Header Bolt-Up

After teaching at Pipeline this morning I went over to my parents house to work on the Mustang since Lauren was at work. I started with a cup of coffee and a jalapeno and cheese bagel and some chit-chat with my parents before heading outside to get started on the car.

Mr. Gasket header gaskets and bolts

My dad recently purchased some parts for his 351-Cleveland motor and while he was at it he bought the necessary header gaskets and bolts for my dinky 302. I had already found eight header bolts in the garage and the guy that was selling the new bolts had an opened set of twelve that was missing two. It worked out perfectly for me since the guy sold my dad the bolts for $2. The gaskets were $17.95 (typical for header gaskets for a 302.)

Driver's side header top view

You can see that these shorty Headman headers barely fit inside the small 1966 Mustang engine compartment. This side was a bit of a hassle to squeeze in but it ultimately fit.

Passenger's side header from under car

The passenger's side has all kinds of room for the header without the steering column, power steering rack clutch cable, etc. in the way. I'm sure it will be pretty easy for the exhaust shop to fit the 2.5" tubing on this side when that day comes.

Driver's side header from under car

The driver's side of the car has a slightly different story. The collector of the header is about 4" away from the clutch cable ear on the bell housing and it looks pretty darn close to being in line with it as well. It's hard to say at this point but my guess is that the exhaust shop will be able to fit the exhaust piping with little effort. My only other concern is that the tubing will run right by the power steering cylinder with its rubber sleeve. I'm not sure that it will be a problem, but it's worth looking into once the exhaust is installed.

Coil mounted and hooked up to Pro Comp distributor

The final thing I wanted to do before heading home was to find a place to install the coil since the front right side of the motor was going to be out of the question with the power steering pump going there. Although it was a tight fit, I finally found a spot on the intake manifold after using a 1" spacer to move it up off of the manifold a little. As you can see it is almost touching the driver's side valve cover, but it fit nicely. I used open u-shaped connectors for the distributor wires (red for the hot and blue for the ground since I didn't have black.)

I should have some money to buy additional parts soon as I will be working nine hours of OT for the spring NABT hosted in Santa Monica on Saturday. I should also be getting a bonus check for 2010 sometime in the next couple of weeks. My goal is to use said monies to get the motor running (starter, spark plug wires, water pump, alternator, radiator, etc.) How many parts I am able to purchase will largely depend on the amount of my bonus check.