I hear a lot of people saying to cover your headers in masking tape to protect them when they are installed. That sounds like a royal PITA to me. I have also heard that ACE bandages work well, but that also seems like a pain.

I wrapped an old bath towel around my long tubes and used a safety pin at either end to secure it. I used 2 safety pins at the top (one through each bolt hole, 1st and last bolt holes) 1 down by the collector, and 1 or two in the middle. Make sure the towel is pulled tight so it won't be too thick or catch on anything. Once I got the header in, I took out the two safety pins on the flange from the top and ran the bolts in, then I went underneath and took out the other safety pins. This worked awesome for me. Just thought I'd pass this along to help any of you out.

 

Thats actually a pretty good idea

 

how long did it take you to install them?

 

I really took my time and did it by myself. I prepped the car whenever I had time after work (taking off exhaust system, re-routing wires, etc) over a couple days. Then I put the driver side header in one night with no problems. Just slid a jackstand under the collector to hold then, then climbed up a stepstool and sat on top of my motor while I ran the bolts in. The next night, I spent a about 3 hours trying to get the passenger header in and gave up. This morning actually, I got it in. I completely removed the bolt from the passenger side motor mount, and put a jack under the transmission bellhousing. It needs to go there, not under the oil pan. Then I jacked it up til it was moving the whole car, and I was sure the car was going to fall on me. I figured that was good, and the passenger header slipped right in. So if you really want to go at it, figure an entire day or 2 for prep work, and another entire day or 2 for the actual install. By the way, I took off my entire exhaust system, since I am going to be running true duals. And also, I didn't jack up the rear of the car, I just set the e-brake and blocked the tires, and jacked up the front to about a 60 degree angle to the floor.

 

I've always wondered what you guys have used for jack and jackstands. In other words, how big of a jack and jacktstands did you use? Can you get some that are for a truck to jack the car up higher and safer? The jack and stands I use are a cheapo brand and I don't think they could ever get high enough to do a good longtube job.

 

"Cheapo" and "jackstands" are two words that should never be combined. When you are under the car...do you really want a "cheapo" jackstand residing between you and death? I think not. I have Craftsman jackstands that are capable of holding 6000 lbs. I think they have close to a 24" lift.

 

I agree 100%. I was using the black & yellow Craftsman Professional jackstands. There was no way in hell I was stacking wood/bricks under my jackstands, and these had enough lift that they actually had a few notches left when I was done with the install. I did stack wood under my jack, though, to get it high enough to use the jackstands. I would jack it up, adjust the jackstand, adjust my stack of wood, then take her up another notch. HERE is a pic of my setup. The motor is still jacked up on the passenger side in this pic.

 

Thanks for the info.