Any tips from anyones past experience?

 

My fellow f-bod owner, it actually is not that bad. The drivers side goes in easily with the steering shaft removed, however, the passenger side is not as easy to deal with. I learned the hard way how to pull this trick off, just unbolt the motor mount on the pass side and jack it up a little. this will make your life easier. DO NOT TRY TO FORCE THE HEADER IN THERE> YOU WILL GET INTO A RAGE AND BURN YOUR CAR!!!

Seriously, just take my advice man and it will go quick!!

 

i have not installed thoses but i learned the best way to install my AS&M headers was to jack the motor also. There directions they sent me said nothing about this so i scratched the heck out of them trying to get them in with no success. finally i gave in and jacked the motor which was by far much simpilar. If i ever had to install any headers again i would do the same.

 

I didn't have to jack up my motor for Hooker shorties. I had to remove the oil filter and the oil level sensor from the side of the oil pan and separate the steering shaft. Getting it back together was tricky.
Get a helper to remove the dipstick tube. Two guys twisting and pulling will get it out easier.
Pay special attention to keeping plug wires and other wires away from header pipes.
Disconnect the battery before starting work.
PB Blaster on all manifold and y pipe bolts the night before the project.
Take your time and it's not too bad of a job.

 

I have a few things for you to keep in mind. When I installed my BBKs I did not jack up the motor at all. For the driver side you will have to take the steering linkage off, but its easy, 2 bolts and it comes right off, the header will drop right in from up top. The trick on the passenger side is to bring it up from the bottom. You will have to remove your dip stick tube but its only one little bolt holding it into the block. Remove that bolt and CAREFULLY slide the tube out, DO NOT bend it! If you bend the portion that slips into the block its going to be hell trying to get it to go back in. Anyhow, if you have a friend that can hand it up to you from underneath that will be the easiest for you. As far as other issues I had with mine, on the passenger O2 sensor bung, there was a small weld on the inside that was blocking the O2 sensor from going in. I took a dremel and ground it down for about 2 min. and all was fine. The last problem that I ran into was on a couple of the header bolts, the holes didn't line up perfectly. They worked but you may want to use that dremel to open these holes up slightly. I know many people have had this problem with them. Also, I talked to a guy at the track that had the same headers and he had the same problem with the O2 sensor not wanting to go in because of a weld in the way. All in all, I saw a good performance gain with these headers and for the price Im happy with them. I dropped about .3 and gained 3mph in the 1/4 with them. I got the chrome ones because I was on a budget and they didn't start rusting until this year, which is going on 3 years from when I bought them. Even now though most of the chrome still looks good. Hope this helps...if you have any other questions shoot me an email.

Aaron

 

Aaron hit the nail on the head. I didn't have anyone to help me when I did mine. Take his advise on opening up the holes a little bit. It will save you some skin on your knuckles. One other thing, if you want to change the plugs, this is a good time to do it because after you get the headers in it will become a pain in the butt. The number 2 and 7 cylinders especially. If you have the same kit that I do, you will have to cut off the stock flange on passenger side to get the new ball joint to fit. My advise is to get that welded on there instead of using the gay little clamp that came with the kit. And, don't use the gaskets provided with the kit. The cheap paper ones don't work very well. Spend the extra money and get the some aluminum or copper gaskets for the header gaskets and at least the stock flepro gasket with the wire mesh inside for the drivers side exhaust flange. Tighten from the inside out and don't let the headers rest on anything like the temperature sensor going into the block on the drivers side. I broke mine off . Hope this helps.

Later,
Jason

 

As far as the gaskets that come with the headers, I went ahead and used them myself. I didn't have any problems with them at all, but they did look a bit on the cheap side. Also, I would comment on the clamp except they just so happened to forget to put one in my box. You will want to get it welded anyways.

Aaron

 

My only concern after looking at all of the parts is when the supplied y pipe attaches to the header does it leak? I did not receive any gaskets, or should there be?

 

If the supplied connector is a ball joint then it will not leak at the header, but it will probably leak at the other end when you try to slip the new attachment over the stock pipe...hince the welding.

Jason

 

Well I finished today and it took me two days by myself. THANK GOD FOR AIR TOOLS. There is no way I would do that job again with out them. I bought a 25 gal compressor for this job and I can't belive how much help it was. Thanks for all of your input.

 

No problem. Glad we could help. Did everything work well? No leaks or anything?

Jason