Major problem, please read!!
 

I have a big problem right now. The set of headers I have on my car came with the car when I bought it. That was the only mod on the car at the time. I am not sure who makes them but they are cuasing big problems.

Right where the clutch cable enters the bell housing, the header comes in contact to the cable. There is a little step welded onto the header to heat disapate heat transfer but it doesn't work. The problem is that the header heats up the clutch cable and melts the inside liner and outside coating. The original clutch cable lasted for at least 3 months but I have gone through three in a week since I replaced it. I first tried using some heat shielding (kevlar with tin or aluminum coating) but since it is touching the header, it starts to smoke. I have now wrapped 3 layers of it around the cable and tied it back away from the header as good as I can. It does touch the header when I depress the pedal and now it is starting to go again. I can barely drive it now. At least this one lasted 3 weeks.

Has anyone ever had this problem before? What can I use to block ALL heat transfer? OR Better yet, does anyone make a cable that is all metal? with no plastic/teflon liner? Can I do surgery to a new cable? I really need help here.

My best friend had that problem with his Stang with Longtubes. He wound up wrapping header wrap around that portion of the clutch cable. He used to replace the cable like once every three months, now he hasn't had to touch it in a year. Works great, but doesnt look that great.

Will the header wrap stop the heat transfer? Is the cable accually touching the header? or just close to it? Can you find out for me?

The cable has not melted since he put it on, and it wasn't touching it was just close.
I'll e-mail this thread to him.

OK, I gave what you suggested a try. I hope it will last the weekend. I drove it all around today and so far it still feels great. I wrapped it in 3 layers of heat shielding, then a layer of fiberglass matt, and then a layer of header wrap. I think that will do the trick. I got it on the lift this morning and could not see anywhere to weld a bracket to. I hope the wrap will protect it.

This only happened to me once so far, and I had the car for about 3 years. If you insulate the cable, you tend to keep the heat in the cable, you have to defect it before it gets there. The spacer on the header tube is the right idea, just not big enough. A air gap between the pipe and the heat shield is whats needed. Look at the heat shield for a cat. and you'll see what I mean.

Hey RPM427, this is joes friend that he said he would e-mail about your problem. I had exactly the same problem and i think i went through about 6 or 7 cables before figuring out what to do. i marked the area where the header was touching the cable and put a real thick layer of high temp rtv sealer. with the sealer still wet started wrapping it with that header wrap(2" wide). I wrapped it tight and worked the sealer into it by squeezing and adding more sealer between layers. i did about a 10" section right at the contact area and built it up to at least a 1/4 in. or more all around. It's pretty messy to do but i haven't replaced the cable for over 2 yrs.
I actually had the wrap around the header itself but that rotted off inabout a year, so it should be fine without it.
I couldn't tell you what kind of headers they are either but they're definately getting replaced.
Good luck!
thad

Wouldnt it be much easier to just break off the supports that hold the clutch cable to the enginebay wall and change the geometry of the cable manually then ziptie it to something that will hold it away from the tubes?

This is what I did when it was touching the equal length mac's

Here's a permanent solution: Take the car to a muffler shop and ask them to disconnect the pipe from the header,then use a large pry bar a do a small bend to the side,we did this with mine when I had long tubes and it worked great,you just have to take your time.You wouldnt beleive how many muffler techs actually bend headers collectively to make connections in different types of cars,my bud I race with does this all the time,he owns a muffler shop and I FREAKED when he did mine till he explained that this is normal proceedure.LOL give it a try.

this sounds like the most logical solution

Can they move the pipes 2", because thats how far mine would have to move to get from in front of the cable flange. it almost seems like the headers are the wrong ones for the motor.