I've made a few posts saying that I can't seem to fit new Hedman 65003 headers on my 69...eventhough my old 65003's fit. I have after market heads, new engine mounts, and the new 65003 seems to be just a *TINY* bit different in style than the old. Because of this... my new headers don't fit. The steering box is in the way. So, I "dremeled" a little of the box, removed one cylinder head bolt, and really dimpled the 1st tube. (ONLY the 1st tube). After that, the header ports are still 1/4" off from touching the head. The tube is too dimpled to keep going. It went from a 1 3/4" tube to 1 1/4". I would need to dimple another 1/4 and then it would be a 1 inch tube. Nah... I'm done. The other header is uninstalled and perfect. Everything else in the box is NEW. Flanges, gaskets, bolts, etc... Anyone want to give a few bucks for this?

Now... onto my real question... I have angled spark plug heads. Don't bother disagreeing (unless you can prove me wrong which I would love) but there is no one on earth that makes a full length 1 3/4" haeder for angle plug heads for a 69 with a Saginaw box. NO ONE! So... how hard is it to remove the power steering and go with manual? Do they have a narrow profile power steering? I have about a 400-425HP engine and I don't want stock exhaust manifolds.

PICS PICS PICS PICS PICS PICS PICS PICS :bowtie:

get measurements and then cut off the section of pipe and bend a piece that will clear the box

Cant bend a piece. Tube 2 and 3 are behind #1 so there's nowhere to bend it. These are the old ones. I guess I'll have to just get these old ones sandblasted. But... I don't know what I'm going to do inthe near future because these don't have much life left. No power steering is the only thing I can see fixing this.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/shawntmartin/Zi6_0294-1.jpg

Not sure if this will be an option, but there is a slightly smaller steering box available. You can replace the standard Saginaw 800 series steering box with a 670 series unit. It is smaller and lighter, though I am not certain just how much smaller. I can get to the older unit stored somewhere in the back of the garage later and hopefully offer a subjective estimate of the size difference. The 670 unit is on the car now. The main issue will be the $$ the 670 costs. Hope this is of some help. Good luck.

That would be AWESOME. let me know what you find. I think that might work because Hedman only lists the 800 box as being a problem. They actually list 825 but I think thats a typo because no one Ive ever talked to knows what an 825 is.

You say the new header #1 tube is .25" away from the #3 tube right?
Can you draw that tube into touching the #3 tube? And if you flatspotted the #3 and the backside of the #1 where they would touch, you could gain a good .5" I would think.

I dug the old 800 box out and tried to compare it to the 670 box. The front to back is the same since the distance from the mount points to the rag joint has to be the same so both will be interchangeable. The main difference I see is that the neck of the 670 (about 2" from the rear of the rag joint to the point where the main body of the box widens out) is about half the diameter of the 800 box neck. The 800 box's neck is about the same diameter as the rag joint.

I am not sure where you need the clearance, this is on a 73 with a small block. The box and connected rag joint are not even close to the #1 header tube. I know that 1st gen have a different setup for steering box, but I'm not sure how it differs. HTH. Good luck.

i converted my car to manual, its was meg easy and not too hard to steer box was only like 65 bucks from my local napa too, its tinnyyyy only thing i had to re work was the pitman arm couldent find one so i made it