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6126 Hooker Headers On Lincoln Mark V w/pics

36K views 60 replies 20 participants last post by  mudbogtom 
#1 · (Edited)
I'm getting closer to having a set of Hooker SC 6126 on our 77 Lincoln Mark V.
The drivers side required us to have the car almost 2 feet in the air and jack the motor as high as it would go with both motor mounts loose. Even with the motor jacked up, the father in-law had to use a pry bar to push the motor towards the pass side to get the header slid in there. Things are close, but they seem to fit pretty well. From what I hear, there aren't too many headers that fit super well.

The passenger side you can throw up in there with the motor dead flat in its mounts!! I think I will have to clearance one tube around the idler pitman arm. But other than that, it looks pretty good. Starter clearance looks almost better than the manifolds. I am concerned that header heat may make a mess out of the AC box. I think some of the adhesive reflective insulation might help?

The collectors seem to be close to the trans cross member and outside the cross member exhaust humps. I haven't quite figured out what to do there. After I get the headers fully bolted up I can get some better measurements.
I was thinking of starting with these headman hook-ups and cut and paste them together.
http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=HED-18804&N=700+115&autoview=sku
I may have to also cut back the collector some like TrickFlowRick did.
http://www.460ford.com/forum/showthread.php?t=108616&highlight=6126

But all in all, I think its doable. And I get to see if Greg is right after all!!
I will make a GUARANTEE to you that you WILL notice a big improvement with headers.

If you don't see an improvement after buying headers for your car, I'll buy the headers from you.
Greg
Just kidding Greg!!
I know its just a budget bomber, but we're having fun!


I got a little more done...
The collectors were too close to the trans crossmember so I had them cut back 2.5"s and rewelded. (thanks to TrickFlowRick for posting his hook-up pics)
The converters are on there to pass visual inspection. They are 2.5" straight piped.



Here is my cliff notes;
To install my driverside header I had to take out both motor mounts and jack the motor almost as high as it will go. You will know when its high enough because there will be wiggle room when the other guy uses a pry bar to push the engine to the passenger side. (If it isn't high enough, we found the motor wouldn't move much when you pried on it) We found that prying the motor over to the side was the only way to get it to finally slip in.
The driver side header was the only one I needed to clearance. BUT these were used headers with clearancing already done to them.

The passenger side can be thrown up in there with the motor flat in its mounts (get the driverside taken care of first, if you jack the motor up with the pass side on it will hit the floor/firewall)
I did clearance some of the flange, it was really close to the trans.
Speaking of which, I did cut the collectors back to get a little more room from the trans crossmember. (side note, It looks like the pass side might have hit the floor if the collector wasn't shortened)
The header hook-ups were the most time intensive part. I think there are better ways to do it than the way I did it. You'll have to get creative. Mine are ugly abd booger welded. But now I can get it to a shop that can do it right.


I still need to move somemore things around to have more heat clearance. Brake lines, trans cooler lines were some of the most obvious.
This steering return line I'm going to replace and move on top of the fender.

Also the plastic AC box probably need some kind of protection before summer stop and go traffic....

I won't lie, for a newbie like me this was a pain in the ***. But it is very doable. If you are willing to fight though it, you can put Hooker 6126's on a Lincoln Mark V.
If people need specific pictures, I will do my best.
We haven't driven it yet, so I don't know what kind of seat of the pants improvment there is. I do know it sounds nasty! I bet it's mostly bark and no bite!!
 
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#3 ·
It will be well worth the effort. Looks great!:)
 
#4 ·
Are those equal length?

I'd send 'm out for ceramic coating, inside and out. All the stuff in a passenger car (hoses, wiring, etc) doesn't like getting baked. It might be OK to wrap on top of coated headers, I don't know.

Nice thing about Lincolns is there's enough room. You don't have to, say, hack up the core support to fit a 460 :). Even the MK IV-V which were enlarged off the Mercury Cougar bones have more room to work then 90% of the cars out there.

Keep us posted, maybe some before and after 1/4 mi times?
 
#6 ·
They look like they are equal length, I guess I don't know for for sure.
These headers are used and kind of beat. I don't think they're worth ceramic coating.
I've heard mixed reviews on header wrap. But I agree, there is a buch of stuff that needs to be protected from the heat.
Unfortunately we never got a baseline 1/4 time. I'm hoping for a 14.90 at 93mph? We'll see.

As big as this car is, I can't believe how miserable the driverside fitment is!!!
Just make sure you have enough clearance between brake lines,A\C lines and Power Steering lines.In the one picture it looks like the header is pretty close to the brake line on the passenger side.I had those Headers on a 78 LTDII and i had to modify the power steering lines.Good luck on your header install and i hope you notice a big difference,Later Mark.
You're right, the brake lines need to be rerun on both sides for more clearance. The power steering lines looked ok, but I will check them again.
Is there any other tips you can give me on this header install? I think the LTD II is just a smaller Lincoln.

