Also, I've noticed several parts dealers offer full length headers for trucks, and prices are all over the map. The only manufacturers I've seen so far is Patriot and Red's. Speedway has about the best price, but the catalog doesn't say who makes them and I'm wary of getting lousy chinese junk from them. What experiences have you guys had with truck headers, good or bad? Are there any to stay away from?

As Charley pointed out you can use car pump, pulley and damper. Just change the timing cover and install front mount. 57-60 front mounts are the same.

61-64 front mounts are a different style with a single bolt in the center.

Any year truck pan will fit but the later ones have a baffle, which should be added to early pans.

It’s just a time issue right now in getting the 312 mule engine back on the dyno and getting into a dedicated exhaust system test.  Just prior to doing this, there are a couple of different ported iron heads that must be tested first but I’ll take the opportunity to run at least three different headers on that first pair of ported heads just so some preliminary and additional data will be generated.  Based on the random testing that been performed up till now, stock and unported heads do not respond as well to exhaust system upgrades which means the ‘big’ test will be done with ported heads.  And the ported heads planned for the ‘big’ test are what I would consider run of the mill ported heads or heads that are easily duplicated in porting attributes by the typical home porter.

But at this point, there’s quite a bit of data on some of the other Y engines that have been run on the dyno with various exhausts.  As soon as I can download this data from the dyno computer to the home computer, I’ll start posting graphs displaying some of the horsepower and torque curves with some of the different exhausts tried up to this point.  The big test though will still be the dyno mule with a set of normally ported iron heads with all the various exhaust systems that are on hand tried in a back to back fashion.  I’m still looking at mid November for that test.

The headers shown in the photo posted by mctim64 are mine and were purchased from Speedway motors.  These are their chassis headers for pickups.  Before I purchased them I called to verify specs and ensure they were made in the USA.  Unlike most others of similar design they have mandrel bent 1 5/8" primaries with 3" collectors.  They are made from 16 gauge steel and the flange is 3/8".  Some of the others are 18 gauge with 5/16" flanges.  They were the best pre-made headers I could find that would fit my pickup.  The price is not bad either.  Also, they have a local shop do the ceramic coating.  The coating is, however, only on the outside of the header.  Also, after doing quite a bit of reading on header design the consensus is the full length (36" or longer headers) work better for engines in the "street" (lower) RPM ranges.  Since my truck is not raced and driven on the street this was another deciding factor for purchasing chassis headers.  If you have the talent and resources building your own will probably be the best bet.  If you want a nice set of chassis headers for a fair price that are made in the USA then I think Speedway are a good deal.  Hope this helps.

Rono