well guys i took a couple of pics of my header install and learned alot from THE DOGS thread ...but since its different intakes and different route i thought i'd post this up .....im not going into too much detail cause i think i said every bad word known to man in several languages too ...oh well here comes the pain ...before pic

 

before headers w/non workin a/c ....non workin a.i.r. regular manifolds

 

first of all disconnect battery, all sensors ex. fan switch, a/c stuff, oxygen sensor, temp sending unit , alternator, smog, and also any rubber hoses from a.i.r. after this you will have some room to work with .......... After this i used my cutting disk to remove all of that a.i.r. pipes ....p.i.t.a ...then i decided to remove most of my a/c stuff ex.evaporator, hoses, accumalator....piece of cake just remember to have it emptied a shop

 

disconnecting a/c and p/s is a must to change manifolds to headers......this is one thing G.M. really made it hard ...but after a couple of hours of one bolt after another both a/c and p/s are off and since i dont plan on a/c all brackets must go .....which is a big problem later

 

too many brackets and not a clean look for me and this is not even half of what i took out ...forgot to take a pic of it all

 

i ended up using this to get my socket over the 2nd to the last bolt on the passenger side manifold....i bent the hell out of it ...this was so frustrating it actually made me feel good destroying this box a lil bit ..and this will be more frustrating taking off the socket too ....this is where it pays to have those socket wrenchs if you can handle all the different angles it takes to get to that bolt

 

use plenty of PB blaster and wear some kind of gloves to keep your hands gettin cut up really bad ....most of the bolts are 14 mm deep socket & regular / 15 mm deep socket & regular ...i had a wrench that angles up and down at the socket so it helped so much during all these different times . since i got rid of all a.i.r and headers had them removed i didnt have to install the header from da bottom i went from the top with both valve covers off ...just takes some tappin down the header in place. This ruins most of the paint i used on them so i just figured i can still paint them after im done just block as much as i can .

 

these headers i got from another site for 70 bucks w/y-pipe edelbrock shorties ...they needed some cleaning up but after i did it they came out pretty nice...and they already came with the a.i.r welded up so it was complentary on my 87 305 tpi camaro w/flowmaster ...i still havent got to drive the car but workin on it before we have a TGO meet this weekend coming up ....so i'll hope to see some improvements on my previous 15.45 quater mile times at HRP in Baytown Tx. I will post up new times this Sunday

 

my car i guess had reusable gaskets on the valves so it made things much easier instead of buying new ones ....you got to becareful with the fan switch ..most people tear it up ..i left it intact but pulled on the manifold and tore the sensor that goes on it...so i went junkyard shopping and picked up an airdam that i so badly needed already and pulled some sensors off other cars so i can splice them up with mine . The header slid in with some resistance but it went in easy from the top dipstick is in the way so i just bent it around....JUST make sure that you vacuum leaves, dirt, broken brittle plastic and what ever else falls around the intake ...i would mark the plug wires to know where they go cause i didnt and i hope they in the right place...but im confident they're good

 

now the other side is easy too...but since im not running a/c and dont want no brackets...it became so difficult to find a way that the p/s would alighn properly..cause the a/c brackets were spacers and held the p/s in place too ...oh well it took me like 3 hours to keep finding out this is not good and kept re-arranging everything...at last i figured since i had so many washers left over i put them in to where the belts were good....that first header bolt still hooks up the accessories so its still a pain to put it together but i think the finished product looks so much better than before....just still need to finish the y-pipe install which is piece of cake ..and some wiring of the sensors . I did replace plug wires with accel 8 mm and some accel u-groove plugs that i got for free brand new I also cleaned & painted the valve covers and some steel lines ...whats wierd is that the front of the Z looks like it raised half an inch or so

 

header pic ....im still gonna clean up the engine and paint some more stuff ....it took me forever but i got it done even in the middle of the night till the sun came up .....i was so tired but i looked at it and i feel so good now....if anybody has any ? 's let me know ....i did this by myself and wear safety glasses when under the car i ended up gettin something through my goggles when cutting and RE-ROUTE your POWER WIRE from the battery....if its touching your headers it will fry your battery and melt everything

 

Ah Yes....The trials and tribulations of a thirdgen owner!

Good Job My Man!!!



What U just went through is why there is a difference between thirdgen and fourth gen owners!

See U Sat.

DON'T FORGET THE MUDBUGS!

 

you make it seem so hard.

A/C and P/S are very easy to remove, there are like 4 bolts for P/S, and A/C just has an exhaust manifold stud to worry about.

I just the brackets to make it easier in the future. Now there are 3 bolts for each and i can remove A/C in 5 minutes(if i still had it, and P/S in another 3. Guys at autozone were surpized when i replaced my power steering pump in their parking lot as quickly as i did.

Next is gettign the exhuast manifold's off, all you really need is a good assorment of socket sizes, lengths, and extensions.

After they come out, putting in your headers takes less time then the previous. Putting them in is making clearance, and shoving them in. FOr drivers side i had to remove the valve cover, for passenger they slid right in. Although now i dont have Air i did then and it made no difference on the installation.


Threads like this, scare people away from doing it them selves. I did mine in 1 day. I drove to a friends house, at noon and left at 8PM with new headers.

It was really that simple...

