To make installing headers fun.

But what is fun is making my wife start the car with no exhaust!


https://youtu.be/Am1PXOoZPNc

You really meant "no exhaust". I assumed you meant open headers. Yea, I only believe in headers when you're installing the engine...and even then. I spent over 2 hours getting the starter in my C4 with the headers. I spent two entire evenings and a couple trips to Jegs installing the headers in that car....with the engine. That's why I removed the engine by using a sawzall on the motor mount bolts and lifting the engine out.

An LT1 car must be worse than an LS1 ?

This past weekend we (a friends car) installed a set of TSP 1 7/8" long tubes into his 35th SS, spent about 6 hours on Saturday drinking beer while doing it, and it went super easy ! ... The passenger side header slid up into place so easy I removed it, just to try it again ! (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) ... The drivers side, I had to remove the oil filter, and then same story, in and out with minimal interference !

I was expecting the worst so it was a pleasant surprise !

~DaVe

Took about an hour last time I changed them.

Even if they are a pain in the ass, I still think it's fun. Especially if they are stainless long tubes. But i like playing with go fast goodies when I can, which isn't every day.

A 3rd Gen with a LS1, you lay the headers in the engine bay, then drop the engine in place and bolt them up.

With a 2nd Gen 71 T/A 455HO, the headers go on AS the engine is being lowered into the engine bay. Start a bolt, drop the engine 1/4", or so, start another bolt. Wash, rinse, repeat until all 8 bolts are tight, and the engine is bolted onto the mounts. Oh, and don't forget about the three wrenches you cut up and ground the edges on so they'd work.

Removal is exactly the opposite of the install. With no front sheetmetal on the car, it's about an 4 hour job. I had to do it twice. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/banghead.gif)

Wine is fine but whiskey's quicker...

This is why I'm putting so much effort into saving my old Y-pipe. The 1 5/8" Edelbrock headers on my IROC have been discontinued for a long time and that includes the Y-pipe. So the choices are 1. Patch and weld Y-pipe 2. Have a new Y-pipe fabbed and coated ($$$), then still have old rusty 1 5/8"s 3. Replace headers with something high-quality ($$$) and possibly face explosive install rage

Damn, between the tubular K memeber and fancy UMI motor mounts, my headers literally fall out. Had to put some header studs on my car so they could hang and not fall to the ground when I unbolt them.

The stock K member is an engineering marvel. The engineers of that piece must have been really proud of their design. They somehow managed to designs a piece that not only supports the engine and the front suspension, it also manages to catch every single nut or bolt or tool that I drop. It truely is amazing. I swear if I dropped a bolt while working on the rear end, I would find it sitting on the cross member.

Funny but I had a similar experience once with a 3rd gen. I was replacing the cap and rotor once and the socket fell off and disappeared. Could not find it anywhere. I figured my buddy found it and moved it back at some point. But anyways, I got the job done and a few months later sold the car to a friend. About 6 months later we pulled the engine and afterwards I was looking at the top of the transmission as it was still mounted in the car. I noticed that there was something shiney on top of the trans. I reached in and grabbed it, and discovered the deep wall socket I had lost almost a year earlier. It had somehow gotten wedged between the transmission and the trans tunnel of the car and stayed there for countless miles. Magic I tell ya.

I dunno, I had a "difficult" time installing my headers on my 4th gen 2001, but not "impossible". I would do it again if I needed to. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Certainly it's not a "fun" job but no wrench job is as fun as driving.

I've been working on the car here and there. Funny thing is getting the old manifolds off was the easiest part. They came right out. Then getting the passenger side header in from the bottom wasn't that bad once I got the front of the car high enough and took one bolt out of the started and rotated it. I also dropped the transmission crossmember allowing the engine to rotate back a little. My biggest ass pain right now is getting there damn bolts to thread. The runners are right up against the bolt heads. Not all of them, but a couple for sure.

I may need to start day drinking....

I'm also missing 2 bolts. The crossmember ate them.

This post has been edited by Steve91T: Aug 10 2017, 05:28 PM

The front and rear bolt holes don't line up. They are off by like an inch. Everything else lines up. Think I can get away without those bolts?

I wish I checked the flanges before installing...

I called pacesetter and they confirmed it's the right part number. The guy was pretty shocked to hear that it's not lining up and wanted pictures. Sounds like someone welded the wrong flange on.

I'll let you know when I hear back. Guess I'm not finishing the exhaust today.

https://flic.kr/p/XA9nNp

Wow! I've had headers you had to open the flange hole a bit so the bolt would thread, but that's a bit extreme.

Yep, pretty bad.

https://flic.kr/p/WmXeki

That's a little off. Maybe they were packaged wrong. That's a lot of headaches there

The Pacesetter guys wanted pictures of the gasket against their headers. So interesting thing is there are punch outs in the gaskets that line up perfectly with their flange. My LT1 uses the holes further out...the hooks.


Any idea what engine uses the inner holes?

https://flic.kr/p/WZuTuy

I had some buddies perform my first LS1 header install around '99, using the 'Grotyohann' brand on my already cam'ed motor. They had done plenty of Mac mid-length header installs in their garage and said it'd likely take 3 hours. I arrive at 1PM, and they finally have them in around 1AM. Except the y-pipe is bent so only one bank will connect. They didn't have the tools to coerce it so they wired the y-pipe to the chassis so it wouldn't fall. My maybe 2 year old daughter was sleeping inside. We drove 45 minutes home on open headers, she slept the whole way.

The next day I had to drive my daughter to day care and on the way to the fabrication shop, I had a guy want to race me but I didn't want to attract any more attention. The shop heated the pipes to mate them to the collectors.

About 10 years later, I swapped out the exhaust for ARH's on a shop lift and that only took a couple of hours. But I had an unexpected expense; I was using an aftermarket high-torque starter, and the new headers wouldn't fit with it. I had to drive to a dealer and buy the factory starter to finish the install.

This post has been edited by JimMueller: Aug 11 2017, 12:31 AM