I've been meaning to get these up for quite a while. Many of the time stamps on the pictures are wrong(was late 2010), so do ignore them. These are big pictures, so rather than blow up the thread with them, I'm just posting links.
Kooks Header pics(1 3/4" x 3").....
http://www.ace1252.com/images/1996_L...s/DSCN3926.JPG
http://www.ace1252.com/images/1996_L...s/DSCN3927.JPG
http://www.ace1252.com/images/1996_L...s/DSCN3939.JPG
http://www.ace1252.com/images/1996_L...s/DSCN3940.JPG
Dual cat y-pipe....
http://www.ace1252.com/images/1996_L...s/DSCN3934.JPG
http://www.ace1252.com/images/1996_L...s/DSCN3936.JPG
Installed in car top view....notice ARP 1" stainless header bolts. Provide excellent clearance for a boxed end wrench.
http://www.ace1252.com/images/1996_L...s/DSCN3962.JPG
http://www.ace1252.com/images/1996_L...s/DSCN3967.JPG
Under shot y-pipe not installed. Notice how I had to sand off the jet hot coating on the ends of the collectors to get the y-pipe to fit. Stainless steel can't be expanded like typical aluminized exhaust pipe...it will split. Sanding was the only option(1" wide emery cloth performed the job). I did have to get my catback pipe expanded just a little bit to fit the Kooks y-pipe.
http://www.ace1252.com/images/1996_L...s/DSCN3984.JPG
A look inside the collector....
http://www.ace1252.com/images/1996_L...s/DSCN3986.JPG
Clearance between Moroso pan and long tubes....Nope, can't use an oil level sensor with these and a kickout pan. Plug was sourced from Canton.
http://www.ace1252.com/images/1996_L...s/DSCN4013.JPG
I made a shorting plug for the oil level sensor connector to the dash lamp. If you don't, the low oil light will be on all the time. Just cut off and twisted a couple of leads from a high wattage resistor(1 watt if I remember correctly...), soldered the twisted wire ends, and capped it with a small wire nut. Plugged it in, taped it up, and zip tied it to the trans in a safe spot.
http://www.ace1252.com/images/1996_L...s/DSCN3994.JPG
http://www.ace1252.com/images/1996_L...s/DSCN3998.JPG
Under shot installed....
http://www.ace1252.com/images/1996_L...s/DSCN4009.JPG
http://www.ace1252.com/images/1996_L...s/DSCN4002.JPG
Review....
These are some very nice stainless steel headers. I got them with emissions connections, jet hot coating, and a dual cat y-pipe. With that said, they are not cheap. The headers, dual cat y-pipe, and jet hot coating together cost around $1500


. That was a very painful hit to the wallet, but I will say it has been worth every penny. Kooks knows how to design an excellent fitting header. The fitment is dead on the money...period. They slide up from the bottom of the car with no clearance problems to the heads or k-member. Do keep in mind that I have energy suspension poly motor mounts. Sagging motor mounts can make for painful header installs.
The headers come with decent gaskets, but I decided to go with Percy's dead soft aluminum gaskets(for LT1/LT4). I have had
zero problems with leaks or bolts coming loose. I would not use the header bolts included with the kit. IMHO, they are too short and the heads too big to get decent torque on the bolts without rounding the heads off(open end of the wrench would have to be used).
As seen here....
http://www.ace1252.com/images/1996_L...s/DSCN3919.JPG
I got some ARP 1" stainless steel header bolts. They have a 12 point head and you use a 5/16 boxed end wrench to tighten them(Craftsman 7" 5/16, 1/4 boxed end wrench gives plenty of leverage to tighten them).
When tightening the flanges to the heads, start from the middle bolts and work to the ends last. If the flange is warped in middle(and both mine were....), this will pull the middle of it to the heads with no problem straightening them out. If you tighten the ends first, you may "lock" the flange in place and it may not allow the center to pull to the heads, thus creating a leak at the head.
They tuck up nice to the body and so does the y-pipe.
I picked up ~5 mph and ~0.4 tenths in the 1/8 mile by adding these long tubes. So the stock exhaust manifolds were really restrictive with my stock head/CC503 setup.
Just for reference, here are my baseline times at Farmington and how the car ran after the various upgrades.
5/22/08
Baseline stock with K&N CAI and Flowmaster catback.
Warmed up:
[email protected]
Full cool down:
[email protected]
10/03/08
CC503, 1.6 NSA Pro Mag Roller rockers, PAC 1518 springs, 10* retainers/locks, Trickflow guideplates, 7.2" Comp hardened pushrods, stock heads, stock exhaust manifolds, catback exhaust, K&N CAI, FMS 30# Injectors.
Warmed up:
[email protected]
No full cool down run.
2/19/11
Added Kooks Long tube headers(1 3/4" x 3") and dual cat y-pipe.
Warmed up:
[email protected]
Partial cool down:
[email protected]
As you can see from the times, there was a ton of hp left on the table by not changing out the stock exhaust manifolds.
They sound awesome paired with the Flowmaster catback. I've got a small video of them just after the install. The sound on the vid does not do them justice and I will try to get some high def video of them a little later. This video will show the clearance under the car very well. The car is not lowered.
Here is the SD video....
Here is the HD video...