was wondering if anyone had run across any of the installation issues im having with my pacesetter LT's. i'm finally getting to the end of my 383 rebuild project and actually was able to hear the car run for the first time last night. woo hoo!! it's been a long 3 months for me without my daily driver! here are the remaining issues i've got related to the pacesetter headers and Y-pipe:

first of all, i'm having some clearance issues under the car. on the driver's side, there is an area on the Y-pipe where the pipe is flattened somewhat to allow it to install properly under there. somewhere around that spot, i dont have enough clearance and am getting some vibration from that so my mechanic said that he was planning on heating it up this morning and trying to use some tool to squeeze it down a little smaller and hopefully gain some clearance. on the passenger side, at the point where all four header pipes come together to the collector, it is up against that floor board heat shield and needless to say, causing a really bad vibration. the only thing we could think to try today was removing that heat shield and putting some heat tape i got from summit that is supposed to be good up to 2000 degrees (haven't done that yet). i'm not even sure if taking that heat shield off is going to yield me any additional clearance or whether it's still going to be up against the floor board.

the other clearance is in the engine compartment where the headers on the drivers side pass by the steering linkage. it was REALLY tight there so we had to take off that rubber boot to get them in there. even with that off, it left the header sitting directly up against a metal heat shield protecting the steering stuff. after bringing it up to normal operating temps yesterday a couple times, i noticed that heat shield had started melting pretty good where the header was touching it so im trying to figure what i can do about that. maybe some of that heat tape i have would be good enough to keep that metal heat shield from melting?

if any of you have any suggestions or have solved any of these issues, i would welcome any inupt you have. my mechanic is working on it today and i could give him a call and fill him in on any new advice i get.

thanks !

robert

 

For the passenger side, I ended up cutting the trimming about 5 inches off of the heat shield to provide enough header clearance. For the drivers side floorpan, I haven't had that problem, but it could just be a fitment issue or maybe you have some tired motor mounts. I also had problems with the steering linkage. I ended up leaving the plastic guards off because they were running very close to the header and figured they were going to melt anyways.

 

I had no clearance issues with the headers rubbing on anything, sounds like your motor mounts are worn.I did however rip that heat shield off, it was loose and vibrating like crazy. Been driving it like that for a month and havent burned amything. With my ypipe, the crimped section fit just fine, althoug it does hit under acceleration, also the ypipe rests against the torque arm. So Im gonna have to move it down some to clear everything.

 

thanks for the prompt replies guys....

i have heard the "worn motor mounts" come up before but when i think about it, i don't quite understand how that would give me more clearance in these places. if mine were worn, wouldn't new ones effectively "raise" the motor up a little, causing the collector area to move upward even more?