Posted by Matt Wilson [172.71.166.93] on Saturday, October 14, 2023 at 15:33:46 :
In Reply to: Question for those running headers on their L-Head posted by Clint Dixon [172.69.59.22] on Wednesday, October 11, 2023 at 13:21:46 :
That's one of the reasons I decided not to use the very nice Langdon headers I had bought for my 265 rebuild. When I bought them, I asked Tom Langdon about the valve adjustment and he said he always adjusts the valves cold, and recommends his customers do the same, and has never known of this being a problem, and they typically don't need adjusting again.
Based on the above input, my plan was to either adjust them cold, or to install the stock exhaust manifold, adjust the valves hot and then install the headers. In the end, though, I decided I wanted better access to the tappets at any time and a little more stock-looking setup under the hood, so I had my stock manifold converted to a split manifold by flathead guru George Asche, so it will still provide the dual exhaust desired. Of course, the dual carb setup and Langdon's HEI distributor kinda defeat the notion of a stock appearance, but oh well.
Actually, the last straw that really pushed my in the stock'ish direction for the manifold is reading a very knowledgeable person's comment about the Langdon headers coming close to the external oil pump and possibly overheating the oil. Lots of people have used those headers without issue, but it was enough for me, in conjunction with those other factors, to go away from using them. The stock'ish so also allows me to use a mechanical fuel pump more readily if I desire, instead of an electric pump, as the number of mechanical pumps that will fit with the Langdon headers is pretty limited.