Best way to dimple headers?

[Katfish]

Test fit my engine and have interference between the TTI headers and steering pump.
Seems like I need to put a rounded ding in the header.
What's a good method to not remove the coating on the header?





Thx

[cha74ngr]

i used ratchet extension with rag over it and hammer. i did this with doug thorley when i had starter fitmit issue.

[HP2]

I'd put some washers under the motor mounts before hitting the headers.

[anlauto]

Grind the head of the bolt down...

[MoparLeo]

Like Alan said. You can always replace a bolt for cheap, hard to undo damage to a custom set of headers.
Always modify the lowest cost item when making a choice.

[dodj]

Damn close to a weld so I'd be concerned. Not sure how the Hemis mounts are designed, but raising the engine a tad would be my first thought.

If dinging the tti's are the only option, place a rod, (not you-lol) against the header, say 1.5" dia, and maybe a thin piece of rubber between the two and  whack it with a 2lb hammer.....you have to hit a lot harder than you might think.

[Katfish]

Well it was worse than I thought, I first ground a bevel on the bolt, but it was still hitting.
I beat the h*ll out of the header, installed, still hitting.......
Remove and repeat, barely any clearance, but it's going to have to do for now

[cudaragtop]

To gain a little more header to steering box clearance, I added a shim...
This is a 6.1, TTi Headers, TTi biscuit mounts, Schumacher Poly-Loc isolators.
QA1 K-Member, Oh, and it's an A-Body...
You can loosen all the mounting bolts and lift/rotate the engine a little to shift away from the steering box. That is if you are using biscuit mounts. Spool mounts, not so much.

Pro Comp 4* leaf spring shims. I cut and sanded one down to what I wanted and painted it black.

[Katfish]

Nice work on the shim!
I'll consider that, the next time I pull the motor.
My only issue would be the other issues that may arise.
My trans clearance for the speedo cable is zero also, so will need to see what rotating the motor does to that.

[dodj]

On a positive note, I remember reading an article in some car mag years ago where they beat the $hit out of every header tube, and engine performance wasn't affected.

[hanksemenec]

Well darn Borgeson strikes again. Heat and use a round piece of wood, like a hammer handle, and dimple it and call it done. Do not hammer directly on the header.

On the other hand, I bet you stock power steering would clear just fine. How would I know that. QA1 setup, Borgeson and Doug's.

[cudaragtop]

Nice work on the shim!
I'll consider that, the next time I pull the motor.
My only issue would be the other issues that may arise.
My trans clearance for the speedo cable is zero also, so will need to see what rotating the motor does to that.

You could try adding a shim to both sides... see what gains you can make that way if you prefer or don't want to rotate.
I'm guessing I only added a couple degrees at most.
The Schumacher Poly-Loc isolators are a few millimeters thicker than the stock rubber car ones too. Every little bit helps.
When ours finally gets setup for the road, there may need to be some additional adjustments.  "¯\_(ツ)_/¯" we'll see...

I chose to go a different direction for our power steering.
I didn't want to add Hydraulic Power Steering under the hood so went with EPAS. I pieced together a custom setup for our Barracuda.
Our G3 Hemi TTi Headers for A-Body are made to fit with torsion bars, manual steering and TTi biscuit mounts and they do, but I made the mods above to get a little additional clearance.

My assembled EPAS setup.
Under the hood it will just look like manual steering. The motor will be inside under the dash.

[HP2]

To gain a little more header to steering box clearance, I added a shim...
This is a 6.1, TTi Headers, TTi biscuit mounts, Schumacher Poly-Loc isolators.
QA1 K-Member, Oh, and it's an A-Body...
You can loosen all the mounting bolts and lift/rotate the engine a little to shift away from the steering box. That is if you are using biscuit mounts. Spool mounts, not so much.

Pro Comp 4* leaf spring shims. I cut and sanded one down to what I wanted and painted it black.

I think a lot of people overlook the possibility of loosening and shifting the engine around to improve fit. Bolts and  through holes have clearance tolerances that can alter the loction. Sometimes, with tight clearance, even a minor shift can yeild improved cleearance.

Nice work on the shim.  I actually shimmed my engine mounts in such a manner as to lift the engine as high into the bay as possible. Its currently .25" higher and I'm working on a .375" inch spacer. This has an added benefit of pulling the  headers up further away from the ground as well.