Crites headers

[dj work]

I have crites headers that have been ceramic coated on my 482 in my 66 Fairlaine. I need to change out the starter. Would it be difficult to pull the slip on collector off? The motor been in the car a long time. Trying to figure out how to make room to get powermaster starter out. Either I have to remove some steering linkage to pull it out thru underneath or remove #4 header tube and pull starter up the passenger side. I've never had these headers apart since they were new. Thanks

[GerryP]

You're going to have to try it to know.  I can tell you that I had ceramic coated Hooker Super Comps on my Fairlane for around 15 years.  When I removed the headers, the two slip pipes on the driver side slipped right off.  No problems at all.  I would say as long as nothing compromised the surfaces, you shouldn't have any problems.

[dj work]

Thanks

[djburton]

We had some Crites on a T Bolt clone with the same situation. We had to get really creative to get the collector off.I knew it would be the case as it went on hard to begin with. Ended up expanding the collector tubes slightly for an easier fit.

[6667fan]

Before you start knocking your exhaust apart you should consider dropping the idler arm from the frame. The center link will of course come down with it. That is how I change starters on my Fairlane. I have Crites tubes and have fit a stock starter in the space that gets created by dropping the center link/idler arm. The Ford starter does require to be twisted through the opening. I have not run a PowerMaster so don’t know it’s dimensions. Also, if you knock the collector off there still might not be enough room to get by the center link.

[fryedaddy]

same here ,i unbolt the idler and i can twist and move the starter till itr comes out.i have replaced my starter at least 5 times over the years with hooker supercomps.first couple times i unbolted the header,last 2 or3 times i just unbolted the idler arm and fished it out.

[dj work]

Thanks for all your replies. This will be the 1st time doing a starter swap on this car. Sounds like going thru the bottom by removing some steering linkage is the way to go for me. Thanks