Header Bolts Being a Pain in My Ass!

[91StangGT5.0]

Ok so some genius who engineered the Mustang 5.0s headers forgot to make space to be able to use a socket when putting a header bolt in. The pipes from the headers are too close to the bolts to where I cannot put a socket or sometimes a wrench on it! Does anyone have any guidance on how to make these damn bolts go in?

 

[jerryD]

get a crows foot.

 

[SpartaPerformance]

Headers bolts are always a pain in the ass! You also need some patience.

 

[nero6]

I just took mine off and I am installing new ones. Use an open ended wrench, on some of them I could get at best a 1/4 of a turn before I had to reposistion the wrench again as it was binding up against the header. I just took my time an had no issues, other than it being slow and a pain in the ass.

 

[Tanus]

you gotta get the ones that use a 5/16 wrench instead of the normal 7/16 to tighen them

 

[87GT Drop Top]

I had to grind the head of the wrench. I made the wall thinner and ground it so it wasn't as thick.

 

[cjrpony]

Spectre makes header bolts that have a smaller head and also can use an Allen wrench in the top of them. Part number SPE-46723 at Summit. This includes a socket with built in allen wrench. I have used them and they work fine. Autozone carries these also.

 

[mob]

You guys are making this difficult. Go to advance auto parts, in the mr. gasket performance section they sell a set of header bolts that use an allen head so you can use an allen wrench or an allen wrench socket to tighten the bolts.

 

[Celeb]

Allen bolts FTW

Mr Gasket part number 916

 

[the pony boy]

those 5/16 allen head ones suck! get the ones with the 7/16 head much better!even with my mac equal length i was able to get them on with ease!i had the allen head ones on my notch with the sme headers and theres a few bolts that were still hard to remove!i also have this little skill cordless ratchet i bought at home deopt that was perfect for putting on headers!

Power Wrench - Power Lug Wrench - Cordless Power Wrench - Lithium Ion Power Wrench - 2372-01

 

[jerryD]

crows foot and a stubby wrench works pretty good for me.

 

[Treachery]

I came across this at Summit-

Percys High Performance 21004 - Percy's Split Lock Friction Lock Header Bolts

Percy s High Performance 21004 - Percy's Split Lock Friction Lock Header Bolts - Overview - SummitRacing.com

The bolt threads apparently expands against the thread wall. No need for a lock washer. A possible drawback to this type is when the bolt is removed from the cylinder head, however. Will the head threads be damaged if the bolt is removed?

Anyone ever use this type of header bolt?

 

[Tanus]

The bolt threads apparently expands against the thread wall. No need for a lock washer. A possible drawback to this type is when the bolt is removed from the cylinder head, however. Will the head threads be damaged if the bolt is removed?

never seen those before, bet they work great, but its pretty har to justify paying 80 bucks for header bolts. To answer your question, I think as long as you lossened the lock part before removing the threads would be fine



Oh and the allen heads ones wont work in like half the bolt holes, on my equal length headers at least.

 

[7upstang91]

I had the motor out of my car two nights ago and was putting the headers on. Still a PITA.

 

[slow87GT]

just use the open end of the wrench