"..... it appears to bend easily enough fortunately"

Like I said, a hammer handle and a small bottle jack....I finessed about the same set up to clear on my 1345 & magic-wand in a Moke....  I don't like the idea of machining an angle on the flanges as that would unevenly load the intake manifold.  It's easy enough to bend either tube a bit and it takes very little!   NOW, build a STOUT bracket to hold it so it doesn't "go back"!!  Let me know if you want me to send you one of those brackets that bolts to the output flange... I have a number of good used ones that could have your name on them!  They are actually part of the lower stabilizer kits, which I think you already have on both sides.

You just need to make a stout arm between the header tube 'clamp' and a STRONG part of the gearbox.  STRONG because as the engine moves against torque (and it DOES even with all the extra mounts... you have a 10 foot long lever going the length of the car... that's why they "move"!)

Yes, but you're the famous turbodave.  I'd thought about machining the face, but it appears to bend easily enough fortunately.

Take the header off, take it to a machine shop, tell them to machine the flanges at a slight angle. This would be very easy to do on a knee mill. Just clamp the flanges down onto a block with a shim on one side to set the angle. Or just buy a new header.

I know which I'd do...

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Woke up at 5am wondering how to jack the header up and back without causing a stress tear in the worn spot in the front as it would have to stretch a little.  It hit me to combine a lot of you guys' tips here and try a bend in place from up top - above the worn spot.  This hour of thinking made the actual job only 30 mins.  But only because I had the previous day's experience to be able to consider each step.

Mr. Jack Handle was invaluable as it is the only remaining part of my 8 month-old Harbor Freight jack that works.  This worked like a charm on just a couple gentle pulls, only needed to undo the Y from the center pipe. Highly reccommended.

Now as esmith has said we'll see how long it decides to stay there.  But it has a good half inch now to play with if not more.  And yes, been cutting wrap that gets in the way, I know the story that it's bad for headers.

  I tried heating and jacking with a piece of wood on the body, this worked for a little while, then it started hitting again.  On my header there appeared to be quite a bit of distortion of the pipe and it would never clear properly again.

They are the best bet for everyday driving and when tested they flowed as well as any header .

If you think HS is fun try 3 into 1 with QL5000s. I think the ultimate engine steady is the answer. I have a std dog bone with the latest bushings and three lower and after a while it's flopping around. All hard bushings transfer to much fuss. I tried hard one end soft the other but the soft end gets beat out all the faster. 

I have given up on headers and use a cast SPI with manifolw down pipes. Thinking about trying std down pipes they are double wall. Quiet is the new high performance. Steve (CTR)

Just throwing it out there--- 

Header wrap --- I previously had same issues on my 1275 W   QL Joints   with header wrapped-  (mine headers was not wrapped much past the Y joint. so this wrap .. is it too much- Causing more heat to held and more "distortion" even over time? Just curious,.

After taht and i agree- Fixing is a pain... 

Cooper Freeflow manifold- 1 pipe around the QL joint- Easy PEasy .

I know Todds car is a hotrod. Tuned up besat- but would a cooper freflow work well? 

Friends car- with a Cooper Freeflow - Wrapped--- Header broke at the Y joint after about 1.5 years - normal driving.. We also attributed that to Heat ( mabye some engine flex) but still had to replace it.  no wrap = very little noticable difference in noise.  performance change- no notice. 

Yeah I hear you Mal and Jemal, thanks guys.

I was thinking about the jack, just under the Y.  Interesting that Jemal suggests that too.  Don't have to take anything out that way of course except maybe the center pipe.

Wondering if it's possible to actually jack it too far.  I'll stick a piece of wood or something in there between the Y and the tunnel to make sure it doesn't overbend and aim the center pipe too high.

Absolutely but i would keep the Y in place other wise he may be tweaking the Y as well to fit. It looks like it needs a fair bit of tweaking to clear the HS joint.

We only had our 'test stand' exhaust when we ran Todds engine.... there are a few minutes of video on my site and you can see the Hardy outputs!  I found with Moke that the tunnel was very tight for the magic wand housing AND the big exhaust, and 'tweaking' in the car kept me from causing other problems by pointing the exhaust at something else.  I found that a 'dowel' like a strong hammer handle in the pipe along with a prybar and a small bottle jack let me finesse the pipes just enough to clear everything.    Might as well try it before resigning yourself to buying another header!

