Headers hitting road, 1970 challenger hooker headers

[Aussiedeza]

Hi Guys, 
Chasing some help, just bought myself a 1970 Dodge challenger and its sitting a bit low every slight bump i have tp hold my breath as the bottom of the headers will scrape the road, i figure my options are tighten the torsion bars to raise the front end or get some shorty headers installed? how much can i raise the clearance by playing with the torsion bars ? anyone have experience with headers that have good clearance?

its currently a 318 with hooker headers, here some photos..

Photos   http://imgur.com/a/3RuMS

Cheers

[74 challenge]

I bought headers without dong my research, you need headers that go above the steering linkage I am pretty sure the best are TTI.

I have the same issue especially if I have a couple buddies in the car.

[brads70]

Try raising your torsion bars, that's free to try. You will need a front end alignment afterwards though.  Bigger torsion bars would be nice though as Mopar always under sprung these cars. Good quality shocks will help too. 

[dodj]

Try raising your torsion bars, that's free to try. You will need a front end alignment afterwards though.  Bigger torsion bars would be nice though as Mopar always under sprung these cars. Good quality shocks will help too. 

When my car had a 318 in it, my headers looked the same a yours. Your only option without buying parts is to jack up the front t-bars. Take the weight off the front wheels when you are adjusting.

[Chryco Psycho]

I would fix the headers , TTI , Dougs & Hooker 5115 are the only 3 that sit above the steering the rest are terrible for ground clearance

[JayBee]

It's because of that "bottoming out" AND frying a couple starters that I got rid of my cheap headers and went with the 340 high performance exhaust manifolds. They re-pop those now, but a bit pricey.

[HP2]

Sadly, you have the worst possible headers for a small block installed currently. There are many others out there using this same bad design; Hooker Comps, Blackjack, Summit, Headman, nearly any budget header is going to have this same problem. You may not have noticed this problem yet, but they wrap around the steering linkage as well and require dis-assembly of the tie rods to remove the headers.

Options are as pointed out above- slight lift up front or a swap to a manifolds or different headers.

[Aussiedeza]

Thanks for all the info guys,

Think i will probably pop some TTI 1-7/8" RACE HEADERS on and hope i don't encounter to many fit problems that burn through my wallet, I tried playing with the torsion bars today tightened them by 5 turns and it looked like it raised the front 50mm so i went for drive around the block and check again and the suspension had settled and the height clearance looks the same as before. Feels like the front suspension being so soft is part of the problem, there is a lot of travel when i push down compared to other cars maybe its better to spend that money on new front suspension setup...?

[crash340]

TTI's, are the go, I put them on my Cuda, plenty of room love em

[Aussiedeza]

Also how far can i go with adjusting the torsion bars? is there a limit? there still was a lot of thread left on the bolt and strangely one side is really tight to turn compared to the other..

[Chryco Psycho]

You can go a long way adjusting the T bars , keep turning the bars & it will rise , stiffer bars would help & are really not all that expensive , . on the other side the TTI are definatly worth the $$

[Aussiedeza]

Anyone know what the recommended range for the torsion bars is? so I don't break it...

[crash340]

Range for height?? any really, you wont break the bar, you can go as low as the bump stops or as high as you can get it on the bolts, just might look odd wound all the way up

[nqkjw]

I like to see around 8 to 10mm clearance to my lower control arm stop rubbers.
I have TTI's in my 440 challenger-no problems.
I have Patriot headers on the 360 in my 72 Dodge Dart Swinger and have the same problems you are experiencing.