I have been saving money for a few months now and after getting all my xmas shopping out of the way I figured what the hell and treated myself to some xmas presents.

Today when I got off work I came home to find many boxes scattered on my living room floor. The contents of these boxes are listed below:

Pacesetter Ceramic Coated Race Headers
Pacesetter Off road Y pipe
Mr. Gasket Copper Header gaskets
ARP 12 pt 1" Stainless Steel Header bolts
Prothane motor mounts
Pro 5.0 Shifter

I cannot wait until I can get all this stuff on my car. The only thing I need now is a tune and some O2 sensors. I sat outside and stared at the parts for 30 mins after I took them into my garage. I wanted to start wrenching on it right away but my sister and her newly acquired husband are in town. Oh well I guess I'll find out how good of a brother in law he is and put him to work tomorrow, LOL.

Any hints, tips, or tricks I should know about while doing this install????


FYI, I have access to a lift but instead am just going to install them in my back garage while the car is up on stands.

 

Congratulations on the new goodies. If you have not used copper gaskets before make sure you give them time to seal up. It will take some worming and tightening before they will seal up. Also make sure you tighten them up right after you drive it for the first time. I just keep some tools in the car with me and if you don't like those copper gaskets you can get graphite one for the lt1 D ports at auto zone. Good luck.

 

Congrats. on your stuff... My only best advice for ya is to spray down everything really good with PB Blaster before hand and take your time. Also, when you first start the car up with the headers, use the old 02 sensors for awhile then swap in the new ones. This eliminates the possibility of contaminating the new ones while "breaking in" your long tubes.

 

Congrats man, sounds like you got some good stuff!

 

Awesome man, Id be really happy with that for xmas.

 

yeah i got a few cans of pb blast waiting for me outside. my dad gets this stuff free at work so im going to use it like someone else bought it!!!!

I went with the copper gaskets because i heard that they were the best but i just needed to make sure that I tightened them down every now and then until they are sealed. Thats not that big of a deal to me.

I also decided to go ahead and use a lift to install the stuff. would it hurt my car at all to install everything and drive it home (maybe 10-15 blocks) and then send off my computer and get it tuned. Also, would it hurt to leave the o2s disconnected??? I will probably leave the old ones in until the new ones come and i dont want to extended the wires on the old ones and then have to do it again on the new ones.

one more question, who sells the o2 extensions??? I was going to just extend them myself but if i can get some extensions cheap i might just do that.

 

Dont break a bolt in the head. We got all the bolts out of the heads and every bolt on the y pipe broke... so guess I was lucky.

Be prepared to do lots of wiggles and possible unhook a motor mount. Its not bad, just frustrating.

Oh and 12 pts are going to be a pain in the ***. Good luck. A ratchet/socket won't fit most of them.

 

You should be ok driving home with your 02s disconnected, your car will just stay in open loop. As for the extensions, alot of places sell them, www.speedinc.com www.thunderracing.com www.jegs.com and they all run about 20.00 or so dollars a piece. I bought mine from www.speedinc.com because they carried the 12 inch extensions where as the other vendors only appeared to have 24 inch extensions.

 

Just a suggestion: Since getting hold of a used PCM is reletively inexpensive, I believe it is a good idea to have an extra one around.

I bought one on the cheap and had it programmed, while my stocker stands ready for emergency use. JMHO

 

And....I can't really give you a good reason, but I would also put the copper gaskets on the shelf and use Fel Pros. Tightening header bolts may not be a big deal, but changing out gaskets may be...JMHO

 

I disagree with this. Header manufacturers say to not tighten the flange bolts while they are hot because this can cause them to warp. According to the directions, you are supposed to wait until the headers are cooled off to tighten the bolts.

 

jsetzer - I plan on replacing my motor mounts so I am going to have to lift the motor to get both of them out anyways. As far as the 12 pts go, i already have a socket and wrench that fits them perfectly.

BUBBA - I think I may try to find a used computer. But the only thing is that I am doing an OBD I conversion so I have to get a new computer anyways, instead of trading in my OBD II and getting credit I may just keep it in case of emergencies. Also, I decided to go with the Copper Gaskets because I used them on my 3 different mustangs, a 68 Camaro, a 80 Chevy P/U, and a 76 Corvette. I like them and have good luck with them. On the flip side I have heard many people curse them to death, but I have heard the same about Fel Pro too.


matLT1 - I think 150&6K meant to tighten them down after the motor cools off. I mean its just common sense. I don't think anyone would be stupid enough to try and tighten down some header bolts without letting the headers cool first.

 

matLT1, you do have a good point. You would need them to cool down, but why would you want to put your hand down there when the primarys are hot anyway.

 

Two hints on the Pro 5.0. First, cut off about half an inch to an inch of the threads to make it even shorter if you want. Unless something has changed, there should be enough thread there. Mine barely sticks out of the shifter boot hole.

Second, Make sure to loc tite the hell out of the two side bolts. Mine backed out on me on the highway and left me tearing down my console to fix it late at night on a dark highway. Luckily they landed in the cup and didn't fall through the hole onto the highway never to be seen again! Good luck.

 

ill have to remember that. how about adjusting the shift stops????