Yeah yeah. It's the 10 hours of work done, and only accomplishing getting the y pipe and one manifold off that bothers me

 

Having installed a set of these myself on my friend's 1995 T/A, I can say that some of you who are talking about your drivers side slipping right in are missing a few things.

The K member has some adjustment to it. Some cars absolutely CANNOT fit the drivers side in. On my buddy's car we had to grind the lip on the K member. There were no two ways about it. We removed the valvecover, tried from the top with the engine all the way jacked up. We tried for hours from the bottom with it all the way jacked up. Linkage removed, oil filter removed. Nada. Once we cut the K member lip, we were in with a gentle nudge (haha, gentle).

The passenger side, on the other hand, went in easier than you all are claiming to have done the drivers side. Literally, I didn't even try without jacking the motor. I just jacked the motor, and in it went.

Now, apparently, there are many variances. But so far nobody has put together a comprehensive list of Hooker/Jet Hot LT install experiences. For everyone elses reference, the car we did this install on was a 1995 Trans Am, with 95,000 miles, and single cat setup. It was a 6 spd (T56).

Drivers side: cut K member lip, removed oil filter, removed linkage, jacked motor.

Passenger side: removed starter, jacked motor, slipped right in.

Now, if others would post their experiences, maybe we can put together some kind of theory on why some times its easy, and sometimes its hard. I, for one, hope my car is somewhere in between the two, but I am looking for a way to predict it, i.e. 1994-1995 was this way, 1996-1997 were that way, and so on. The one guy had a good theory going about dual cat cars having more body clearance. Its possible. But I want to formulate a comprehensive one.

EDIT: As a sidenote, why do people act like jacking the motor is so hard? Why would you even bother trying to put it in without that, its seriously a 5 minute job, and it makes things so much easier.

 

I'm hoping since my driver's side fit is SO damn near impossible that my pass. will slide right in. Sure would be nice

 

Its a guarantee. Our experience was IDENTICAL to yours, to be honest. It took me 2 hours with a hacksaw on the lip of the K member on the drivers side and it finally went in. Then the passenger side... I just unbolted the motor mount, raised the motor, and plunk, in it went.

In fact, its either one way or the other, depending on how the K member sits. The motor is either closer to the drivers, or passenger side of the body, never both. I am hoping my car lies somewhere more towards the middle.

 

I thought my driver side header was impossible. I tried for about an hour. I got real pissed off at it and threw a wrench through the wall . I took a break and went back to it. It went right in in about 1 minute. I can't explain it.

Dustin

 

this is why im having my muffler shop install mine

i had seen above some one said not all stock obdII cars have 2 cats, they do, its one of the "joys" of having an obdII system, its not just a california thing.

 

All I have to say is, get FLP's, they slip right in.


Or, get a tubular K-member, everything is so easy with those things.

 

I can imagine. I thin, strong chromoly tube in place of that big honking stock crossmember would be for this install

 

Man, I'm sure glad I didn't encounter some of the installation nightmares you guys have had. I just put Jet-Hot LTs on my car and with the car approx ~32" off the ground I was able to slide the driver-side header in from the bottom in about 60 seconds. That was with the oil filter and steering linkage intact. Plus, there's lots of clearance between the k-member and header on that side too. Now, on the passenger-side no such luck. After about 15 minutes of trying to negotiate it in there, I went ahead and removed the pass-side motor-mount bolt, jacked the engine about 2" and presto, the passenger-side header slipped right in.

I wonder how some header companies are QA'ing their designs and production lines to ensure tolerances are within an acceptable range. I ask this because it would appear, from topics and pictures here, that some of the Jet-Hot headers, from batch to batch, vary by as much as .75" in tube placement near the k-member, steering linkage, or the heater/AC box. Maybe they have multiple production plants spread across the country building these, each using a different "mold". This would make sense why some "batches" of headers install easier then others. Just speculating...

 

My mechanic refuses to put any kind of headers on any 4th gen
f-body b/c of my LT's. It took him a couple of days.

They SUCK.

 

Were nothing to install. I removed the motor mount on the drivers side, took the steering shaft out and baam, it slid right in.
The passenger side I did the sme exact thing, with the exception of a couple beers and a break so I didnt lose my temper.

 

i got mine installed in a day for 400 bucks... would have tried it myself, but i didnt have the time... between school and work that is...

 

The problem might be the headers production tolerances but I think that GM's tolerances could also be to blame.they want the tolerances as loose as possible to save money (it saves us money too). Compounded tolerances in the engine bay could make the headers impossible to install. Also, everyone's motor mounts and tranny mounts are in a different condition, and many people dont know if there car has ever been wrecked. It could even be slightly twisted from hard launches. I think a lot of the problem is that 2 cars that should be the same, can have a lot of differences.

Dustin

 

Driver side.........Remove oil filter and slip header in from bottom
Time= 10 min

Passenger side.. Remove motor mount completely, Jack up motor as far as possible and slip header in from top.
Time= 30min

Note: Plugs were allready removed and reinstalled after LTs were in.

If it makes you feel any better it took me 12 hours to install my first set of headers ( Dual cat SLP's ) but that was 3 years ago and I've installed 6-9 sets since.

 

I am about to get jet hot lts and i see that bmr offers a k member that is lighter and will leave room for headers - how hard is the K member to replace?