Is there any sites which go into specifics about how to instal; longtube headers on a 2001 LS1? iam sure there is somewhere and iam still looking.

 

i put this page together and have had many compliments on it thuroughness

other than the stuff with the EGR...it should be the same for you.

i think there are some pages about them on one of these sites:

www.ls1howto.com
www.installuniversity.com

 

do you have to shave an 1/8 off the block to install Long Tube headers? that must suck

 

my bad i meant to ask...do you have to shave the block tho instal Hooker Long Tube headers

 

I've heard people having to shave the block on the driver side, its jsut a small piece of casting that sticks out from when they made the engine, its easy to cut off with a sawzall. I didn't need to cut mine with my flowtech headers, although I did anyway cause it looked like it was in the way because I was trying to install the header without removing the steering linkage. I had to remove the linkage and the header slipped right in. Taking the steering linkage out seems to be very common, so you might have to do this. It has two bolts one at the top which is seen very easily the other is at the bottom of it kinda hidden by the steering suspension, but its easy to get to, both bolts must be removed in order for it to come off. Make sure the steering wheel ddoesn't move around because the air bag wires can get wound around the steering shaft and then break. Its a good idea to make the steering wheel lock, then you don't have to worry. Some people say they must lift the engine to to get the headers in, i didn't have to, on my LT1 I had to, but the LS1 just slipped right in. I had the tires 8.5 inches off the ground for the headers to fit in, although 10 inches probably makes it easier-just be safe, make sure you put something behind the back tires so the car can't roll and use safety jacks. It might seem hard to get the headers in, but just be patient and look at the angles, cause the headers may not want to fit at any angle, but one, so just keep trying different ones until it slips right in. Sometimes you have to twist them to the side then straight to get them in. I didn't have to remove the coil packs, or sparkplugs to get the headers in, but I did remove the passenger side bolt on the very back that holds in the coilpacks, its a bolt that is all the way in the back hidden, and would be a pain to remove with the headers installed, so I took it out and chucked it as far as I could throw-cause I plan on a cam swap one day soon. It is really overkill, so be smart and remove it while you have easy access. You can use the stock bolts and stock metal gaskets, they work better than the paper ones and seal up real nice. Install the header bolts by hand so you don't cross thread them or else you may end up with a loose bolt, and a leak. Also I would suggest anti-seige on the bolts and sparkplugs cause steel and aluminum like to fuse together. Taking off the old stuff is the hardest part, many times the bolts break (not header bolts-just the other components), mine didn't but its a California car, so don't worry about them. Make sure al the starter wires and such are at least a 1/2 inch away from the headers so they don't melt, I had to move mine slightly, just to be on the safe side. Tighten the header bolts from inside out, just semi tight then another round to tighten them down, and after a few heat cycles check to make sure they didn't loosen. Check the header flanges before installing for straightness, just to make sure they are flat and even. By the way my flowtechs rock, they are the cheapest header around and they work great-same design as the hookers, but the welds aren't to pretty. Tbyrne has them for 230 a pair and come with reducers and o2 extenders. I did'nt use 02 sims either, it will trigger an SES light but will have no impact on your performance or gas mileage-so you can save yourself some money if you don't mind the light or plan to have it deleted some day. I blocked off my Air pipes cause its pretty common for the valves to flutter and cause a ticking sound-mine did and sounded terrible, and left like that they will burn up, so block or use a restrictor plate. Hope that helps-if you have any problems, just post them. its a pretty straight forward install, but can be time consuming.

 

Hey do you have to remove any parts of the airconditioning system on the passenger side to remove the stock exhaust manifolds? how long did this take u?

 

hey do the flowtech LT's give u about as much hp and tq as hooker LT's ? cause under 3 bills sounds sweeet to me

 

You don't have to remove any air conditioning crap, unless you plan to throw a cam in there, but then you could even just bend the lines instead of removing hoses, bt with headers alone, no you won't touch the air conditioning stuff. Its kinda hard to fit an arm and hand to get to the plugs and bolts for the headers, but its stil far from the conditioning stuff.

As far as the headers, hooker and flowtech are made from the same company Holly, so when you look at them they are identical, except hooker uses a slip on instead of bolt on collector, which I prefere since it makes removing the headers easier and i don't have to worry about the pipes becoming one with each other. The difference in the headers are the welds, they aren't very pretty compared to the hookers and they will have no influence on performance, the pipes are the same thickness. So your basically getting a hooker header since they are made from the same machine, but some idiots due a **** poor job of welding. Although my Y pipe had great looking welds and was a nice piece, so i don't know if the Ys are both the same from both companies. The Y pipe where the two ends join in the middle had a smaller hole than 3 inches, so I took a long metal pipe and knocked the hole bigger. I think this is pretty common with cutouts and Y pipes since they want to make sure it doesn't leak and so make the hole slightly smaller on the inside to make sure of it. The Y pipe costs 99 bucks. The headers come with gaskets, bolts, o2 extenders air block off plate (none for the AIR) and gaskets for all those holes and collectors, and header reducers which you would'nt need unless you had a shop fabricate a Y pipe up for you. flowtechs allow you too save quite a bit of money , the 230 dollar pair are uncoated. I had Jet Hot coated hookers and the proctive ceramic rusted through after 3-4 months-without rain or anything else. I could have sent them in to be recoated for free, but to send them is 40 bucks each way plus installing and removing them. I have always used painted cause they last a long time even through winters and after trying jet hot I will never buy coated again unless they are stainless steel. Some people never have problems with the coatings, while others have the coating peel off. I would say if you live in a nice dry climate away from snow and salt then getting the coating may be worth your time, otherwise I wouldn't unless its stainless. Mine haven't rusted yet, although the paint burns off on the first startup, and so they are a dull grey color, of course i don't drive through snow so they should take some time to get heavy rust. I figure the original manifolds were rusted and I don't have a show car, so why bother-Just something to think about. The coated flowtechs are about 100 bucks more. The power difference was quite nice, felt jsut as good as getting 4.10 gears, although I like the feel of headers better since it adds horsepower and really opens up the power up top. After the headers, the car now loses traction around 3500-4000 rpm at 3/4 throttle in first gear, and the power just seems to keep on pulling without stopping. Whatever headers you get the performance will be about the same unless they are mids or shorties, and I highly reccomend getting a set of longtubes.

 

iam sure there is information else where about this but is it possible to hook up an X-pipe to the FlowTech LT's , is it recomended?

 

well i had that setup for a while I bought a universal kit such as the one from summit (i think 100 bucks) and it worked very well, but because the X goes over the torque arm you lose more space, eventually I got rid of mine and went without a crossover. The X pipe is supposed to be good for another tenth, although I didn't lose that much at the track when I got rid of mine. I liked true duals, which is the only way you can use an X, if you stick to the stock pipes you must use a Y pipe. The only problem with true duals is you smell more fumes and is much louder with lots of drone, but I weighed mine true duals and they weighed much less than the stock catback setup, proablay because htey stop short of the axle. I don't miss my true duals cause they had less clearance and droned to much, but they sounded great and produced slightly more power. THey are a good alternative to the single Y setup. yes they will hook up to the flowtechs or any longtubes for that matter, the flowtechs come with 3 inch reducers, so that will save you 20-30 bucks if you go true duals. You could always buy the universal X setup and have a shop weld it all up for you for another 60-150 bucks