Is there a rule of thumb about clearances from headers to be safe from the heat?
 
#5 ·
Just make sure you have enough clearance between brake lines,A\C lines and Power Steering lines.In the one picture it looks like the header is pretty close to the brake line on the passenger side.I had those Headers on a 78 LTDII and i had to modify the power steering lines.Good luck on your header install and i hope you notice a big difference,Later Mark.
 
#8 ·
I'm not sure....but I think that your Towncar is different than the Mark series? I don't know if these headers will work for you?

If there is anything specific you'd like to see pictures of, let me know.
My bolts and collector hook-ups won't be here until Tuesday, so I won't have finished pics for a while....

Unfortunately all i will be a ble to tell you is seat of the pants gains. I don't have any hard data from before to compare it to.
 
#12 ·
I got a little more done...
The collectors were too close to the trans crossmember so I had them cut back 2.5"s and rewelded. (thanks to TrickFlowRick for posting his hook-up pics)
I also had the headman hook-ups shortened and rewelded to help make them more adjustable. (they are very thin though.... I should have known better when they were only 22 bucks for the pair...)

I also had to clearance the #6 tube. I think it would have banged on the engine cross member when the motor torqued over then came back to the resting position. Thank goodness these are used headers, I would have been sit to take a hammer to new 600 dollar headers.....


Oh, I know you guys like your Fords..... (I'm am/was a GM guy)
I just bought a used car to replace my 97 30th anniversary Z28.
Plans are cold air intake, Evolution stage 1 canned tune, shifter, rear suspension pieces, rear lowering springs and KR mufflers and H pipe.


 
#14 ·
Well, I've had a small set back. Even with the collectors cut back, there is no way to fit the hook-up pipes through the trans crossmember exhaust humps without cutting and welding a bunch of pieces of pipe together.... I need to reevaluate tomorrow and maybe build or modify the crossmember. I think hook up pipes could be built, but I think modifing the crossmember will take the same amount of effort and end up with a better flowing exhaust.
are these headers for the 70-71 torino?
No these are headers for the 72-72 torino. Hooker super comp 6126.
 
#17 ·
andy when you weld the the pipes make sure to slip the rear pipe over the front pipe it help with flow and if you miss alittle spot of weld helps with leaks and rusting out at the welds. it makes for a smoother flowing exhaut if you think about some say it dont madder just my 2 cents
 
#19 ·
Headers are ON!! The only clearancing I truely had to do was around the drivers upper A arm. I'll get pics soon. I still need to fab up hook up pipes and move the trans cooler lines.
But its getting closer!

Thanks Mark! I had my eye on a new Camaro, but when this used 07 Shelby with 2000 miles on it came up for sale at the same price.....I couldn't resist!
 
#21 ·
I got it mostly put together last night. I ended up piecing together the collector to mid pipe connection. Its kind of ugly and booger welded, but it seems leak free. I only ran it for a few minutes. It is loud. It was in the garage with the doors open, so it might not seem so loud outside.

The headers seem to fit very well, I will have pics of where I clearanced the tube and collector flange away from the trans tonight.

I hope to get a test run in on Sat. We'll see if I get that far, and how the weather is.
 
#25 · (Edited)
Doesn't look too bad....
The converters are on there to pass visual inspection. They are 2.5" straight piped.



Here is my cliff notes;
To install my driverside header I had to take out both motor mounts and jack the motor almost as high as it will go. You will know when its high enough because there will be wiggle room when the other guy uses a pry bar to push the engine to the passenger side. (It it isn't high enough we found the motor would't move much when you pried on it) We found that prying the motor over to the side was the only way to get it to finally slip in.
The driver side header was the only one I needed to clearance. BUT these were used headers with clearancing already done to them.

The passenger side can be thrown up in there with the motor flat in its mounts (get the driverside taken care of first, if you jack the motor up with the pass side on it will hit the floor/firewall)
I did clearance some of the flange, it was really close to the trans.
Speaking of which, I did cut the collectors back to get a little more room from the trans crossmember. (side note, It looks like the pass side might have hit the floor if the collector wasn't shortened)
The header hook-ups were the most time intensive part. I think there are better ways to do it than the way I did it. You'll have to get creative. Mine are ugly and booger welded. But now I can get it to a shop that can do it right.


I still need to move somemore things around to have more heat clearance. Brake lines, trans cooler lines were some of the most obvious.
This steering return line I'm going to replace and move on top of the fender.

