hi guys, been visiting here off and on to read, ive been a member at another fbody forum for a year or two, thought that was enough for me but now i seem to be in a pinch and need yet more wisdom ive got a 96 T/A, some minor mods and stuff. i put hooker super competition headers on recently, and after much struggling finished the project with no problems. well now i have a leak. problem is i know why its leaking, 2 bolts on the driver side backed out, BUT its my fault because they were only finger tight cuz i couldnt get any tool on there. i even bought junk wrenchs and bent and cut and ground them and still no luck. the driver side header is a weird shape, because it is an emission legal setup for a dual cat car, the primaries are wrapped in such a way to line up with the cat that they block 2 of the bolts, i MAY be able to get one but several people have looked at it and its physically impossible to get any sort of normal tool on the other bolt. anyone know what im talking about? i havent been able to find a picture of the header to descirbe it, its a wacky shape, i'd be forever grateful if someone could solve this problem, im close to saying screw it and trying to get different headers even if i fail inspection. how bad is it to drive with a leak? some people say you get blow by and burn vavles, others claim there is no problem.

 

Get some stage 8 locking bolts.. they have a hole in the head to allow for an allen wrench.. use the allen wrench from the top and tighten those suckers up as good as you can and then put the fasteners on there and they'll NEVER back out though they may losen a bit (1/4 turn or less) they'll never fall out. When I put my hookers in my 96 (no emissions equip of any kind though) those stage 8's were a life saver.. that job was a B!TCH!

I hope you're using felpro gaskets too.. that'd be a good idea as you surely don't want to change those gaskets anytime soon.

 

It seems impossible but its not. I just did a header install this past weekend and on most of the bolts there was only enough room to get like an 1/8 of a turn on it.

What kind of bolts are you using. Maybe try using a bolt with a smaller head on it. The stage 8 locking bolts i used had a 7/16" head.


The allen wrench part in the middle of the bolts was useless to
me on all but like 3 of the bolts.



I havent started my car yet, i am praying for no leaks, i was able to get all the bolts tightened with a wrench and all the locks on. Im keeping my finger crossed.

 

i think the bolts i used are are 3/8in heads, the one bolt though is so incredilby buried, even if the engine was on a stand i probably couldnt get it, i'd need some sort of snake tool that could bend in ways that none do.

 

12pt ARP's. Head is smaller. Should find at any speed shop.
I think they are around 10-15 bucks for the set.

Jeff D.

 

thats the bolts i have actually, but in some spots they still dont fit real well. i think at least on i had to grind the lip on the bottom of the head