SLP socket was awesome. Didn't need it so much on the driver side, but I'm so happy I had it on the passenger side. I did end up jacking up the engine for the passenger side header. It would've made it through the top with the valve cover off, but the EGR pipe was in the way. Didn't take long and wasn't too hard to do it anyway. Went in smooth after that. But the dipstick wouldn't line up for ****, so I got mad and bent it trying to get it in. Now the bolt hole won't line up and it moves around. Oops.

But I mean, the driver side won't go on AT ALL . It's like either the header or the cat pipe isn't completely round. I tried spinning it in all directions, it simply won't go on. I'm gonna call Kooks tomorrow and see what they recommend, hopefully its a simple fix. Suprisingly, no SES light yet for no cats, not to mention no rear O2's plugged in .

 

Well called Kooks, and they said the pipes might be a tight fit, but I can try using a pipe expander to get the header or cat pipe circular enough. He also said to measure the diameter of the pipes, which is what I planned on doing. So I might be able to get this thing together. It just sucks I was strapped for time on Sunday, so this weekend I should have enough for everything.

Went ahead and ordered a new block coolant temp sensor, dipstick tube, and alternator bolt. It would be nice if they got here by Friday, but theyre not really pressing issues. My main concern is getting the car quieted down enough so I won't get pulled over for the noise .

 

It might be too late for this since you've already messed with your Y-Pipe, but did you try assembling it and slipping it over both collectors at once, or one side at a time. It was kind of crazy how easy it went on when we tried that approach, as opposed to the difficulty we had when trying to put each side on and then joining where the Y-Pipe comes together. You would have thought each side would easily slip on with little to no resistance. It was weird.

Getting the dipstick back in correctly was a PITA. I'm sure we bent the housing, but we ended up bending it even more to get some clearance from the spark plug wire in that location, so hopefully no harm done. As long as the dipstick is getting down into the pan far enough, and I'm not sure how it wouldn't be, I'm thinking it should be fine.

 

No I'm not talking about that connection. I know what you're saying, and the y-pipe definitely has to go on assembled. But the actual cat to header connection is the one that's giving me trouble.

And I bent the **** out of the dipstick . It went in, but the bracket and bolt hole don't line up, so its just loose. I tried bending it back to get the holes to line up, but after 4 tries I gave up and bought another.

 

I was just saying that we had a lot of trouble slipping the passenger side over the collector, but when we assembled the Y-Pipe and slid it over both collectors at the same time, it went right on with virtually no resistance at all. It was strange.

We got the dipstick bolted back onto the block, but it was a chore.

 

That is wierd. I'll try that. Maybe the y-pipe is possessed and it only reacts when combined...

 

Finally finished! The y-pipe had to be opened up with a hydraulic pipe expander. Getting the catback to line up was a serious PITA, and it's still a little crooked. I will probably have a muffler shop fix it. And the headers have already turned gold, they look so awesome.





The y-pipe tucks up pretty close too, except the driver side sticks down further for some reason.



But overall, I'm really happy with this setup. I can definitely feel the extra kick, especially at higher RPMs. It definitely sounds different, too. The LM sounds completely different at idle. Lower RPMs is more like a growl now than a drone, and higher RPMs is louder.

Catback only:

http://www.mediamax.com/mrseven7/Hosted/Audio1.wma

Headers, catted y-pipe, and Loudmouth:

http://www.mediamax.com/mrseven7/Hosted/Audio2.wma

The only thing I'm concerned about is the wires come pretty close to the primaries run like they are, but I'm going OTV to fix that.

But clearance with these things was AWESOME! Very nice fit. And you can hear the difference in flow on the video.

Maryland Speed got me that other O2 extension really fast too. So now just a few more things to take care of, but I'm definitely enjoying my new exhaust. Thanks to everyone who helped me out!

 

That gold color looks really cool. I guess the only way my Kooks will ever look like that is for the coating to flake off. My Y-Pipe did turn gold pretty quickly.

I went OTVC with my wires. I ran the MSD heat guard the entire length of my wires. It made routing them a little more difficult, and a couple of my wires ended up quite a bit too long because I wasn't able to route them along the same path I measured for the cut.

 

Which OTVC loom set did you use? I want to go with MSD 8.5s again, but all the ones on Thunder Racing list the looms as 7-8mm for Taylor wires. Will these work?

 

I went with the Made For You 10.4mm looms that mount on top of the valve cover because I ran the heat guard the full length of the wire. It worked out pretty well. I doubt the smaller looms would have worked for me due to the heat guard.

