I'm soooo glad i don't have to worry about emissions where i live. My province (i live up in Canada with the polar bears... ) is full of a bunch of oil hungry rednecks who like to pollute the environment! There is no way in hell my truck would pass any emission testing... Mind you the truck computer is a little dumb too, even after removing the cat the o2 sensors didnt do anything... Mind you they are probably so dirty they probably stopped working years ago lol. On a side note... I have enough mechanic friends who could say it "passed" lol...

I doubt the edelbrock heads really make all that much difference, its probably more of a warning so they don't get sued if someone's vehicle failed for some un-explained reason.

The edelbrock heads were expensive... i'll give you that much. But i just didnt see the stock heads standing up to the abuse my 408 will give my truck heh. Once everything is done i will be doing a complete write up for guys that are interested in the pros/cons and hic-ups.

 

I honestly think that unless you're going for a really, really radical build, you'll pass emissions just about anywhere (except maybe Cali) if you have three things:

1. Good working O2 sensors,
2. Good working CAT,
3. good tune to hold the mods together.

The o2 is going to work it's damn-dest to keep the A/F ratio at 14.7/1, the tune may richen that at WOT but if it's tuned right, you won't go below 12/1 and the cat can handle the excess fuel to pass emissions.

I believe hemifever told me the max power was made at 13.2/1 A/F, but that unless you are very careful (like a little too hot outside) it'll ping, and that isn't good at WOT. He keeps mine at 12.6 to 12.8 for safety sake.

That a GREAT deal on injectors, mine are fine so I don't need stockers, but I'll keep that in mind. They can run about $40 for replacements.

And I hear you about the header bolts. I just bought a longer double box end wrench with 7/16ths on it from Sears and give them hell. I used the torque wrench on the outer ones that could be tightened to (I believe mine were 30 ft/lbs) and I couldn't tighten it more with that wrench, so I figure that the others must be that or a little less.

I'll tell you this, I had a bit of a problem getting my headers to seal after I removed them to put new heads on. I even used remflex gaskets that everyone swears are bulletproof, and still couldn't get a solid seal, (perhaps from an improper torque sequence, IDK). I finally found a set that worked. They're called Percy's Dead Soft Aluminum header gaskets. Made of multiple layers of aluminum. Got them at JEG's. They were made for the older LA engines but they work if you line them up just right. You cannot blow these things out, if you didn't get them tight enough or the bolts come loose, just tighten them up. AND the company swears they are reuseable.

 

I don't doubt one bit the the edelbrock's are great heads. I just didn't wanna tempt it.

AIM you might be right but didn't wanna go through the hassle of tearing it down to change heads if it should happen to fail.

I loved my Remflex gaskets. I did notice some issues when I removed them though. I got a hold of them and they sent me a brand new set. Them and locking header bolts and you can't go wrong. I will never install headers without locking header bolts. When I used the normal bolts I had bolts missing. They just fell out. Put the locking ones on and no more issues

 

Damn cell phone. It don't jump to the thread so I think it don't post. Some forums I have to hit the post button twice before it post