Bmr4life

Got the first half of the install done. Everything is out.

4.5 hours in so far. Definitely could have gone faster.

I spent half an hour lifting the car and making sure I wouldn't get crushed. I ended up putting ramps/blocks under the rear tires and for the front, I put blocks under the tires in conjunction with jack stands under the k-member.

Spend another .5 hours figuring out the proper way to jack up the engine.

As for the removal, a lot of my header studs came out with the nut. On the driver side, I had to remove a lot of the studs to get the manifold out. Probably could have jacked the engine back up, but I already had it sitting safely on the 2x4 on top of the k-member.

The 13mm gear wrench 808 recommended is a god send. Get it.

As for the steering shaft, I did not need a breaker bar. Just a normal 3/8" ratchet with an extension and I am not strong by any means. I did have trouble figuring how to get it out after getting the bolts loose. you have to pull the shaft INSIDE the car to disconnect it, at least thats what I found from another install writeup.

The starter was kind of tricky, but luckily I read on a good method to get it out. I used about 20+" worth of extensions with a universal to get the 3 bolts out. Worked perfectly.

Oh, I actually hit a hick up with the H pipe. I was sure the hangers needed to be unbolted to get it out (so used to the axle backs). I went online to read some H-pipe removal directions and found a manual for Pypes. It stated that you have to wiggle the pipe back and forth and it will come out. That was another 15 minutes wasted, lol.

Another bitch are the engine mounts. There's so much geometry going on trying to figure out what combination of extensions and angle of attack to use. Do you use a deep or shallow socket. Where do you put the extension. My brain hurts and my forearms are cramping.

I'll post back tomorrow when everything is back in.

Bmr4life

Alright, its all done and damn it is loud. I'm actually a little worried about the neighbors now. I thought the MAC axle backs would keep the noise level down more than they did.

So here are some pics of my install with the few pointers I figured out.

I don't know why LT's only come with one extension, and the one they included was twice as long as it needed to be. I soldered up an extension to the same length.



The included extension connector does not match. All you have to do is cut off the nubs on each side and it will slide right in.





Here's my car lifting technique. I wasn't comfortable using just jacks. The rear is on blocks. The jacks in the back are about .5" beneath the axle. The wheels in the front are putting very little weight on the blocks. Most of the weight is on the front jack stands.





Here's my engine lifting technique. No useless books in my house so I used a roll of paper towel on a block of wood. Worked great. I also put a piece of wood under the jack as a safety catch in case the jack went down.



Here's how high I lifted the engine.



I removed ALL of the studs and used the PYPES bolts. I first put the bottom bolts in. My tip would be to screw them in farther than I did. Be easier to tighten once the headers are on.



Then its easy to slide the tubes in and place them on top of the bolts.



Here's the passenger's side from the top.



Now with the gasket in place.



For the passenger side, bolts number 1 was easiest to put in first for the top side.



For the drivers side, bolt number 7 is easiest to do first..



That's what I have for pictures. Everything else has been covered fairly well in all the other write-ups.

I started the car with just headers on. Sounds just like Nascar.

Now I still need to heat cycle and re-tighten the bolts. Also need to work on the axle backs, my driver side tip is all F'd up right now.

daredevil95

Nice job.....Merry Christmas!!

808muscle

Excellent job BMR..... Not many mods take as much time and effort as headers. I too was nervous about getting crushed. I used four jackstands and then ramps under each wheel. Nothing wrong with feeling safe under there. I told you you that wrench would be a blessing, I am glad you got one. And when you need to check the bolts later on, you can actually do it.

As far as noise level. Nothing makes this motor sing as loud as longtube headers. Just dont start in early in the AM and they wont really hate you! LOL

Since the LTs were easy, now its time for the m90!

Bmr4life

Yeah, thanks for the tip on the flex head gear wrench. I bought this set at my local HF. Good thing I did because the replacement bolts have 12mm heads.

Here's a quick clip with the LT's in and no mid-pipe. Link

Bmr4life

So its been 3 days after the LT install and I've had the car in the air every day. Its been 95% done with the only things remaining being an large amount of vibrations and unbalanced exhaust tips (looks only, but annoying).

First, the vibrations. I was getting an IMMENSE amount of vibration when I got on the gas just a little. Enough to get to 40mph in a decent amount of time.

Upon inspection, I found my driver side H pipe was not so much hanging, but more so rigid. It was actually pulling the transmission exhaust hanger sideways instead of hanging freely. I readjusted the ball clamp and slip joint coupler. Fixed that.

Then I went on to inspect the rear and found the driver side over axle pipe was banging the bottom of the trunk area. It was weird, because when I tried moving it, it felt like it was mounted even when loose from the muffler. Turns out it had melted a wire loom and stuck to it. Once I pulled it off the pipe fell free.

Here's the wire.



And here's the wire fixed up and out of the way.



So now I had no more vibrations (that I could here). But my tips were still off. The passenger side looked great, but the driver side stuck out to much AND hung to low.

To fix this, I had to cut a section off the of H pipe. Good thing I did, because I also found that the forward muffler hanger rod was touching the metal part of the hanger.



I also cut small amount (about 1/4") off the over axle pipe on the muffler end.

This allowed pull the muffler forward and still leave good clearance all the way around the over axle pipe.

To get the tip up, I bent the rearward mount down.

So finally, everything is done. Hopefully I won't have to get under there again anytime soon. Also, without all the vibrations the exhaust sounds even better.

808muscle

You got yourself a "custom deluxe" exhaust now!! Getting the tips straight is a big deal IMO too.....Now go out there and make a 0-60 video!!!