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Ultimate Headers Fox Mustang Coyote-Swap Long-Tubes

Posted By: Evan J. Smith
Tech Review
 
Ultimate Headers Fox Mustang Coyote-Swap Long-Tubes
 
Written by Steve Baur
Photography by Dennis Fahey
 
Despite the recent increase in Godzilla engine swaps that you see online, Coyote engine swaps are as popular as ever. They will remain so as more and more used engines become available. Ultimate Headers now offers swap headers for 1979-93 Ford Mustangs so you can take advantage of all that the Coyote powerplant has to offer.
 
Ohio-based Ultimate Headers focuses on the quality of its products and that’s evident right from the unique header flanges the company starts with. The investment-cast, stainless steel flanges have a unique appearance, with their truss-like design on display and all of the welding hidden on the cylinder head side. Their physical design makes them stiff, which ensures proper gasket sealing.
 
From the flanges come additional investment-cast pieces in the tight-radius elbows. These provide a hard turn in exhaust flow to maintain performance while allowing for more clearance in the engine bay. This is of particular importance when you have such a wide engine like the Coyote.
 
“Cast elbows are used in just about every header we sell,” says Ultimate Headers president, Jim Browning Jr. “We use the tight-radius elbows to create a header fitment in these swap applications so you’re not squishing tubes to fit and sacrificing performance. They have a pleasing look and offer more clearance.”
 
The company’s designers gave careful thought and consideration with regard to the actual header primary tube bends as well. This is where Ultimate Headers strives to separate itself from other manufacturers in the market.
 
“Our headers are all built using 321 Stainless Steel,” Browning Jr. explains. “We are the only company that uses 321 SS on a production basis, as it is 50 percent stronger than 304 SS at operating temperatures. “The 321 stainless steel has a small amount of titanium in it, which helps with increased strength that leads to the elimination of thermal fatigue and cracking.”
 
Beyond the general construction, you’ll find 1 7/8-inch diameter primary tubes dumping into 3-inch collectors with no flange. As Ultimate Headers does not currently offer an adjoining X- or H-pipe, the company opted to leave the collector straight to allow the end user to decide the route to take from there.
 
That said, Ultimate Headers does offer stainless tubing and plans to release the prototype universal X-pipe that you will see in this installation. And to make the back half of the exhaust a bolt-on affair, Ultimate Headers offers its Extreme Low Profile Clamps to connect the headers to the remaining exhaust system, and they do so in quite a unique way. The clamps weld between the collectors and your mid-pipes, and the clamp itself acts similarly to a ball-and-socket flange and allows up to 13 degrees for greater adjustment and fitment options. These can be purchased in both 2 ½-inch or 3-inch sizes.
 
It’s one thing for the headers to fit the engine in the chassis, but they also have to fit the variety of transmissions that enthusiasts are using, as well as the aftermarket front K-members that many are employing to provide a bolt-in option for the Coyote engine. Ultimate Headers offers several part numbers for header sets to fit the 4R70W, 6R80, and 10R80 automatic transmissions, as well as popular TREMEC manual transmissions. The company has also verified fitment on numerous aftermarket K-members from companies such as UPR, AJE, Team Z, and QA1.
 
Once you have made those decisions, you can choose from five different coating options for the header tubing that includes mill, satin, mirror, silver ceramic, and black ceramic finishes.
 
Wrapping up the details on Ultimate Headers 1979-93 Fox-body Mustang Coyote Swap headers, they are equipped with oxygen sensor bungs to ensure the EFI system of your choice has access to the exhaust stream, and Ultimate Headers include Cometic exhaust gaskets and HTS collector gaskets (if applicable), along with a set of fasteners to get the headers bolted up to your 5.0-liter Coyote engine.
 
As with all Ultimate Headers products, the Fox Mustang Coyote Swap Headers are manufactured in America at the company’s Cleveland, Ohio, facility and come with a lifetime warranty.
 
“If you compare our header to others there is clearly a difference in quality, craftsmanship, and appearance,” noted Browning Jr. “I remind my employees that we build the ultimate headers, and that’s what our customers expect.”
 
In addition to these Coyote swap headers, Ultimate Headers recently released its Godzilla 7.3-liter engine swap headers for the same chassis, should you decide to skip over the Coyote and go straight to the monster motor. Ultimate Headers also offers numerous bolt-on header kits for common applications such as the S197 Mustang, which we’ll be reviewing at a later date.
 
Source
Ultimate Headers
(440) 234-9600
UltimateHeaders.com
 

 

As production continues to ramp up on 7.3 Godzilla swap parts, enthusiasts are still looking to the 5.0-liter Coyote for modern power in their swap projects. Considering there is 400-plus horsepower available in a svelte, 445-pound package and the aftermarket is awash in swap components, it makes a lot of sense to utilize the Coyote powerplant.
 

Ultimate Headers utilizes its proprietary investment-cast stainless steel header flanges and tight-radius elbows to ensure great sealing to the cylinder head and plenty of clearance to the frame rails.
 

Additionally, the investment-cast stainless steel construction is also employed for the four-into-one, 3-inch-diameter collectors.
 

Installation on this 1979 Mustang Pace Car presented no issues, and the only accommodation made to install them was a swap from a Gen 1 to a Gen 2 Coyote starter. The Gen 2 unit is notably smaller which not only provides more room to move the headers around during installation but also keeps the heat from the headers further away from the starter itself.
 

Taking a look from the bottom, you can see how well the headers fit within the chassis and the aftermarket K-member, as well as around the 6R80 automatic transmission.
 

Here is another shot showing the clearance between the headers and the frame rail, as well as the steering shaft and K-member.
 

Ultimate Headers does not offer a mid-pipe or cat-back exhaust, but it does sell stainless steel tubing and a soon-to-market X-shaped crossover pipe so enthusiasts can build complete systems.
 

To make your custom exhaust a bolt-on setup, Ultimate Headers sells these trick, weld-on, ball-and-socket-style connections. They offer a low profile so you can keep the exhaust system tucked up nice and tight.
 

Depending on how you run the remainder of the exhaust system, you might need some universal hangers to get the job done, and Ultimate has those as well.

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