got the headers in but GOBS and GOBS of smoke is pouring out of my engine compartment...........nothing is burning (wires and such) and it looks to be coming directly off of the headers.......is this common and if so why? if not what is my problem?

 

if they had paint on them, yes

 

its not only common, its expected.

theres the oil from shipping, your hands, and whatever got on them from the engine compartment burning off..


and then, if they're painted, theres the factory paint. the factory paint WILL burn off.... its basicly made to.

all of the factory paint will burn off thoes headers until they're bare. then they'll get a nice rust color.

 

That is normal. Even cermaic coated headers will smoke. I just fired up my car after it sat for a year and they smoked again, even after 1000 miles.

 

well thats what i thought but just had to post and find out for sure......cant be too careful!

i think ill get some decent high temp header paint when they come back off for the new engine

EDIT: while i have everyones attention.....can i do without the brackets that go from the alternator to the header and form the a/c to the header? from what i can tell there is no way to bolt them back up with headers installed

 

Hate to break it to ya, but that high temp paint will burn off too.

Best to get them cermaic coated, as far as I know, it wont burn off (mine and my brothers hasnt yet and we've been running the coated headers all summer).

I had high temp pain on mine, I think it was even the 1200 degree stuff, and it burnt off after a while. If you're gonna do it, may as well do it right. If you dont want to send them away to get done, you can get a can of ceramic paint from somewhere such as Columbia Coatings and do them yourself with a air touch-up spray gun.

 

damn well ive heard of some people putting that VHT high temp paint on then baking the headers is their oven.....but well see when the time comes.

does anyone know about those stupid brackets???

 

Yep, I baked it on too, still burns off.

 

Actually the VHT I sprayed on my headers has been on for 4 years now and it has not burned off or chipped or rusted. If you cure it incorrectly or apply too many layers it can have problems. Or if the tubes are not competely clean or the shipping paint is still on the tubes the VHT won't stick right.

The autoparts store crap does not stay on very long at all. I tried that on my YPipe because I didn't order enough VHT at the time. Came off in 15 minutes. The VHT does not.

 

Here's some pics.

 

do a search for it and my name and you'll find detailed instructions...

basicly, you put a stud in there, bolt the header down, slip a nut on, slip the brace on, and then put another nut on.... locking the brace down between two nuts.

 

so do i really NEED the brackets..........i guess i could hook it back up using my old header bolts with the studs on them but if i can do without them i surely want to.

 

TA5LiterHO, those headers look good.

The stuff I used was Dupli-Color High Heat with Ceramic 1200 degree paint. The headers were prepped and cured per the instructions on the can (all the factory black paint sanded off too), but it still burnt off. Huh, oh well. I guess if it works, go with that, it would definitely be the cheapest and easiest way.

edit: BTW, what is VHT (very hight temp)? Or is that the brand name, if so I've never heard of it and you can disregard what I said about spray-on stuff, cause I have no experience with it.

 

with a little patience, a HAMMER and a drill motor/bit or a file, you can reuse the stock brackets in the stock location. i ended up using a spacer & a few washers and one stock manifold bolt for the Alt. bracket. and i had to make the slot a little longer for the A/C bracket, grind the profile of the primary tube on the end of it bend it once & it works fine.

 

nope, just get rid of them. When I contacted Hooker about this they said the braces were only there for when the ac is on to keep some slight vibrations away. You don't need them.

 

exactly what i needed......thank you !!!

 

I tried the duplicolor crap on my ypipe at one time because I ran out of the vht when I did the install. It doesn't stick worth a crap as you said and it burns off no matter how good you prep the metal. The only good duplicolor stuff I have used is the engine paint.

VHT is a brand name. It can be purchased on Jegs. Not sure about Summit. $7.00 a can, but worth it. Haven't seen it anywhere else so far.

 

Excellent, thanks for the info! I'll have to try it out sometime.

 

I wouldn't recommend getting rid of the braces... It sucks to have the alternator snap off of the chinsy aluminum bracket while your going down the highway..

 

the paint is burning off the headers this is normal when you have painted headers

 

is this from experience or just a thought?

 

 

damn.........well i will try to find a way to get them back on. BTW what does E-tec tpi stand for in your sig?

 

Edelbrock E-Tec Vortec Aluminum Cylinder heads... mmmmmmmm...

 

damn sounds nice......any specs???

 

I don't really see how it could just "snap" off. There's two bolts holding it onto the bracket, which is pretty sturdy anyways. Try to apply force to it and it won't budge. The serpentine belt isn't going to put anywhere near the amount of force required to snap anything. If you want to put them back on for peace of mind that's perfectly fine, but they're not needed.

 

well i didint think so and how many cars are out there running headers and no brackets? maybe yours that snapped off had a flaw or crack in it to being with, i dunno. but i think ill just leave them off. if they snap then ill post it on here and you can say I Told You So!!!