[Dieselwrencher]

I put my steering shaft back in before I put the engine back in thinking I had all sorts of room. Nope. I thought I had it made and I could use the headers I picked up at a swap meet a few years back. No, no such luck. Those dumb things had the collectors aimed at the oil pan. You'd never get a pipe on the collector without cutting them in half. Plus, I had to oblong the mounting holes severely to get the studs to fit through them and I was not impressed.

I finally broke down and spent the money and got some Hot Heads block huggers. But of course, they were too long and my exhaust would have been hanging below my engine cross member. I decided to cut the headers, eliminate the collector and add V-bands. Then I used a tight 90* elbow, cut it as low in the transition as I could, and welded on the other half of the V-band. This gets the exhaust up without having to raise the engine up even higher eliminating the need to chop up more of the floor. Hopefully.

The last 2 pics, I was bolting the front sheet metal on to get my front axle centerline. The last pic is my youngest son, Colt. The kids love playing in the 40 and are not really happy they can't play in it now that I'm mocking up the rear suspension.