i have a stock 350 and i have a set of hedman headers 1 5/8ths.. the engine is stock got the headers + y-pipe for a great price and have exhaust manifold leak cause of bad gaskets.. So now im installing the headers. Here are a few pics of everything... one question i have is it easier to drop the headers in from the top? or put them in from below? I see that the driverside will be easier than the passangerside as it was easier to take out the manifold bolts on the driverside also. Another question for you guys.... i am so tempted to turn the car on without the headers and exhaust on just to hear it for a quick second but am not sure if it will hurt the engine or anything else besides my ears. i mean i will end up driving it down to an exhaust shop to finish up the exhaust once i put the headers/y-pipe on so it will be loud for me then, i just was not sure if something bad would happen. and as far as what exhaust im going to put on it.. not 100% sure yet.. i currently have a flowmaster setup.. and am very much tired of it so who knows we will see when i get to the exhaust shop in a few days.

 

I had to lift my motor slightly, drop in from top...

Hooker 2055's & Y Pipe...

Raf

 

running the engine with no manifolds/headers = bad idea. Very easy to burn a valve like that. Be plenty loud with just the y pipe on it.

My SLPs went in from the top, pass side was easier. But I have no AC or heater bypass stuff, no AIR either.

 

Might want to prep yourself to remove your steering link also on the DS. I remember when I put Edelbrocks in my car before I had to do that. Hooker LT's are a WHOLE different beast on the other hand. If you can hoist the engine up an inch or two that sometimes is all the help you'll need to install even the most stubborn of headers.

 

from the looks of it.. the driverside is going to slide in without any problems.. the passangerside looks like im going to have problems with but ill find out tomorrow night around 4:30 is when im going to continue the install! and ac glad to hear you have your beast idling on its own! i really hope to be there at the bbq =D almost 100% positive i will be! and thanks for the reply's and i wont be turning it on jay so no worries =D

 

I just put my shorties back on from taking the engine out and it was very easy to put in and everything. I'm sure you have my email from the group, send me a message if yu need help.

 

this is really a pain in the *** or im not seeing something... no way to bring em up from the bottem unless the engine is hoisted.. and dont see how you can "easily" drop em in from the top... driverside is hitting the steering column and passangerside freekin ac box is in the way :\ this is going to take longer than i thought :\ i cant seem to get it the right way and am getting very fustrated, hope this is worth it in the end

 

Hey, good luck with the install! I will have to see this next time I come home from NH.

Also, what are you going to use for a cat? High flow, or none? And please tell me you arent going to Pop's exhaust- they screwed me over on my last car.

Oh, and why dont you just get a bolt on catback and have a shop put it on. It will be like $100 in labor, but worth it because it will be hung right and the tips will be centered.

Heres some videos of the exhaust I was looking at. Both cars have headers and a high flow cat. The second video is actually a TPI motor with hedman headers.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...arch&plindex=7

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...arch&plindex=8

 

Alright heres the progress!...
Passangerside was a bit easier like everyone said.. only thing is i took out the fan switch sensor, and 3 of the 4 spark plugs. Also i ended up taking off the metal heater hose lines which were old and rusty anyway.. which i will replace with the regular rubber heater hose.
Driverside was a freeking B****, had to take off the steering column like others had said and i ended up taking off the ac compressor which gave me a lot more room.
All thats left is to put everything back where it goes and bolt up the headers, which i did get the stage8 locking bolts, and i did go to autozone and buy those alum collector gaskets. Should i get those alum header gaskets also or is that a waste of money and pointless?

i actually am most likly going to pops auto, i have delt with them in the past and they do way better work than fastgo. Unless someone has a good shop near manchester ct that ill make it to with basicly open headers... and the y-pipe connected! Im not sure what exhaust ill be going with yet.. i dont know if i really want the flowmaster sound kind of sick of it even though i dont think mine is the 40 series. Yes ill get the highflow cat and the whole 9 yards.. depends on what i find online and what pops/exhaust places offer me. I personally would like to ahve the car for this weekend but if i have to wait for an order then i guess ill have to wait.

thanks for all your responses!

