97 k2500 l29 5 speed build need advice

[Moofus02]

Friend ordered truck new. 3/4 4×4 nv4500 454 373 gears with g80 cruise tilt no air. He plowed snow with it its whole life. Frame is ugly under the cab and has been plated with 3 inch 1/4 wall angle iron. I got it with a slipping clutch for$1100. Was going to put a clutch in it and drive it but changed my mind and decided to use drive line in a different truck. Wife wants junk out of yard so I went out and looked at it. He sprayed the body down with used drain oil regularly. The body is crusty but not bad for pins are like new and it drives tight only has 60k miles. I've decided to make it my winter ride no snow plowing. Save the good trucks for good weather. I've got a different trans crossmember to replace the one that broke when I went to move it. I put about 70k miles a year on running to work on freeway. My plan is 255/85/16 tires, long tube headers, egr delete, cat delete and 0411 swap. The manifolds are junk and leaking and and truck is lazy. I'm not pulling anything more than a little utility trailer. What do you guys recommend for clutch and long tube headers?

 

[RichLo]

No recommendations on the headers and clutch but it sounds like you have a good project on your hands... Check out the 454 Vortec thread if you haven't already, lots of good info in there

The Official Vortec 454 Info thread

After the big thread on FSC vanished, a treasure trove of information, tips, tricks, as well as a collection of interesting subjects and cool trucks were lost. This is the attempt to try and provide a database of sorts for these dinosaurs; it seems there's always two or three threads of someone...

www.gmt400.com

 

[Moofus02]

Ok I've been shopping. Long tube headers are hard to find for this. Short or mid length are around or long for a tbi truck. If I ditch the egr tbi headers should be fine. The reason for headers was the manifolds are junk. Should I just replace the manifolds or go with shorties so I don't have to mess with exhaust? I want this to run decent but am more interested in torque than high rpm. I'm going to pull the motor to do the clutch. Should be easier to deal with broken bolts on exhaust manifolds with room to work. Probably add a cam while it's out and freshen up gaskets and seals

 

[alpinecrick]

Whats wrong with the exhaust manifolds?

 

[Moofus02]

They are rusting off the heads. Leak like crazy. I would have to mill them to get a seal and I don't think that would last long before they warp. The last set warped in a few months on my 6.0l after I milled them. They weren't as ugly as this l29 is

 

[Moofus02]

Whats wrong with the exhaust manifolds?

Looking at it again they aren't as bad as I thought. Broken bolts are the problem. Pull the motor to put clutch in and fix that with motor on the stand