Well the weather is warming up, i think for good this time. Planning on pulling off my whole exhaust system tommaro. Right now on the car consist of factory manifolds, y pipe, gutted dual cats, cutout(hardly ever open)flowmaster 2.5" mandrel catback. Going in are hedmen 1 5/8" shortys with 2.5" y pipe. Now the rest i havent decided for sure yet. Pretty set on magnaflow muffler. What i want to do but will lose a little ground clearance is single 3" into muffler dump before axle. I know ill lose ground clearance but i just dont see the point on going of the axle as i dont care about looks. Also dont want to order another catback. So ill probably have something custom fabbed up. Anyway heres a picture of the headers/y pipe cant wait to see them in the car!



Any suggestions/help/feedback with this install? So far...everything has been soaked in PB blaster, im going to:

Disconnect Battery
Remove Starter
Remove Plugs/Plug Wires
Remove Dipstick

Then disconnect from cats, disconnect y pipe, and remove manifolds. Installation reverse. I guess ill just have to play it on how they want to go in with the motor mount loosening wether or not ill have to do that. Anyone with hedmen shorties wanna chime in? Heres my engine bay currently with what im working with: No A/C or SMOG really in the way.

 

good luck. i've got full lengths on mine with 3" all the way to the rear end with big flowmasters on it. i don't like y pipes!

 

Ya, just not really worth it for my setup, especally with my car lowered + T56 crossmember + me not having enough money. lol

 

Steve, exhaust set up is looking sweet. I cant wait to hear how it sounds. I think i'm gonna end up with a magnaflow catback on my car when i get outta school in april. I was thinking of throwing some L98 or g92 manifolds/ypipe on my car too to give it a very stock appearance but still give it a noticeable performance difference. Any chance you still have your air tubes on your manifolds??

 

Good luck witht he install. I had a hell of a time getting the old manifolds off, especially on the passenger side. Just make sure that the socket is tapped onto the bolt becasue there are locking tabs that need to be bent back

 

Why do you keep saying you'll lose ground clearance with 3"?

You'll lose more performance with 2.5" than you'll lose ground clearance with 3". Your GFX hangs down lower than a properly fabricated and installed 3" pipe will.

Most likely you'll have to lift the engine to get at least one of the sides in.

 

i got the same headers on in my car a while back and all i had to do was remove the valve cover on the driverside and they went in pretty well. didnt have to lift the motor or anything

 

Thanks Adam, ya i was having trouble deciding which muffler i wanted to get and listened to tons of soundclips and never have heard bad about magnaflow. Should be a big improvement over flowmaster. Sorry all the air tubes have been choped off for awhile. ttyl.

Ya i kept thinking they were different size bolts finally figured that out. I am so glad i didnt strip any of the bolts. The passenger side very far bolt by the a/c box was by far was the most knuckle busting one there. I just couldnt get a good grip or enough leverage.

Lose ground clearance because of the muffler side exit right before the rear axle. Not because of 3" pipe. The guy who im having weld up the rest of the exhaust does excellent work so he should be able to fab up something nice.



This was by far one of the most aggrivating biggest pain in the *** jobs ive done on the car. *Almost* as bad as the T56 swap. I mean im beat right now, my knuckles hands fingers arms all scratched and bruised. Still bleeding as im typing this lol. Definently glad everything came out. I test fit the headers i could get the passenger side in almost no problem itd help if i pulled the valve cover. But the driver side looks to be a different story, it almost looks as if the rear far primary will interfer with the steering shaft. Not sure but i couldnt get that one in i was running out of light and called it quits. Tommaro need to pick up some new headers bolts then i should be able to get them installed oh also a dipstick tube. Cant wait. Damn heat shields and dipstick tube fought be for awhile argh.

I never thought these headers would be that much lighter then the stock cast manifolds. Also the dual cats are coming out for good so i should be getting decent weight savings from this. Sound/Looks/Performance cant beat it

 

Oh ya meant to ask, anyone know what size bolts i need to get? I know they are 3/8-16 but i need to know the length.

Thanks.

EDIT - nevermind 3/4"

 

now im ready for HELP. I got both of them in basically had to jack up the motor on the driver side. But now heres the problem. The bolts i picked up 3/8-16 by 3/4 lenght fit and all. But the 9/16 hex head is just too damn big to get a wrench or socket on any of the bolts. Do i need specific hex bolts like 10 mm or something? There just looks to be no way to tighten them down especaly the hard to reach ones. Some quick feedback would be great!

 

need header bolts, smaller hex head...

 

Just an update with some pictures for those who are interested.

Got them in last night, got the rest of some things wired up and fired her up today. All is well! No leaks thank god. Driver side collector is literally under a 1/4" from the K member. Brake lines are 1/4" from the primaries. Passenger side metal Heater hose is 1/2" from the primaries. Y pipe crossover that runs under the oil pan is 1/2" from the K member. Oil lines are a 1/2" from the collector. This was a TIGHT fit, but all is good no leaks/vibrations/rubbing.

Had to re-drill the bolt hole that holds that metal heater hose to the frame. Had to extend the o2 sensor wire. Bend brake lines, bend oil lines. Still have to get a new dipstick tube from the dealer.

Here are some pictures also of the entire old exhaust system. Also for sale for $150 pick up. Stock manifolds/y pipes/gutted cats/2.5" mandrel staintless steel flowmaster catback.

Goodness, i still cant get over how great these headers look!

 

you need to get some gloves buddy

congradulations on finishing the install

 

cant work in gloves...never have never will just cant get a "feel" for stuff.

 

looks much better, so hows the new found performance?!

 

there is definently some more pick-up, really havent got on it just drove it around the block. Its loud enough as is when im not romping on it. Im not really driving it much till i get the rest of the exhaust installed.

 

Had a few PMs about my exhaust so ill update here:

Droped the car off today, getting a custom dump before the axle -headers back basically. Getting the 2.5" part of the y pipe where they split into 1 pipe converted to 3". Where the cats went im getting a dynomax bullet resonator(looks like a universal cat so itll help with a visual inspection if i ever get pulled over) then having a Edelbrock 304 series muffler dumped right before the axle. I was wanting to go magnaflow but the guy doing the work convinced me on trying out the edelbrock. Hes been installing a lot lately on 4th gens and he said they sound sweet he ranks them higher then magnaflow and said they also flow well. So im gonna try it out. The muffler is great because its profile is only 3 5/8" so its smaller in width then 4" pipe he said it should tuck great and not hang down any lower then my transmission crossmember on the car so thats good news. Im also getting a more stock like LT4 clutch setup installed. So im happy right now and cant wait to pick my car up next weekend. Ill definently try and get some soundclips as well as pictures sometime soon.

By the way nothing like driving almost an hour and half open headers...god damn that was a fun trip! lol. I did get on it a few times, definently a lot quicker im really impressed. Doesnt really sound that bad either just god awful loud!