Classic/Antique Car Repair: headers on a 69 chevele ss/396, chevy ss, 69 chevy

Question
i have a 69 ss 396 and it runs good and i'am happy with the engine gas wize and h.p. but i was told that if i put headers in it that i would boost the power a lot and is it hard to do ?also what type / kind or brand etc. does it matter. also what type of mufflers should i use with them.i'am in olk. lawtin  

Answer
     
  good one moe;
 i have put them in a 69 chevy ss 396 and it was not that bad of a job, as i can tell you the trouble that i had this way you can do it in a snap. first thing you must get headers that are going to fit as some have brackets for alt. or other items that run off the fan belt, so be shure to get the right ones, i would look and see if thay still sell apliance headders as they are not as mush money as thay come into the u.s.a. from mexico and they are not painted so they are a un finished item so when they get here thay paint them white now they are a finished item so they are sold a bit less and work great and thay have 4 holes on the end not three like the rest. i guess it really dosent matter as long as they are not a cheep brand they must be a brand name ok. now first thing get the headers out and place the right on the right side and the left on the left side ok- now you must jack up the car a bit so you can get under it and take out the motor mount bolts only the long one -as one on each side not the tranny mount so now you will have some extra room to play with next mark your plug wires if you do not know how to put them on by hand or if you do not remember so mark them now take out all of your spark plugs. so now you are ready to put the headers in. do one side at a time , note as it might be a real tight fit but remember they are for your car and thay will fit. wiggel them into place, now i hope that thay came with the lil header bolts if not be shure to get a pack of them as they are a lot smaller in the head and you will have a lot more head room on the bolt to tighten it up. as on some headers the front and the back bolt holes are cut so they have a slit in it so if you have the front bolt in and the back bolt in at apx 3/4 way out the headers will drop in and sit on those bolts and yes you must use the gaskets or if not you will be spitting out put put sounds from them. when you tighten them be shure to snug them up all the same not one at a time now do the next side as while you are doing this you will have to lift the engine up a bit so be carefull not to break the dist cap or better yet take the cap off. do the same and tighten all up put the plugs in  re do  motor mounts and now you are done, also as far as mufflers i used the bolt on headder mufflers but are thay legal where you are as they go straight threw but when you get on it the sound goes right thru them great and LOUD. or else use small mufflers that will fit up under the car and use hangers and when you open the headers you can take the mufflers off or hang them and use the header top holes to put the muffler holes into so thay will be on the car but up and out of the way and as  far as the power i can say that it is said that there has been reports of that of 50% of horse power increase, so look out as you will see a big difference. and it is well worth it ok
good luck moe, now you might want to do a engine job or a cam and intake w/ a new carb ?
roger,dont forget you can ask me any time for help.

ALSO I forgot to tell you that i did a  396 /225 h.p. with a quadrajet
carb, i put a new cam (manley ss454) model and a h.d. inner and outer spring kid, i re did the low h.p. heads and the cam was a anti pump up type that is it works like solids and you do not have to be under the hood adj. them every weekend, and yes they do work as i did bury my tach at 1/2 pedal with my 850 holly doubble pumper carb 7000 rps. and this i do swear to. and i just re-honed the cylds. and put in the same pistons but cleaned up all parts and i did put new chrome molley rings on the pistons and i also put in new crankshaft bearings as i cleaned the crank and i polished the crank bearing area with a light red oxid paper with a clean 3 in 1 oil than wipe them clean and when i put them in i put a thin coat of engine stuff on them i dont remember the name but you place it on the parts when re building motors and i beleive that s.t.p. will work also. and when i did the bearings i used a size that was only one size tighter so it would snug the motor up a bit and take up any wear on the crank. also the same with the rod bearings. as i used t.r.w. bearings as that is a good co. for that kind of stuff.also i cleaned the oil pump real good and i put in a spring that was a bit heaver so it would give me a bit more oil p.s.i., as it worked great as i had 70 lbs. of. p.s.i. at idle and burry it when i gave it the gas.also a std intake manifold with a holley 850 dbbl pumper carb with 2 elect. fuel pumps one in the back for pushing and one under the hood for pulling and it worked great. so if you want to do more that above did a night and day differance. and not that much motor work. ok