Wow is that cool. I've wanted a 460 for years. I have a few questions. I never heard of L$L headers, will a speed shop have them ? Since the 460 came in F-trucks can you just bolt it in with factory parts ? Are stainless headers worth the extra money ? I've seen them by other companies and the stainless ones seem like they're a lot more expensive then the regular steel ones, are they thicker or something ? Someone told me they get all blue and discolored from being so close to the engine so what's the extra money for if they don't look good for very long ? I don't know about Florida cops or the RMV there but up here you can't get through instection with exhaust that exits in front of the tires (the inspection station I asked at told me they'd fail a truck like that and it had to exit it the stock location) but if it's outside the frame then the tubes would have to run into the rear wheelwell wouldn't they ? Seems like the back tires might hit it as well but maybe it's not so hot that far back ?
Ok, here's the deal. L&L primarily makes 460 conversion kits but they also sell headers as part of their gig but they're *not* a header company. If you're looking for a set of fenderwell exit headers, which exit (as the name implies) thu the fenderwell OUTside of the frame then this is the link for you:
http://www.landlproducts.com/details.aspx?...amp;ItemID=1010 They also sell chassis exit headers (INside of the frame just like every other header in the world. Dare to be different) but hey, who wants to blend in with the crowd ?
I don't know if stainless headers are worth the Xtra bux to YOU, but they were to me. I really didn't care what color the damn things turned what I was interested in was the fact that stainless doesn't rust and when I lived in New England that was an important consideration for me. You install a stainless exhaust *once* and then you forget about it for the life of the vehicle. For me that was worth the premium that the headers cost. I also really appreciated how much space that freed up inside of the framerails. Not having ANY exhaust between the rails really makes for a much nicer truck to work on whenever something needs to be done and it's hard to express JUST how much I appreciated it, but I think anyone else who's done it will second the motion.
As far as kicking out in FRONT of the rear tires goes, you're right, Mass is kinda a harda$$ about that and while I was trying to hide my shame you've done gone & asked the question so I feel compelled to answer it. For the most part I ran exactly the exhaust that I posted photos of and have described, HOWEVER, I got thru my first inspection Ok but the second time around I got flagged for having the exhaust exit somewhere OTHER than the factory location. What I was told was that with the exception of a few years of early Corvettes which had factory sidepipes ALL exhaust had to exit behind the rear tires. What the law *actually* said was that it had to exit out from beyond the body and while *I* took that to mean it couldn't terminate under the body itself (and I was OK as long as the exhaust tip extended out from under the body) the *inspection station* took that to mean it had to extend out past the rear axle and exit the body there. I argued it for a bit and actually went so far as to request a hearing with a Registry cop at a field office, but he shot me down and said it had to exit behind the rear end. At that point I was stuck, the engine & headers were in and I didn't want to change either one so I bit the bullet and had a custom exhaust fabricated from the collector on back. I had to wrap it down UNDER the frame and back inside and then shot it pretty much straight back, over the axle and then out under the rear bumper. Cost me $750 (and the dog hid under the couch for a month to avoid getting kicked). After I got my inspection sticker I took it off and reinstalled what you see in the photos and stored the custon deal for next inspection. I kept & used the same exhaust on the next 460 Bronco I built as well since everything was the same, it was a b*tch to do but it got me my sticker every year.
This has been a topic recently & a few guys had asked me about it. I dug thru my big box of pics and found a few of the last one I built. I've built several Broncos and a few with 460's and usually run a set of fenderwell exit headers that bring the exhaust OUT from inside the frame rails and kicked it out in front of the rear tires. Initilly I ran a set of glasspacks but eventually I wanted to hear myself think (or my lady talk but that gets old too) & got tired of being stopped by Joe Law so I ran a system that consisted of L&L stainless fenderwell exit headers (460 conversion), a short length of straightpipe, a couple of cheap Thrush turbo mufflers and then kicked it out in front of the rear tires. For anyone who's never done it you'd be amazed at how much nicer it is to work on your rig after getting the exhaust out from between the framerails. Here's what it looked like.