Also the plastic AC box probably need some kind of protection before summer stop and go traffic....

I won't lie, for a newbie like me this was a pain in the ***. But it is very doable. If you are willing to fight though it, you can put Hooker 6126's on a Lincoln Mark V.
If people need specific pictures, I will do my best.
We haven't driven it yet, so I don't know what kind of seat of the pants improvment there is. I do know it sounds nasty! I bet it's mostly bark and no bite!!

I will collect most of my picture posts and add them to the original post. I know the question of headers on a Lincoln comes up, probably better to have it all in one spot.
 
#26 ·
Andy, great to see you got those headers into one of our land yachts. This thread is definitely one for my archives, since our chassis are nearly identical. The thing for me is finding a used set locally to cut up - might be tough to do in Southern Ontario. I don't want to think about shipping a set from the States, but yeah, cutting/banging up a set of $600+ headers is not something I want to do. Although, at least now someone has done it and documented it :D

Take a video and post on Youtube so I can hear what mine will be like!
 
#28 · (Edited)
The thing for me is finding a used set locally to cut up - might be tough to do in Southern Ontario. I don't want to think about shipping a set from the States, but yeah, cutting/banging up a set of $600+ headers is not something I want to do.
I haunted ebay for a year and a half before I found a set I was willing to pay for. And honestly, there were only three sets in that time.
The first set were fairly rusty and went for 326+shipping.
The next was an old set, but unused. Someone ended up hitting the buy it now for $350+shipping.
I got mine for $260+shipping $310 total. They were listed incorrectly as 70-72 Torino bigblock headers. They had a pic inside of the head flange that was stamped 6126. Plus they look a lot different than the 70-71 headers.
They are banged up and a little rusty, but the car isn't all that nice.
Point is, used 6126's are out there, but you have to look hard and it might take some time.
If you are going to take the time to build a "Good" motor. You'll need the headers, or at least CJ manifolds.
If you're thinking about keeping the manifolds, stab a mild cam in that low mileage bird and hit the town! We had a lot of fun with mild modded stock motor.
 
#27 · (Edited)
We did finally get it out for a little ride on Sat.
It's not as loud as I thought, once its outside the garage! Sounds good though.
The father in-law was being fairly easy on it because this is the first 9" I have set up and we were listening for problems, and header leaks.
Everything seems OK, I'll retorque the headers and get some insulation on the AC box.
From what little bit he did get on it, the headers seem to make a pretty big difference, seat of the pants anyway. Before if you were riding along at 35mph and nailed it, it would drop down a gear and labor at the higher RPM (4000-4500) Now it seems to pull right to the shift point.
But like I said, this was a very brief couple of full throttle runs.
I'm going to try the smaller carb on it this week. I'm just curious if it will sharpen up the mid range response without killing the topend noticably. Here is where building a street fun car is different than a drag car. If I loose two 1/10's in the quarter but make a snappy driver, you see where I'm going..... Now if I spent the money for a good carb, I could have both. It always comes back to the dollars and cents (or sense) of the build.

I hope to get it cleaned up and some video of it in the next couple of weeks.
 
#32 · (Edited)
Andy, I'm working through figuring out what I want for exhaust on my Thunderbird. Do you think that something like a Hedman 89340/89510 or Flowtech 12560 for 460-powered trucks would be worth investigating? I'm just trying to see if there's a cheaper solution that takes less custom work to fit for a Mark IV/V/72-76 Tbird application.
 
#33 ·
I truely am not the best guy to ask....but I have spent a long time looking. I would have to say from my limited experience that there is no "cheap" source for headers in this body style. There might be a set of shorty headers out there that might work....but I don't know for sure. The driverside fitment is the problem. The 6126's fit perfectly around the steering gear.
The other headers that fit, are just as expensive as the 6126's. I wish Hooker would produce them in the cheaper Competition line, but they don't.

As far as custom work.... Yeah, its a pain. Cutting back the collectors isn't that big of a deal, any exhaust shop can do that for you. Afterwards you just have to bolt them on and see where things fit. It sucks! But that's the price you pay for playing with a bodystyle with no aftermarket support.
One thing I could have looked into further is if 2.5" outlet truck manifolds would work. Its not much better than stock, but if you could get them cheap, it would be better than nothing.
Also, I believe the Cobra Jet manifolds should work, but they aren't cheap. But they should be less work to fit.

I have driven the car just a little since the header swap. There is a noticable difference. But I can't say that it is a night and day difference. This is where if I had built the motor better, the difference would be greater. If you're going to halfass your motor build like I did, manifolds might not be such a big deal. If you truely are going to do everything the right way, don't skimp on the exhaust.
 
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