We absolutely positively cant get the driver's side header in. Period. From the bottom it wont fit. From the top it wont fit. And now its stuck from the top. Cant pull it back out. Jacked the motor, took everything out we could, it wouldnt fit either way, now its ****ing stuck. I give up.

 

yeah man...

everyone seems to have probs with the driver side

heard u gotta cut the kmember or something

 

I've had the same problem.
I had to take all 6 cradle bolts out, take the steering linkage out, oil filter out, transmission crossmember out and let the tranny lay with the driveshaft on the x-brace. Then I dropped the engine as much as I could and then it finally fit with some shoving. That was without the slip tube on. Before I did this, it took days of work trying to put it in different ways....

Good luck and don't give up on her. If you're not calm, you'll only be making things worse. Take a brake and try what I suggested. It will eventually go in.

 

Boy I hope that you have the passenger side done, because if you think the drivers side is hard..........


Did you take out the steering linkage? thats an easy way to add ALOT of room to move over there. Thats all I had to do to get mine in there, do not have the slip fit put together before you put it in, that just adds more things in the way. Get the car up plenty high and it will easily slide in from the bottom. I had my car up on ramps so maybe 1.5-2 feet under the car and the drivers side was in very quickly. In fact my dad was handing me parts, I was under the car; he handed me the drivers side header and I had it in position by the time he was able to help grab from the top. Just make sure you bring it in at an angle.

Chris

 

Actually, if the driver side is hard, I bet his passenger side will be very easy. Mine went in in like 10-15 minutes. That with all plugs and wires on.
It's probably a matter of how the engine sits in the cradle and how the cradle is aligned.

 

heh atleast u got a part stuck instead of being stuck urself, somehow i think i was changing my fuel filter, and i wedged my arm so i could reach it then the next thing i knew i couldnt move my shoulders, they were wedged in between the ground and the car it took me about 5-10 minutes to figure out how i got into the possition and how to get back out.

 

My drivers side was literally in as soon as i put it up there. Maybe its something that has to do with the A4? My passenger side took a few hours, but then again I made the mistake of going in from the top also...

 

The inner body on a OBD2 firebird/camaro has alittle more room then the obd1's, mainly becuase of the dual cats. This is why obd1 and 2 have reverse problems (driverside, passenger side). I had to do what Madwolf did also, notice we have obd1's

 

yeah it must be different with the A4's. took me about 3 minutes to slide my drivers side in from the bottom without undoing any mounts or anything. it took a few wiggles but went right in. i hear most people have BIG problems with the pass. side, not the drivers. on my M6 all i had to do was jack up the tranny an inch in order for it to slip up in place!

sucks that your having such a hard time. just keep your cool and def. take breaks when u get pi**ed off! do you have the oil filter off?? how about the steering knuckle?? i found the harder u wiggle and jiggle, the worse it gets.

best of luck. it will all be worth it when you are done!

ummm... i might be wrong, but is this really true?? OBD1 and OBD2 have nothing to do with the build of the car. just because a car is a OBD2 doesnt mean it has dual cats! i believe only the cars from CA had the dual cats.

its my theory that each car is just different! the cars arent all EXACT to every inch!! thats why some people have more problems than others. i didnt have to do what madwolf did and i have an OBD1!

 

ok....you have to jack up the engine, then hammer in the part of the fire wall that is sticking out, and with the oil filter out, you shuld be able to get the header up in there. After you hammer if you still can't slide it in, try shaving part of the lip on the k member (I didn't have to hammer mine). It should slide right in from beneath after that. And the passenger side, I put mine in from the top, started w/ the motor down, slid the headers in as far as I could, jacked up the motor a little bit, then slid the header in some more, then jacked up the motor a little more, and slid the header the rest of the way in. Piece of cake once I figured out how to do it. I tried frmo the bottom 1st and there was NO way it was going in from the bottom. Hope this helps.

 

The oil filter is out. The steering linkage is out. We've jacked the motor up until it was (literally) hitting the cowl. No go. Guess it's grinding the K-Member, and then what madwolf suggested next... BAH!

 

I"m telling you, bang in the corner of the firewall, then decide if you need to grind the k member. If you aren't sure which corner I'm talking about , it's the one where your clutch fluid line runs near going down to the transmission. If you tried to put your headers in from the bottom you shuld know which corner I'm talking about, it's the one in the way.

 

Gee, all these posts make me really happy I got MAC mid lengths.

Frank

 

2 hours for driver side passenger side slid right in. Just wait until your all done and then 5 months go by and your slip in primary starts to leak

 

A shop in my area Charges $1,200.00 to install Headers on LT-1's......Just a motivational comment.