04BlueGT

Umm, why are you dead set on keeping headers that are:

a) too big to properly fit in the engine bay

b) too large (1.75 inch primaries)

c) causing you to lose sleep

Most companies are 1.625 primaries for a good reason. I hate to say it, but I'd sell the JBA setup and find something that fits before you damage the steering linkage or start a fire. Your choice, but I wouldn't risk my car.

badsp0rk

Won't sell them because they cost WAY too much; i'd get pennies on the dollar if I sold them, and the installation was such a hassle anyway.

I guess making them fit is a pretty big hassle, too, though

I'll make it work once I jack the 'stang up. It's nothing a trusty hammer can't bang into place.

When the pipes heat they contract in diameter in length, no? I mean, isn't that why you heat up a screw you can't get out, so that it contracts and then comes out easier..? and that's why ice expands and water contracts...? Maybe I'm wrong, i dunno.

And I am blaming JBA.. I mean, they sold me the headers for my car, but they don't fit uh, my car.. they're too big. I guess I should've researched more. I also had a hell of a time fitting the actual bolts through the holes into the engine; they didn't quite line up, and the welding was VERY poor quality considering the money those headers cost me. There were burs in all of the bolt holes, too, which I had to eliminate.

I did not replace the motor mounts, but I likely will when I get that new k-member. I'll be lucky to put 1,000 miles on my mustang in the next two years with the way my future's looking, so I'm sure for those fews miles I drive it nothing serious will happen.. and in that time I'll certainly get a new k-member, and bang the headers properly into place then wrap them with some of that heat stuff. Probably check out the cats while i'm down there, too, see if anything's rattling.
I think my problem's probbaly with the cat's somehow, though, as it would make the most sense.. they aren't effective until everything's warmed up, and that's when the noise begins.

Thakns for the help guys, i'll update in a year or whatever when I figure out what's wrong...

story

No heat causes materials to expand, you heat up the surrounding area in order to get the bolt out because the surrounding area expands and loosens its grip on the bolt. The state change from water to ice is an abnormality. I think it is probably a heat shield due to your description, but personally I would get rid of the headers. Sounds like trouble no matter what. Personally I think that hammering on the headers to make them fit is going against the reason for getting larger headers in the first place which is increased flow and decreased backpressure. Good luck with your car and too bad you won't be able to drive it.

badsp0rk

To update, if anyone cares, I'm 99.9% sure I figured out the problem.

Not the heatshield, but something INSIDE the driver's side Cat. Converter is rumbling. Sent JBA an e-mail, hopefully they'll replace it as it is covered under their 2 yr warranty.

I got under there and banged the cat with my fist a few times, heard the rumble.. sounded exactly like what I hear when driving, so came to the conclusion that that's it.

As for getting new headers.. like I said.. i spent a good dealof money on these; i'd rather salvage these than sell themf or pennies on the dollar. Right now they don't fit, but in time they will fit (new k-member, new motor mounts, and a few bangs of the hammer). Those are mods I'd consider to do anyway, and having this problem will simply have my consider to do them even more heavily. The headers only touch the frame in one area, too, on the passenger side.. and they barely touch, too. Plus, I'm happy with the performance and the sound it makes (excluding the metal on metal rumbling I get now.. grr..)

Anyway, thanks for the help guys; it definitely helped as I had suspisions about the cat converter which were only confirmed upon, uh, bangage.

StickShifty

when metal heats up it expands, and what causes somthing to get hot, heat!, and friction too. simple physics.


in my stock cat there was something that was loose. i would get a rattle at certin rpms, but it hapened all the time cold or hot. Ford replaced it under the warrenty.