For you folks with SLP shorties on your LT1...95-97 dual cats for sure...not sure about 93-95 single cats....what did you do about the passenger side headers touching the heater core hose? I've tried to bend these hoses, but they're basically going to relax right back against the headers. When I first installed the headers, I used the fire sleeve that came with the SLP header install kit, but that's burned through and starting to burn through the hose.

What did you do to protect the hose? Were you able to move it? What did you use to wrap the headers or the hose? Does anyone know of any really, really high temp heat shield material? I want to wrap the hose or the headers. For now, I'm just doubling up the SLP fire shield until I get a permanent fix.

 

Plastic zip ties wrapped around the hose and pulled back towards the AC lines. Not pretty, but it has worked for me for a long time.

 

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I had the exact same problem, in fact i had a smal leak and started to see
coolant smoke come from under the hood, thank god i was only acouple blocks from home.

i got tired of using the heat wrap, what i did was splice a small pice of of pipe and to hose clamps, the metal pipe now rest on the header, and haven't had a problem since i did this.
zoso

 

Thanks zoso and ponyackn for the suggestion...and just in time. On the way to my kid's daycare this morning...stopped in the parking lot, and I could see vapor coming out of my hood. It's what I had expected. The headers had now burned through the fire sleeve and into the heater core hose, and I could see coolant jetting out in a small stream.

Drove to my mechanic and answered all the questions from folks pulling up beside me at a redlight saying "Man, you're engine's on fire!!". A little embarassing.

So I did what both of you suggested. I took the rubber hose that's in there, and spliced it at the burnt section. Stuck a metal pipe to replace the burnt section and clamped that down. I still added some heatshielding to this area and also tye-wrapped it to the neighboring metal AC line. Now I have about an inch clearance b/w this new tubing and headers.

Ah...don't you just love how aftermarket stuff just fits perfectly in your car.

Anywhoo....the problem looks fixed as long as the clamps hold...don't see an issue.

Again, thanks for the feedback and good to know for other LT1/SLP shortie owners.

 

I cut off the long tube with the short peice of hose. I cut just below the bend. I put on a longer peice of heat hose and used 2 hose clamps to hold it in place. I then used 1 zip tie to hold back alittle. I haven't had any troubles, yet.