i figure it was time we did a faq for long tube headers........ i have noticed an abundance of questions that i think a good faq can solve...... with the mods approval i'd like to start with my hedmans..... remember this is a long tube faq so anyone with pics of a write up say like triaxion throw it in here...... first i want to say that longtubes will help out alot with any thirdgen...... yea you can buy shortys like slp or even hedmans, but if you have a real high hp engine to me long tubes are the only way to go...... longtubes being so long "hence the name long tubes" will require you to have them already in if your motor is out, and if you motor is still in, it may reqiure you to install them from the bottom........ i have heard that some people had to raise one side of the motor to get them in.... now to even begin to get them in you first have to lose a few things..... one being your oil cooler that came from the factory.. i am using a ac delco pf25 shorty and it still hit the header, and required i remove my cooler..... to me the factory oil cooler is very inadiqute and a waste of time anyway, but for those of you that has to have it from what i hear it can be modified to fit..... if you choose to remove it then all you have to do is splice the two coolant lines that connect to the metal cooler line together on the passenger side of the vehicle....... no biggie.... also the metal pipe that the oil cooler line connects to on the passenger side that goes to the heater core must be removed and a rerouted rubber line used in it's place..... also you will need to buy a painless o2 bung from jegs or such for your o2 sensor... a hole needs to be drilled on the outside of the header collector facing the tire..... there is plenty of room and clearence for this... i installed mine after everything was bolted up and could only tach weld it for now..... this is why you should go ahead and do this to ensure no leaks and drivibility issuses from the leak around the o2 sensor.......... some long tubes like the hookers come very close to the knock sensor and require it be moved to another place.. again i will let someone with the hooker long tube experiance tell you about this.... now with the hedman unless you have to have someone make you some sort of extension to connect to your header, if possible you need to purchase hedman s extensions. these are in jegs and are very cheap and help crossmember clearence problems...... now to the dual exhaust setup. This is simple just connnect the tubes to your S extensions and run them back to where you need them....warnining, on the driver's side, they come very close to the fuel lines, so i would reccomend some sort of heat reflector....like dei in jegs... the rest is pretty simple, only necessitating tweaks here and there that can be different per 3rd gen car....below are some pics of mine...

heres the collectors

That exhuast looks about like mine does in the front except I had hooker headers. I still used the s extensions but instead of dropping the exhaust down with it, I moved it to the center into the driveshaft tunnel. I do have a h pipe right on the end of the extensions and then I run pipe back to the bullet mufflers and turndowns before the rear end in the driveshaft tunnel. Other than the s-extensions it is a straight shot back.

Ben

if any one wants i can get some pictures of my headman LT's,

but if you have the engine in and you have A/C then you will need to take out the motor mount bolt on the passenger side and put a 2x4 on the oil pan then a floor jack under that and jack it up until the engine tip over,

you dont have to losen the tranny cross member or anything else, just take out the motor muont bolt, if you have any mroe questions feel free to PM me at any time.

keep em coming fellas

i did not have to take my motor mount off, mine just slid right into place...with a little profanty, a cutoff wheel and some kicking i did, however have to make my own o2 sensor bung
out of a large spark plug anti fouler(saved 10.00)from autozone

Don't know about anyone else w/ Hooker LT's - but I had to do a little trimming on the a-arm mount - it was touching the header on one side. I also had to relocate my KS to the driver's side. That's about all I can think of at the moment.

The name is TRAXION. Geeeez.

Just about everything you want to know regarding installing hooker LT's into your thirdgen I have put into a writeup here:
http://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/show...highlight=2210

Tim

i would like to hear more from the heddman people

My header wasnt touching the a arm mount, but I did have to relocate my knock sensor also.

Ben

with the hedmans mine did touch the driver a arm...... i did trim but it went against it anyway.....

ayone else with pics or a link to a good write up like triaxion?

btw, great info guys... keep it coming!!!!

What kind of engine mounts did you have when you did this? Also were they new or how long did you have them. I wonder if this may have to do with some of the clearancing stuff.

Ben

My motor mounts are stock, I replaced the rubber inserts w/ new GM parts when I did the first motor swap in the spring of 1996. I didn't realize it was almost touching until I got under the car and started looking at my headers from every angle.

