was wondering if anyone has had a similar problem...

on acceleration, we hear a rattle that at first we thought was detonation, after seafoam & higher octane it was still doing it

its louder now and doesnt sound like the detonation MY cars have made, however it might still be

i'm almost wondering if its a rocker or something else in the valvetrain

we will hear it until the tranny shifts, she hears it more on the freeway (probably because it is in top gear and the rpm isnt low enough) so i've concluded its an rpm or resonance related problem

i've also heard of y-yipes making noise

it is defineately on the driverside front area of the car

 

think we narrowed it down to the driverside manifold heat sheild, time for headers!!

 

I once had the same problem and was about to answer it as heat sheild, but you beat me to it!

 

Alright.. anyone know of any good links for some good headers then? I think I have to take off my starter and replace it...again. This one lasted about a year and a half..wtf. I figured I'd replace the headers while im down there. Oh and anyone know the gasket item numbers for those too?

 

Pacesetter makes a pretty good set for the v6 cars. You can pick them up here for around three hundred bucks: http://www.redlineperformanceengineering.com/1208.htm

 

I just put the Pacesetters on and they definitely need a bit of tweaking before they're installed.

First go over them real closely. I had to clean up welding spatter in the primaries, grind down the welds around the flange ports with a dremel and run a tap down the EGR flange bolt threads. I also cut a portion of overhang out of the Y pipe that would cause an obvious obstruction.

My set didn't come with gaskets but I've heard the ones Pacesetter includes in some kits aren't very good anyway. Don't bother getting the Fel Pro exhaust gaskets for the 3.4 because they don't fit the headers well. Many people recommended the Fiero gaskets and those look like they would work well. I used a set of FWD 3.1 gaskets that I modified.

There is one spot, the passenger side center bottom hole, where it is difficult to get a bolt in due to the primary angle. I used Stage 8 bolts and they work fairly well.

FTPP.net has pretty good prices