 

i guess some people have better luck than others but it did take me longer than expected since i did it all myself. One thing is i did get the job done and im happy . I hope this wont scare anybody away from doing this ...i just wanted to shed some light on this install w/pics. ....and Chevy racer did you even once get frustrated at least if you can change headers easily you should make some money off that...i know i would

 

i'm actually 6'1 and 145lbs. I'm a pretty thing guy and double jointed in my hands. I had no problem getting any bolt in or out. Usually i just tried from up top, if it didn't work, then from down under. There was always plenty of room. But i have done one other swap on a buddies 87 iroc and it took us(well me mostly he just stood around and helped a bit) 4 hours.

The hardest part for me, the absolute hardest was gettign the last bolt in on the passenger side. That might have taken me 30 minutes alone. I couldn't get it threaded for the life of me. But i soon found the trick.

Get rubber tubing at the parts store, that fits on the end of your fasteners. I used header bolts, no more studs, so i found tubing that fit on them and used it to screw the bolts in from different areas because the tubing had a good grip and was flexible. This is one thing i really just subconcously thought of. Then later read about it in a haines manual for spark plugs.

lemme think, i had to extend my 02 sensor wire length. YOur not really supposed to but i did it the best way possible. Soldered both end and heat schinked the ends to minimise noise and resistance.

My donut gasket on the passenger side was quite a task as well. But i got through it, since i bought custom ceramic gaskets, has bad expereinces with the stock ones.


I am sure i could keep doing these swaps in 4 hours all day. Sure i could make some money, but its not worth it.

I'm a very quick learner and when i get into these things its really a do it all the way or go home.

The next day i had to get the rest of my exhaust welded up solid. I enlarged the y-pipe on the stock edelbrock headers. instead of their 4 inch collector i got a local shop to enlarge it to 4" for $30. Steve there makes the best y-pipes. I've seen him make some 4" y-pipes that until then i thought only machines could fab.


ITs not that hard of a swap at all...

 

time for the moment of truth...i finally started the car i let it prime up the pump as always ....checked to make sure i had power everywhere....then i started her up.....she sounded really sweet i was impressed with open headers....but then it started to die okay no problem i started it up again then i see smoke thinkin its probably the paint on the headers....i get off and check then my battery and my dizzy start to smoke bad ...i was like **** and then what the **** i tried removing the battery terminal but i pulled it and melted the positive terminal off well i came home and searched on here and found out that maybe my positive wire was against the header and when it warmed up it melted and shorted out and then cause my wire to heat up hot as hell ...so now i gotta replace that wire and re-route it tomorrow before the TGO meet this sat. so if yall add headers make sure your Positve wire is cleared from the headers...i realized they were touching now that i think of it but didnt know

 

Good to see you got the headers done in time, your gonna need I went ahead and got some gas put in mine so that I can whoop your ***..............



















AHAHAHAHa, just ****ing with you man. I did'ent get a chance to do ****! We are getting a nice little bonus at work this week, I am gonna save some that up and will probably have headers in about two weeks. Sorry to hear about the bull**** with the battery.

I got the rearend probelm solved, friend of mine did it for a hundred bucks, he also changed the brake pads for me. Probably riding solo this saturday but I ain't tripping. Keep us posted on the problem.

 

Good to see you got the headers done in time, your gonna need I went ahead and got some gas put in mine so that I can whoop your ***..............



















AHAHAHAHa, just ****ing with you man. I did'ent get a chance to do ****! We are getting a nice little bonus at work this week, I am gonna save some that up and will probably have headers in about two weeks. Sorry to hear about the bull**** with the battery.

I got the rearend probelm solved, friend of mine did it for a hundred bucks, he also changed the brake pads for me. Probably riding solo this saturday but I ain't tripping. Keep us posted on the problem.

 

HRP 1/4 track..car is stock 305 TPI before headers
R/T 1.01
60" 2.21
330 6.40
1/8 9.84
MPH 71.81
1000 12.85
1/4 15.45
MPH 86.20

(new times) 6-18-05

well my new best time with headers now on the 305 tpi

R/T .921
60" 2.19
330 6.23
1/8 9.57
mph 73.93
1000 12.48
1/4 14.97
mph 90.50

what a difference those headers made...im thinkin what a cam would do

 

Before I say congrats, was that before time with AC accessories hooked up? If not that is a really nice improvement for headers, is that the norm? Even if you did have the AC accessories removed, I doubt it takes that much power to turn to make up .5 tenths.

Now a question on header install, you have to remove the ac stuff? Do you guys just have to bite the bullet and recharge the AC or what? Clue me in.

 

yeah before times were with the a/c belt connected , and you dont have to discharge the a/c at all ...but you do have to remove the a/c compressor and powersteering and you can just leave them hangin in place then put them back on with the same bolt or if one is supplied. Im not sure if this is the norm for just headers i'll try and search and find out...but lot people say there is a difference when they do add them . Im glad i did take it to the track cause this proves to me there's some more power in this car im almost in 350 territory

 

cool thing is, i just pulled my 305 to replace it with a 350. So now i had to remove the headers, and tomorow i have to reinstall them. Which isn't hard at all. Removing them was muhc easier since i knew where the presuure points were, i didn't need to remove anything. Not a/c or power steering. But on swapping from manifolds to headers you will need to. Accessories mount to the manifold studs.

but on reinstallation. I expect them to be easier then ever.

You guys really make it seem like headers are a job for the mechanically experienced. A noob that doesn't even know a what a screw driver is barely could do it.