Trust me I spent a lot of time under the car. I dont have a lot of extra room but there is clearance there. I also have new rubber mounts that have only been there since I put the motor in and the car hasnt been driven yet.

Ben

mine were stock gm's..... i didn't have anymore money or time.....

i'm not worried about it... it's not hurting anything so why worry...

ok i have a question regarding the headmen long tubes. is this the header your talking about.. http://store.summitracing.com/partde...8460&view=1024 if soo man is that a good price for headers... ok in the tech about them they say "* Will fit with angle plug heads (Chevy aluminum only)." is this true? i have cast strieght plug heads.... does this mean theese headers wont fit...? let me know please

they will fit straight plug heads fine, and yes that part # is the ones im talkin about. Good luck to you!

heres a headman longtube question...

summits site says its for the 700r4 and th350 only...


will a T56 clear the headers??

i belive what there getting at with that is that it wont fit a manual prolly do to the clutch or slave cylinder.....

Yes, with Hooker 1 3/4 in longtubes, you have to relocate the knock sensor to the driver side. Driver side A-arm corner needs to be cut off, brake lines need to be re-routed, new motor mounts DO WONDERS for better clearance and fitment with these headers, cant use factory oil cooler (just remove it).

These headers have WAY better clearance by your steering shaft than the SLP shorty's!

Mufflex offers a Y-pipe for these headers that already have o2 sensor bungs on either side, so if you get these headers with-out o2 bungs, you can run a 3-wire heated o2 sensor in your Y-pipe (like I did).

Most if not all Hooker Longtube FAQ's are already in the Hooker Longtube installation sticky.

i was wonduring in jegs it says the hedmans will not clear stock floor pans whats up with that?

I have the hookers, but from everything I have seen, no one has had a problem with the hedmans hitting the floorpan, however if you dont use a s extension or something then the exhaust its self wouldnt clear.

Ben

How about listing some of your techniques for doing a spark plug change? Also, what style plugs are you using, standard or shorties? Yes, i know patience is key, but not one of my strong qualities, and no, i did not read Traxion's whole sticky thread, if it is in there. Just thought i would start something new in this thread since pretty much everything so far has been in the sticky, except the info for the Hedman guys. later

I have hookers w/ ported 416 heads. I am running shortie plugs, and it is easier for me to change my plugs than it was stock. I dont usually use a ratchet, but just the socket and the wrench that fits on the end and I just slide the socket over and break it loose with the wrench. Once they are broke loose, I can take them out by hand.

Ben

Somebody should change the name of this post to HEDMAN long tube header faq. This post has nothing to do with Hooker Long tubes since the other sticky covers it all. The title is cornfusing to the noob.

Tim

Hedmans fit great on my 327, I'm usign old 60s heads on it. Also I would definately reccomend getting the S extensions ... they go low to the ground but as long as you take anything like the curb to a driveway slow enough, you're fine.

Agreed with the change of name though ... Hedman is the dominant topic on this one.

to get my plugs in and out it takes about 15 minutes... i have no blower box... but i use a 3/4 open end and a plug socket with a hex head on the end. when i had the blower box, it took about 25 minutes, much quicker than it took with manifolds

I have to use a wrench to tighten 5 and 6 but other than that it is easier than with the manifolds.

the other day, i helped a friend of mine change his plugs(he's still got the stock manifolds and a.i.r. tubes) and i realized how bad it sucks and how much better the hedmans are for plug changes

I had absolutly no clearance problems with the oil cooler lines. In fact the lines don't even come within an inch of the headers, so i think people should check this before throwing away factory equipment...

I removed the side bolt on the cooler line (without the headers in) an redrilled the mount on top to move the line about 3/4" away from the headers

Also this can be installed after the collecter, but a three wire oxygen sensor is a must. IMO you should use a three wire regardless.

Agreed. This is the only reason that i can fathom why they would list floorboard modification neccassary

Also a y-pipe can be made and run into a catback exhaust. From I've heard most ground clearance problems occur from mufflers installed under the floorpan.

Now i'm going to ask for something i should have asked for when i wrote this up... http://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/show...ghlight=hedman
Could you please sticky my write up on hedman LT install?