Well I did it finally saved up and splurged for my headers, they should be on the road now. I got the coated Edelbrock TES setup and from what i read it should have everything. Should i upgrade to better gaskets now, or will the supplied ones do fine? Also i read somewhere that buying the ARP header bolts helps the install quite a bit. Anyone with experience with this? Any special tools to help speed up the process, or just must have's? I have the Moroso Blue max 8mm wires, these will hold up to the heat of the headers right? Sorry for all the questons but i would like to do this 1 time and the right way, and i know you guys have the experience that I lack.

Josh

 

not a word of advice? it's an '89 Iroc or should i post this somewhere more general

 

This can be done with "standard tools", flex sockets help. Most gasket problems are caused by the bolts coming loose, get the locking ARP's. You don't have to, but I would upgrade the gaskets. Plug wires are fine as long as they don't touch the headers. You may have to remove the starter and/or lift the engine an inch or two. Get a thermal barrier/shield for the starter.
Can't think of anything else, pretty simple, shouldn't take more than an afternoon.

Good luck

 

I have the Edelbrocks and I had them ceramic coated. You will need a starter blanket/heat shield (Im using both) to protect it from heat soak so it will still start when the motors hot. As for the plug wires they are a huge pain. I burnt my first set of MSD wires, rerouted the next set and the same thing happend. I then bought a Taylor custom under header wire set. I also bought the boot protector sleeves and have yet to have any problems. Also you might want to wrap the brake lines on the drivers side to prevent brake fade.

 

Thanks for the help guys, i know what it's like to burn up wires, went through 2 sets breaking in the cam on my el camino, nothing touching just so dang hot. Anybody got picks of a safe way to route? or recomend a certain wire loom kit, how much was the Taylor setup if i do fry these? I fear those boot protectors because i've had them hold more heat in and melt the wire right in the boot but not after it, maybe it was just my luck though. Thanks for anything that can hlep

 

If you get wires with boots that are made for high temp areas the boots won't melt unless they actually touch the tubes or get EXTREMELY close to them.... (or some other unforseen high heat situation occurs). I have the Accel 8.8s (nothing to brag about at all but they work) and they haven't had a problem with how I have them routed.... They are kind of close in a few areas (see link in sig for pics on my site in engine section) I used a universal HEI set and built them the proper length for each cylinder and used a few factory seperators and some (gaaaasp ) zip-ties to keep them under control... Look decent and works great - including keeping the wires short to keep resistance down.

Also, think about a remote starter solenoid as that will erase the hot-start blues forever .

 

Thanks, I'd go with the remte starter solenoid, if it weren't for the fact that the one that I ordered from summit awhile ago went haywhire on my el camino and wouldn't STOP cranking the engine over Luckily my dad was under the hood at the time and pulled the coil wire before we did some real damage to the flywheel. I'll just try the guard and wrap method for now and hopefully it will all hold together