Well Saturday after 10 hours of straight work I finally got my new Flowtech LT's in, ORY in, and cut out welded in. Every thing went pretty smooth except I had to notch the passenger K-member (which I thought was strange since eveyone says they have to notch the drivers side), then of course that last plug and wire on P-side, then the last problem I had was (and heres where the questions start) getting the drivers side O2 sensor out. Well I couldnt get it out I tried everything soooo I put the drivers side rear sensor in its place, so how bad is that and what effect would it have on performance? Ive been driving it every where and it seems fine cant really tell if there is any power gains and im not sure if I like the sound with the hooker muffler I have on now. And my other question is Im not sure if I felt the back pass. side plug wire click in on top, so how bad would the car run if that wire isnt on right would I be able to tell at all?

 

If the sensor was wrong it would set a code.
I fthe plug wire was not on it would be missing and that would set a code.

No SES light no problem.

 

S you put the rear O2 sensor in the header?

If I remember right, parts stores list different part numbers for left and right side but not front or rear. You should be fine.

 

that rear wire is a pain isn't it i was spread eagle over my engine bay just to get the correct arm angle for it. and it was a combo of both hands that finally got it on.

i'm not sure if you used my install guide, but i know since i have poly motor mounts that eliminated MY need to do any notching, if my engiine moves like it did with my old mounts...i probably would have been notching things too.

and i cant' imagine not being able to get that sensor out...put a big fat wrench on it and pull...

 

Well since I have no cats it already has the SES light on, the notching I had to do isnt because the torqe of the engine, its just touching sitting there and then when you rev it really rubs. And I was at my uncles house putting them on and he has every tool you could have it seems including a lift, which was real nice
he had this wrench that was like 3 foot long and I still couldnt get it to budge, and Im no weakling. Im just wondering if its bad for the car to the wrong sensor in there. but its running pretty strong strong so im thinking the wire is all good. teke184 I did read you install guide and thats why I got them in as quick as I did, because I dont know much about cars at all and studying your guide I felt like I installed headers already. Thanks

 

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very glad i could help man.

were there any tips you could add? maybe pics of where you notched it, that way i can put them on my site for suggestions on possible problems with the install.

 

when I go into work today, I can look up to see how different the parts are or if the parts are the same #. Ill let ya know.

 

I'll have to take some pics within the next couple of days, as far as tips go.... I was lucky and got to use a lift and just about every tool there is, so my tip is to have a rich uncle lol But I can say to go at it with a lot of patients, if you think youll be done in a couple of hours your going to be real upset when you dont. I knew how it was going to be since I have this webpage as my homepage.

Oh and everyone I talked to at work said the car would run like crap if one of the wires werent on so I think I got it on there

 

First you need to get O2 sims or get your PCM reprogrammed. IF you are going to have your PCM reprogrammed with LS1 Edit, let me know so I can tell you what to program.
Second, I was told my GM and by Autozone that the O2 sensors are diff. So I say just drop the 90 bucks on a new O2 sensor. But make sure you get either a AC Delco or Delphi O2 sesor and not the Bosch ones. The Bosch ones will give you horrible gas milage. But if your car is getting good gas milage then your O2 sensor is prob compatible.

 

the numbers are different so you should look into that. It could be that its working tho. you cant go wrong with AC delco or gp sorensen.

 

How important is it that I get o2 simms? Will it actually cause problems with any aspect of the car? I plan on getting it tuned but my extra $ went for the headers.

 

If you don't get O2 sims you will prob get bad gas milage, your engine will not run right as it will be constantly detuning the engine. Also you will burn up your spark plugs. It doesn't take long to do it. You may have already damaged your spark plugs. I recommend either getting the sims or geting a program by LS1 Edit. If you are getting your tune by someone using LS1 Edit they can do it while they have access to your PCM. IF not you need the sims. Hypertech or Diablo Preditor will not be able to do this for you.

 

BULL.
Not having O2 simms will cause only one problem. That's the SES light being on. Not having the rear O2s has NO effect on the performance or fuel mileage of the car. All that the rear O2 sensors do is report to the computer whether the cats are working right or not.
And a Predator can tune for anything that edit can with a custom tune. I have the DTCs turned off for the rear O2s, the AIR, the EGR, fuel mapping for 36# injectors and a ton of other stuff.

 

Ok so which is it? I have heard before that it has no effect on the car besides the SES light, but Im no mechanic or anythying.

 

That is true, it will only affect the SES light. And FWIW the difference between the front and rear O2's as far as the part numbers is the length of the harness, you can switch the 2 out front to rear and they will work the same (as long as you either use O2 extensions or splice a sufficent length of wire into the harness for them to reach).