The bigger looms are a little more expensive. I can't say for certain, but I think they would work fine with just the 8.5mm wire, and would offer some future flexibility. If you wanted to secure the wires so they didn't move at all, you would probably have to fatten the wire up a little where it runs through the loom, or incorporate some zip ties, or something.

I think most people use the 8mm looms without issue for the 8.5mm wire.

 

Hey Green96Z,

Did the bracket off your stock Y-Pipe work with the Kooks Y-Pipe? I'm talking about that bracket that bolts to the Y-Pipe and slides through the rubber mount. Mine did not fit correctly, so I left it off. I think I need some sort of support there to get some weight off the headers.

And I'm not sure whether your '96 may have been configured a little differently than my '94.

 

I want to chime in and get some opinions from the two of you (Green96Z and BTC) concerning the installation of the Kooks.

My Kooks (1.3/4 to 3", plus dual-cats & y-pipe) are scheduled to arrive on Tue, Mar 4th, and I am preparing to order other components - here's the list:

* Stage 8 Stainless, 1" locking header bolts, STG-8951
* Percy Seal-4-Good Header Gaskets, PHP-66031
* Made4You Vertical Looms, MFY-5075613

Do those Part #'s coincide with what y'all used? (I'm ordering through Summit).

I'm still up in the air about wires - am leaning to MSD. BTC - you're using MSD's, right? Do you have a Part #?

Some other odd-ball items of interest:
* Use anti-seize on header bolts
* Be sure to remove the coolant level sensor.
* Watch the dipstick tube.

My 95 Z is up on stands and the tranny is out (new FLT waiting to go in) and just waiting on the Kooks to arrive before bolting all in.

Anything else I'm missing?

 

That is the part number of the Seal 4 Good gaskets I used.

If you want a locking header bolt, I would get Breslin. They can still be had from a couple of vendors on EBay. Check out Boese Engineering. I think all he has left are sets for big blocks, so you'll get 4 extra bolts. The part number is 600-102. They aren't cheap, but I think they're a much better design than Stage 8. Percy's is now making what used to be the Breslin split lock bolt, but I don't think they're going to be available for awhile. If I didn't find the Breslins, I would have just used ARP.

I actually bought bulk wire, boots, heat shielding and used the 10.4 mm Horizontal Top Mount Looms. Since the MSD heat shielding was only available in a 25 foot roll, I ran it the entire length of my wires, so the larger looms worked well for me. I think you probably want horizontal looms. With the vertical looms, I believe the wires will stack perpendicular to the valve cover, instead of parallel, and that may be what you want for your own reasons. If you want part numbers for the stuff I used, let me know. I could also probably help identify some of the things I didn't use that you may prefer.

I think MSD makes a cut to fit set that can be run OTVC and only requires installing one of the boots. I wanted black wires, which is why I bought bulk. Considering that I covered the entire wire with heat shielding, the black wire wasn't really necessary.

 

I went with ARP 1" stainless bolts, # ARP-400-1210 on Summit. After I blew out my Percy gaskets (bolts backed out on me) I tried using the Stage 8 bolts. Honestly, I hated them. Such a PITA to install, so I went back to the ARP's. They have a 5/16" head and it makes it easier.

After the Percy's blew out, I went with Fel-Pro Performance gaskets, part # 1470. So far so good.

The wires I went with were MSD cut-to-fit LT1 wires, which come with the straight boot already on and you have to crimp on the other end. Part # is 32129. I also bought a crimper from Summit, # SUM-900033. Worked pretty good. I went with the horizontal looms, # MFY-5035611. Those are black for 7-8mm. The MSD 8.5 wires fit fine. Those are black btw, I think they look good with the red wires. I'll try to get a couple pics up. They fit nice even with AIR hooked up.

You are going to have to remove the dipstick tube to get the header in. To get mine back in I bent it, and now the bolt hole won't line up. I have a new tube, just haven't put it in yet. If you take out the coolant temp. sensor, have a bucket, because coolant is going to come rushing out, even if you drain the radiator. You pretty much have to drain the block. Use anti-seize on all the header bolts, as well as the O2 sensors.

Oh, if you still have the stock mounting looms for the plug wires? Get rid of them. They are mounted on a metal rail that is bolted to the block, and it gets in the way of the header when you try to put it in. For the passenger side, just pull the engine mount bolt and jack it up, don't waste time trying to slide it in. It will save you some headache. And PB Blaster is your best friend! Soak those bolts and nuts, especially the y-pipe nuts, real good so you don't break any. I got away with none breaking.

Thats all I can think of right now, good luck on the install! Oh yea, and don't forget beer. You're gonna need it.

 

Hey Green96Z, did you see my post above caldercay? Did that bracket off of your Y-Pipe work?