A build thread will follow whenever I can get this sorted out and dyno tuned.
 
#5 ·
Which CPW mounts do you have? They make 3 different versions. You can get clamshell style 2.8 mounts, clamshell style 2.8's with poly inserts, and then the CPW custom poly mounts. Either of the 2.8 variations sit lower than the CPW poly mounts.
 
#6 ·
I spoke with Jared, Jared spoke with Stainless....guess I am the only one having this issue so far. Must be something I did different for my build. I built my trans crossmember based on setting up my pinion angle for my rearend to be at -1.5* and for clearance for my one piece driveshaft. I will measure the distance from the tailshaft of my 4l80E to the bottom of my cab and see what measurements everyone else has with the same trans. Maybe Im sitting too low in back.
 
#14 ·
From what I can tell I have about 3.5 inches from the top of the tailhousing to the bottom of the cab of the truck. maybe someone else can chime in with their measurement. Like I said before I set the trans at this angle in order to make for a proper pinion angle to my rearend and to help with clearance with my 4" one piece driveshaft. I suppose I can shim the engine mounts with some 1/4" plate to see if that helps, but the headers are already just about touching the firewall and would need more clearance. I installed the SPC upper on the passenger side and it will fix my caster/camber adjustment issues but because of how close it is to the primary tube it is only a matter of time before the delrin bushing start to melt.





Also, spacing up the rear isn't going to be easy because of this...I built it off of the headers




Everything else has been sorted out but this last issue...got a dyno day in 2 weeks, and I leave for Afghanistan in less than 2 months. I've got to get this thing done

 
#15 ·
Your pictures are a little hard to make out because they are of such a small specific area.... But something doesn't seem right.... My sw headers aren't even remotely that close. Usually a good starting point is a 5 degree sloap rear ward for a motor/trans set up which yours looks okay (by eye). There's either something wrong with the manifolds or your engine mounts are way off.

 
#18 ·
First, Props on the build. It looks amazing. The bad part is, my suggestion. Is there any way you can gte a stock cross member in it now, just to eliminate yours as the problem? I understand that you built your crossmember to get driveline angle, but you know they make pinion shims, right? On the JTR kit, they send a spacer to move the trans UP from factory, and I think your is DOWN. Mine is almost touching the floor. ( I don't have SW headers though) Since another member on here mentioned your engine looking forward, are you sure you got the engine mounts on the correct sides? You can actually get them on the wrong side also. I hate to say all of this when you already have all of this work done, but it is what it is, and you may as well just hammer on it, and fix it.
 
#19 ·
Well I think I'm just going to blame it on how I set the angle of my engine and trans. The engine is set all of the way back on the mounts. I didn't notch the cross member and I have about 1/8" of clearance between the oil pan and the cross member. It is not beyond fixing but I just don't have time to re-fab things right now so I will go with a Band-Aid and put a lot of header wrap on the primaries and grind down the nut so its not touching. Lets hope between the Jet Hot coating and the wrap it will keep enough heat off of it to prevent melting the bushing.



here is my drivers side motor mount plate looking from the steering arm...I am pretty sure I didn't install them wrong, but I sure have made my fair share of mistakes on this build



and here is a shot of the motor...just because.



Thanks for all of the help guys. Like I said before, dyno tune in two weeks then maybe a run or two at the track before I ship out. When I get a chance I make a complete build thread
 
#20 ·
Your engine is sitting all the way forward? Looks like you could gain an inch +/- by loosening Allen heads and sliding it backward if you have enough play in the trans cross member (easy fix) and room in the driveshaft (not so easy fix). Anyhow the build looks saweeeeet and love the color!
 
#21 ·
He said that's all the way back. Not forward.. *edit* just looked at the picture again... That's his steering linkage so the motor mounts are def adjusted all the way forward..... The wrong way! Haha. Looks like your motor has to go back man.....

It's not hard at all... Slot the holes for your trans crossmember and install JTR set back plates.... It's no big deal. The set back plates only cost a cp
Bucks!


Looks bad ass. You won't melt the bushings... Unless you sit at idle for 10000000000000 hours and let everything heat soak you will be fine.... Sweet truck man. Looks awesome
 
#22 ·
HA! Yeah I'm retarded....looks likes its all of the way forward but everything else fit so great I never noticed it. I had to run 3/4" spacers to clear my roller rockers so I would get about 1/4" more play to the rear before I hit the heater box and fire wall with my valve covers. I also didn't clearance the firewall enough to allow my headers to go any farther back. If I start having heat issues ill slot my crossmember and see about moving it back 1/4". Thanks again for all the help!

 
#25 ·
I cut the boss off of the valve cover for the coil mount and the accessory upper mounting boss off of the head corner because mine was soooo close. It goes unnoticed by anyone and let me get another 1/2" backward. I didn't want to mess with fiberglassing the a/c box. Good call on the set back plates drmrman! I forgot about those.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top