top00cat

timmbo, did you put these on yet? I am on the fence with them right now

johnnyv8

Ya, like I posted on topcat thread, I would love to see or hear about I should say the improvement the LTs give w/ the CAM.

timmbo

Per UPS I should have the headers tomorrow. Im going to be taking my time over the next week disassembling and assembling. With work and the girlfriend I probably won't have the car off the stands till the weekend. Will post a full review when I'm done.

timmbo

Well got my Pypes headers and matching H pipe today from Brenspeed on time as usual. Man I love those guys! Anyway for those interested here is the skinny on getting this done in proper order. Only special handy tool is a 13mm flex head ratcheting boxed end wrench for the manifold stud nuts.

Pull the battery and plastic tray. Pull your intake off the throttle body. Remove the nut on top of each motor mount. Remove dipstick and tube. Remove upper exhaust manifold nuts ,4 per side. Jack up the rear of the car first. Support with 2.5 ton stands on each side of the axle housing on the highest setting. Jack up the front putting the stands at a height even with the rear and place each stand one of the left and one on the right of the front K member. Remove the starter. Unplug 02 sensor cables (4 of them). Loosen and slide rear exhaust pipe clamps connecting the factory H pipe to the over the axle pipes and let the pipes drop down and aside. Remove the two nuts per side securing the factory H pipe to the exhaust manifolds and remove the H pipe with sensors still installed (wiring connectors previously disconnected). Loosen the bolt several turns centered in the rear trans mount. Raise the engine. Using a floor jack and a 1.5 to 2 ft piece of 1x3 wood, place the wood centered just behind the crank pulley inbetween the crimp of the oil pan lips and centered between the pan bolts to the left and right of it. Jack up the engine approximately 1.5 inches. I monitored the engine height by watching the motormount stud. Jack a couple strokes and go back and look at the stud. Originally before jacking the stud protrudes about an inch or so above the motormount hole. When jacking up, get the stud even with the bracket hole or just below the bracket hole. Now you should be able to take a 1 ft piece of 2x4 wood and wedge it at the rear of the oil pan in between the pan and k-member. Slowly let down your jack. Yes I closely monitored this and it will not damage your oil pan.. Now remove the 4 bolts to each motormount bracket on the block and remove. The passenger side will have a ground cable so remember that. Remove the steering shaft from the rack and pinion. To do so remove the dr side steering rack bolt which secures the rack to the K member from the top! These suckers are tight so a 1/2" drive ratchet is a must. Just loosen the pass side only. Next remove the bolt the secures the steer shaft ujoint to the rack. Grab the steer shaft and rack in each hand. Pull the rack forward and disconnect from the steer shaft. Swing the steer shaft up and away on the framerail. This may just be on verts but you will also have to remove a rear crossbrace that runs from side to side behind the front K member and is secured with 4 bolts. No problem. Now remove the 4 lower exhaust manifold nuts on each side and remove both manifolds. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO REMOVE THE FACTORY STUDS FROM THE HEADS. Clean your exhaust ports on your heads with some brake kleen and emery cloth.

Tomorrow I will bolt my headers in. I did a test fit before I came in for dinner and the headers slid right in and went over the stock studs without a fight. Well, I take that back. I had to jack the engine just a hair higher for the passenger side to pop on over the studs but thats it. No sweat guys.

Now, one thing I found contradictory from another source who said steering shaft removal is not necessary. Well with me there is NO getting these headers in on the driver side without getting the steer shaft outta the way. Ain't happening. At least on MY car. Again, the steer shaft was easy to remove anyway so no problem.

I spent about 3.5 hours on this tonight. I suspect another 3 or 4 to bolt the headers up, assemble the H pipe and reassemble everything. Looks like I may have this done before the weekend. Stay tuned.

hammeron

excellent writeup! hope you don't mind but i saved
it in my long tube folder, incase i ever get these.

can't wait to hear this car when you are finished.

timmbo

Thanks. I appreciated yours on the Hot Rod cams! You may wanna do a recopy and paste of my tutorial. I just did an edit because I forgot to include removing the dipstick tube.

Doogie65

I was actually not considering these headers since there was no catted H available, but looks like Brenspeed has solved that issue. Since they are not on their website yet, do you mind sharing the catted H-pipe cost?

S197steve

I'm very interested in the price as well. I've wanted Kooks for the longest time, but I've heard nothing but great things about this Pypes set up...

timmbo

Well I bought the off road H along with the headers. Brenspeed does sell the hi flo cats for the off road H. You just have to cut out a section of pipe and splice them in. That is the one route I'm going to take because in November I have emissions testing. I will just splice in the cats, go get the test then just remove them and reinstall the section of tubing that was cut out. HOWEVER, i'm under the impression that Brenspeed will save you some work and custom make you a catted H pipe. Now whether thats welded or clamped I have no idea. I guess if their pipe is cheap enough preassembled with a nice weld I just may just go for that in November instead of cutting and splicing myself.

I paid just 679.00 for the headers and mating off road H pipe. They look very well made. So far I'm impressed.

68ss350

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