6.0L vortec swap

[irokcrawl]

hopefully you guys can help me out, i have a low milage 6.0L vortec (300hp/non LQ9 version) out of a 99 or 00 truck that i picked up pretty cheap. This is going or is already in my 01 toyota tacoma that i use for rock crawling. the front half of the frame under the firewall forward is already tubed and the motor/tranny (th400) are sitting in the truck. I had to take the stock exahust manifolds off because they dropped right on top of the frame. I know Hooker makes some block hugger headers for the LS1 based motors, just wondering if anyone has any experience with them? how tight do they hug the block. ect.. or if there is a nother set of headers out there that will dump out somewhat parallel with the ground, rather than pointing down. ive got a bender and a tig if i have to make some custom's but i would rather just buy since i really have no clue about making headers. ok thats about the only problem i have, now what kind of cheap mods can i do to get some performance gains out of this motor, doesnt have to have huge HP but you know, more is better here is a few pics of the never ending project.

Went from this aready modified truck


to this chopped up POS


here are the the best pics of the frame to block clearance, i can get some measuremts if someone knows of something that may work.

[RedHeartbeat]

Should have just bought the headers and the engine first and then built the frame around the assembly while you were at it. Are you sure you need headers with a crawler? You could stick with a set of f-body LS1 exhausts, they hug the block pretty tightly. Corvette exhausts may fit fine looking at your engine mounts.

[irokcrawl]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(RedHeartbeat &#064; Jul 5 2006, 06&#58;12 PM) [snapback]57210[/snapback]</div>

Should have just bought the headers and the engine first and then built the frame around the assembly while you were at it. Are you sure you need headers with a crawler? You could stick with a set of f-body LS1 exhausts, they hug the block pretty tightly. Corvette exhausts may fit fine looking at your engine mounts.
[/b]

Ill check with a buddy of mine and see if he has a few stock f-body/vett manifolds. i live on the east cost so our wheeling isnt always crawling, lots of skinny peddle, for a couple min&#39;s at a time. thanks for the info.