Here is what $5000 buys you.

[Kern Dog]

Score!   
I think I bought mine through Summit 2 years ago.

[TexasStroker]

I'm the same with stainless and aluminum...usually like to leave them raw.  The Eddy lid looks good black...I've got the same on my Charger and had always toyed with painting it.

[Kern Dog]

I do like chrome but with no other stuff on the engine being chrome, painting it made sense.

I moved the car over to the other room and put it up on the lift for all the underbody stuff. Exhaust, ATF lines, shift linkage, drive shaft...all that stuff.
I was expecting to encounter some fitment problems with the headers. These were free so I figured that the "price" would be the work I had to do to make them fit and clear everything. These are Hooker # 5903 and don't look like they had much run time if any. The paint was scratched up but not burned off like you usually see with headers that have had any street time.
I unbolted the center link  to get the header in but put it back up afterwards.  I left the engine bolted down. Oddly, the left side just slipped right into place.

The # 3 and 5 cleared the steering box by a fair margin. They all cleared the torsion bar too. The same part # headers didn't fit as well with a 440 in my red car. The lower deck of the 383 must have helped.

[Kern Dog]

The head of the Pitman arm did make some light contact so I dented the pipe enough to clear.
The right side is usually the easy side. On Big Block cars, there is no oil filter. There isn't any shift linkage, no cooler lines, no speedometer cable either.
Uhhh....What about the dipstick tube?
Yeah. The dipstick tube that I had with this trans that was also in the red car worked and cleared fine before. With these headers, the #6 tube wanted to occupy the same space as the dipstick tube.

[Kern Dog]

The clearance to the transmission pan rail was nil. Contact.

[Kern Dog]

The head of the Idler arm hit a tube as well.

[Kern Dog]

A few clearance dents and it all cleared.

[Kern Dog]

The Dipstick tube was an easy fix.
I went to the shed and pulled out my spares. I have stuff from small block, slant six and who knows what else.
What I needed was something to move the top of the tube to the outside of the header tube.

[Kern Dog]

The black one to the right was what I used. It has one bend at the bottom and with a straight shot to the top, it clears the header tube and the body. I had to weld on an extension to the mounting tab.

[b5blue]

So starting at the 5K what cost are you at now? 

[Kern Dog]

I may be off by a small amount but I am under $8000.
Stuff like the trunk floor, gas tank and rear window were about $850. It is the new stuff that emptied the pockets. Most of the used stuff was bought at fair prices or already in the shed.

[b5blue]

How many hours so far? 

[Kern Dog]

Ooooo...That would be really difficult to determine. I am a terrible estimator of time that I need to complete a job. I'm such a proud optimist, I think I can do something in 3 hours and sometimes it takes 3 days.
I've been in construction since 1986. I often think I can finish a project in 2 days but rarely meet the goal. My best efforts are estimating how much time I can shave when I do a repeat of the same job. MY specialty was roof framing. Housing, specifically. I'd work on housing tracts and we'd do the same 4-6 roof designs over and over. Once you figure out the peculiarities, you can get a good idea of where to save time.
I'm in no hurry with this car. I am enjoying the build. I wanted to get it running so it will be easier to move around the backyard. The Wife and I are considering a move and with all these cars, it will be easier to transport them if they can be driven onto a trailer or transport truck.

[timmycharger]

Enjoying this build!

Your headers reminded me of an episode of "Engine Masters" on Motortrend TV.  They were testing the effects from bashing header tubes for clearance and at the end it really didn't make much of a difference in power how much they smashed them...  

[Kern Dog]

As dirtbag as that may seem, I use that principle as an excuse to not feel bad about the dents.
The left side would have needed no dents if I had a stock pitman arm. The right would have still needed work at the transmission pan rail area.

[Kern Dog]

The shift linkage in the car is sorted out.  I decided to hook up the column shift for now. Later when I get more time, I'll swap in the floor shifter, bucket seats, console and other odds and ends.

I used the linkage from Ginger except for the floor shift parts. I found at first that the cross shaft sat out of level. The side that attaches to the transmission fits into a 90 degree bracket with a nylon bushing. The L bracket was from the other car and it all seemed fine in that car. I have since realized that the transmission sat too low in that car due to an error in how I converted it to the spool mount design.
Back on topic....
The L bracket on the transmission comes in a few different lengths. In the picture, you'll see two of them. I first tried the bracket on the right. The one on the left is shorter and put the linkage right where it needed to be.

[Kern Dog]

The drive shaft is in along with the neutral safety switch wiring.
The headers went in easily but the left side is like most....it requires the starter to be installed at the same time. The pipes are spread enough to fit a big stock starter in there but I am using a MIni by Denso.
The dents I put in to clear the idler, Pitman and the transmission pan rail seem adequate.

[Kern Dog]

Last year sometime I bought a used exhaust setup from a guy on FBBO.
The "Pypes" kit is a 2 1/2" stainless steel, mandrel bent setup with an X center section. It all slips together but I'm going to weld the seams.

[Kern Dog]

The TTI headers in my red car have collectors that aim toward the humps in the crossmember. These Hooker headers do not. Because of this, the left side pipe will need to jog over to clear. The right side is almost a straight shot.

[Kern Dog]

In a stroke of great luck, I found a section of pipe up the hill that had a zig-zag in it !

[Kern Dog]

The right side is almost a straight shot.

[Kern Dog]

The exhaust is almost done. Remember, this setup came as a mostly complete kit. I just needed to bridge between the header and the pipes just ahead of the X pipe.
I looked through some containers of various header parts, collectors, clamps, etc....

[Kern Dog]

I used regular MIG wire even though most of the pipes were stainless steel.
The pipes coming off of the X section were welded, the collectors too. I welded the mufflers to the X section.

[Kern Dog]

I clamped the tailpipes to the exit of the mufflers and put hangers there.
I also decided to use clamps on the front section of the X pipe. This will allow easier removal when the need arises, like when I take it back apart to paint it.

[Kern Dog]

I hadn't looked at the headers from above until a few minutes ago. All the installation was done from underneath.
I was amazed at the big open space I'll have to get the starter wires in place. Wow....I've haven't seen access like this in years!

# 1 header tube runs over the top of the others and turns down behind #7. The TTI 2" pipes in my red car have #1 turning down in front of cyl #7.  NO room there !