Kind of a snug fit on this side of the block.




I cannot begin to describe the satisfaction I received
from cutting this header to pieces!







Think this one needed to be replaced?



Here's the new, purpose-made bracket.  Compare it
to the one in the above picture.

My youngest son was sick one day, so I decided to stay home and provide him the care and nurture only a father can.  Hey, I say to myself, what a great day to take the headers off my car and start on my motor mount and manifold replacement. The kid looks fine to me.  I did give him a small bell to ring, in the event he threw up on anything valuable.  My wife uses the same bell to summon me when she needs something, by the way. 

Header bolts were no problem on the left side, as there were only 4 loose ones. Same thing with the jury-rigged motor mount and bracket, only one loose one on the whole assembly. Of course, the oil filter is in the way, so I tried to jack the motor a little higher to see if it will move enough to let the header slip by.

During a break, I noticed a small puddle of antifreeze on the floor. Being the trained investigator I am, I discovered that while raising the motor, the lower hose was pulling on the bottom radiator inlet. Now I have a leaky radiator. My head is sore from banging it on the floor...

The passenger side header did not want to cooperate with me, so I was forced to cut it out with my Sawzall. That was more work than I had planned! I'm sure there was a smarter (and easier) way to get it out. Perhaps the other one will be easier, but I doubt it.

Once the header was out, getting the old mount out wasn't very difficult. The new one, with the Indian Adventures conversion plate started to install easily, but became very stubborn as the day progressed. I finally had my fill of crawling around on the carport floor and quit for the day. I'm man enough to admit when an inanimate object has gotten the better of me. I ended the day by removing both grills, because I was tired of the car smirking at me. Now, I just get a toothless grin.

The following Saturday turned out pretty good, from an automotive perspective. My wife went shopping, so I was left alone to work on the car. I was still having trouble with the first motor mount and had resolved to fix it, or cut the car into small pieces with a torch. After an hour of futile fumbling, I decided I needed another set of hands and eyes. I called my faithful father-in-law, Charles, who came over to provide moral and physical assistance.

After a short while, we installed the troublesome mount. Ha! This time, my superior intellect and mechanical ability allowed me to outsmart an inanimate object. I then attacked the driver's side of the engine. I dropped the starter and removed three finger-tight header bolts (there should have been six) and pulled on the header. To my surprise, it came out with no effort at all! I thought about the previous week, when I had to slice the other header into bite-sized pieces to get it to come out of the engine bay. Too easy, I thought. Something else will go wrong, or at least cause me grief and profanity.

The motor mount on that side was sheared in half and came out easily. Installing the new one took a while, though. The fine foreign craftsmen that made the motor mount didn't get their measurements correct, so I had to elongate one of the mount holes (after a half hour of fighting it). I installed and removed the mount twice before I could get it to fit correctly. Thankfully, the motor mount ordeal is over and I can move on to the next exciting phase, exhaust manifold installation!