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You got a 71 Mach I? My mechanic said Hooker super compa go in real easy. Doug Thorly makes top quality stuff too. I use the factory stuff because the back pressure keeps the peak torque lower in the rpm range, but also limits HP.

 
OK - big piece of information missing: which engine do you have?

 
I went with ceramic-coated Hooker Competition headers for my 351C-2V - no issues. I don't believe there are any major differences between the 2V and 4V headers, as far as overall physical size. They went in just fine, fit with a stock starter motor, everything is great. The ceramic coating seems to be doing wonders for heat issues - when I've had it running for periods of time 10-20 minutes and the temperature of the headers right at the heads hasn't seen about 300 yet. Now, I'm being realistic here and not expecting this to be 'normal' for driving conditions - by any means - or even when I get the rest of the body work done and actually back together.

Here are a couple of shots of mine with the Hookers installed:

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I don't have any from the side that shows any kind if "hanging down" or anything - I'll work on that - but I'm very sure they are tucked pretty tight and shouldn't have issues of dragging anything during normal driving.

I'd read others' experience (mostly here) and a few seemed to think the Hedmans would fit a little better (tighter against the underside and not hang too low), but I've seen some pictures of cars with Hedmans and that wasn't the case.

Here's a pic from an article in Mustang Monthly for the car that inspired my to get my '71, and he went with Hedmans. Here you can see they hang down WAY too low (for my liking, anyway):

mump_1005_06_o+1971_ford_mustang_mach_1+back_view.jpg


What I like better about the Hedmans was that it's a complete kit for a little less money. The kit comes with the headers, collectors, gaskets, and all necessary hardware. The Hookers, you'll need to purchase a set of collectors separately - and I don't know about other vendors, but Summit Racing didn't have any stainless or ceramic-coated collectors... only the painted ones you see in my pic above. The Hedmans were also back-ordered a few weeks, but the Hookers were in-stock... if that's any indication of anything.

Hope this helps!

 
+1 on the Hooker Competition headers. The ceramic coat, while not as good as Jet Hot, works pretty well and the thick flanges and tubing material have lasted a long time on my Cleveland.

 
buy the hookers cheaper version, in a painted finish and get them Jet Hot coated or Nitro plated or whoever your local ceramic plater may be, after trial fitting your system-that way you spend the same money, but any tweaks will be coated and protected.

They fit nicely in my 351 4V 4 speed car and worked as well with the 5 speed t-45 I put in-Hopefully the Lakewood bellhousing won't be a problem.

 
I'd heard from a lot of people that Hooker Comps sat lower than the Hedmans... but I can't envision that, since mine not sitting low at all.

Interesting.

 
OK, so I finally got a shot of my Hooker comps hanging down. Hmmm... I'm now starting to think that I might be premature in thinking they're not going to hang down too far. There's a big optical delusion when the car's on a lift, compounded with the suspension being new (not yet settled).

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They still don't hang down nearly as bad as that Grabber Lime Green Mach 1 I posted a pic of earlier - and those were Hedmans, according to the article at Mustang Monthly.

 
Jim, I'd go with shorties if I were you. I used to have long tube headers and they scraped the ground on many occasions, even before I lowered the car as much as it is now.

With the current suspension setup it became very tricky to go over speed bumps or enter a lower park deck.

With shorties you can also easily adapt a stock exhaust that blends in with the bottom of the car as it was supposed from the factory. I never regretted getting rid of the long tube headers in favor of Hedman shorties.

I could post a pic but I dunno if it will help any because I have a Windsor.

 
I have run both the hooker super comp as well as the hooker comp in on my 351 4v. I did a little write up on the swap here:

http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-hooker-headers-super-comp-to-comp-swap

From that write up here is a picture of one of each kind installed. The shiney one is the comp header (what I was installing).

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And another with a tape measure.

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You can see the comp on the other side of the pic.

I would regularly smack the super comps on speed bumps and even recently on the street going a little too fast and hitting a dip. I have not hit the comps yet.

If you go with hookers I suggest using their gaskets. I also suggest getting some stage 8 bolts. I did a little write up on them here:

http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-stage-8-header-bolts

 
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