Took the words out of my mouth Jemal. All the stock brackets seem to crack and break over time. If you had the engine/box on a bench i think you could tweak both of the pipes simultaneously maybe with the Y in place and get a good result but with the engine in the car you are very limited.

It doesn't take much tweaking to clear the axles actually, You can introduce a slight bend a little ways up on that center pipe (or near the manifold flange that translates to quite a bit of movement right near the u-joint)  I used to tweak them thusly for the regular yoke outputs, which have even more interference of the header with the rubber GCD101 OR the QL5000 Teflon style u-joints than they do with the 'sleeker' Hardies.... Smurf's first guess of the problem....

The double gasket will just blow out... now if anyone made the THICK soft copper header gasket style like I have on my 454 Chevy K5 Blazer... those work NICE!   Probably nearly a 1/4 inch thick when new...   And yes 'tilting' the engine unit (like with an adjustable dog bone) won't give you any relief... key word 'unit'!   I used to simply bolt the header up with the intake (so nice and secure), then use a BFH to tweak the header!!!   OK, OK,  I would use the HANDLE end in the pipe I wanted to tweak as a LEVER!!   If you flex it an inch with leverage when nice and tight, it may return 7/8ths, so you gain an 1/8th in the direction you want!

By the way feel free to switch the bracket that holds the header positioned to the pipe causing problems!  I had to do that on my Moke project because the adapted the original magic-wand shift housing wasn't what Maniflow had in mind for the LCB!  You just need to find/make the 'arm' portion so it can be bolted to the diff somewhere!  Make that arm stronger that the old one as something has moved in the year you've been driving it to cause the problem!

Yeah Mal and esmith I agree that would be best but man this header is 6 mos old and was almost 400 bucks.  

Perhaps welding in a clamshell as Mal says.  What's there is so weak it should come out anyway.  Glad I was too poor to ceramic coat at the time.

That will be no help Todd. Either cut out the offending part of the header and weld in a clamshell piece to clear or take ES's advice.

Maniflow makes a LCB header designed by Downton Eng. specifically to clear the Hardy Spicer joints.  I bumped the first header I installed on my 67S. and it started hitting the u joint cutting in to it about a 1/4 at least.  I installed one of the LCB's designed to clear the Hardy Spicer joints and the difference is clear once installed.

Thanks Drmini.  Yeah I have the two lower steadies and they're in good shape.  And new bushings on the dogbone.

I guess I could fool around tilting the engine, that might be the better plan.

I have used Maniflow LCBs for years with Hardy Spicer uni joints, and never had one hit yet.
But, I run a remote box, which resist torque reaction. If you have a rodschange box you need more steadies fitted than stock to stop it moving about.

Have you guys seen this gearbox bracket?  I am not using it.  Looks more robust than the single bolt going into the diff case I am using now.

//www.minimania.com/part/GEX7526/Bracket-Exhaust-Gearbox-Rod-Change---Mini--Mini-Cooper

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Making a new thread about the Maniflow LCB bashing against the Spicer joint because it is becoming a b****h to fix.   I've done every permutation of reinstalling the exhaust system twice now and it returns to that position.

The Maniflow LCB's bend is forcing it into the Spicer joint almost 1/4". 

As you guys know the lower bracket is supposed to to keep the LCB away.  But because the pipes are just bent too close, the bracket is under some strain to hold the LCB away, and with vibration of driving just returns to a comfortable position - meaning sawing the LCB into the Spicer.

To install I have been positioning the lower bracket correctly, with the pipe away from the Spicer at least .75".  Then tighten down the manifold nuts.  But driving and vibration causes the lower bracket to give up under that much tension and it loosens.

Pics:

• My actual engine at MM, pic courtesy Jemal.  Spicers off obviously.  
• My LCB - 1.75".  The center pipe is the one hitting; the one without the lower bracket.  

My current plan:

Thinking of adding a second exhaust gasket on top of the current one as in this pic.  With sections cut out along the top so that a slight angle is introduced to angle the header out 1/2" at the bottom.  Yes I know that sounds totally screwy.

Alternatives:

• I first thought of having the header bent but I just know that will screw it up some other way.
• Since it's just the one center branch, I could grind/sand down the flange face with the required angle, but then it would not sit flush next to the intake manifold flanges on either side.