 

Do NOT start the car with bare heads

While its running its not in much danger but once you shut it off, cool air will immediately go up to the hot valves and wreak hell on them

Tips:

Remove your spark plugs before you drop the headers in
You dont want to have to buy a new set because you broke a plug
All the headers Ive done for 3rd gens required short plugs
I use accel brand available at any parts store

I dont deal with shortys so Im not much help
All my LT's went in from the bottom and I had to remove the motor mount bolts and tilt the engine

Buy a good set of header bolts, most autoparts stores sell Mr.Gasket brand socket head bolts
These require an allen and are VERY tuff

Whatever gasket you use, Id use the red (high temp) RTV sealant on both sides of the gasket before installation
You will still have to retorque the bolts but Ive gotten 60,000 miles out of header gaskets with this method

I also recommend plug wire dividers
These are cheap and flimsy but they keep the wires from ever getting close to the header and look 100x better than wires zip tied out of the way
Win:Win situation

Good luck to you sir

 

Yep ill be using those plug wire dividers , i have the stage 8 locking bolts from summit, a good set of header gaskets, and the alum collector gaskets. and the stage 8 bolts are allen key which i dislike but i think i can also put a socket around them, i will find out tomorrow. and i will pick up the red high temp sealant and put them on the gasket, thanks for the heads up.
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oh and a question for all of you.. i was going to take the valve cover off my engine(center bolt) and i got 3 outa 4 off on the driver side.. and the 4th one would not budge.. the bolt is siezed up in there good. My dad even tried to get it out, with a torque socket.. and broke the torque end off the socket(not stripping the torque screw or even budging it.) any ideas of how i can get that freekin screw out? i mean i would like to take off the valve covers over the winter and clean them up maybe polish or paint them aling with the intake and runners.

 

hand held impact driver should get that bolt out. If you don't have one, I've got one you can borrow. Basically it's like a big heavy screwdriver, and you smack the other end with a hammer. That should get it loose.

 

I didnt have to take the valve covers off any of my engines to put headers on

Id suggest you make sure you NEED to take it off before you do, itll be hard to keep dirt and junk out of there while your man handling the header into position

If you broke a torx bit on a valve cover bolt then you just need a better set of torx bits

 

alright well they are all about bolted up.. theres one problem.. how do i attach my ac compressor mount? heres the pic of what im talking about.. it doesnt fit over the header tube... what can i do? i mean i dont even have ac is this pully necessary? can i just elimate it? or is it needed for balancing reasons?






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thats the only thing stopping me from finishing!

 

wait your not running a/c? then thats exactly the same setup i have....i got rid of most brackets for a/c and ps pump. I used the one that connects to the back of ps pump to block. Also, i attached the ps pump to the water pump(previous owner didnt have it hooked)

 

only thing i could think of is to cut off the left side bolt enough to slide it over.. but even then i dont know if its going to sit far enough cause the air tubes might be in the way
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well i have the ac in my room.. and was going to hook it back up and convert it.. but i gotta figure out how to get that ac compressor mount on first! before i can even start the car up!

 

http://www.lmperformance.com/2712/7.html
that might work i dunno though....its for slp headers

 

YEA I JUST GOT DONE INSTALLING SOME HEDMAN SHORTIE HEADERS IN MY 91 Z28 AND I HAD TO UNBOLD THE MOTOR MOUNTS AND JACK UP THE MOTOR A LITTLE BIT JUST TO GET THE PASSENGER SIDE HEADER IN. BUT THE DRIVER SIDE WAS NO PROBLEM.

 

holy freekin moly 60 bucks! ill go with my custom job first and use that as a last resort lol =D thanks for the find thought its in my favorites now
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everything on it looks factory except the size to go over the header so hopefully my little bit of grinding will work

 

well i was told last night i could remove the ac compressor because its a v belt driven motor! sweeet.. itl give me time to make my bracket work and i dont need the compressor as of right now! most likly wont need it until next year when i decide to fix my ac!
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so ill be removing the ac compressor belt and tighting my last 2 header bolts up today after work and doing a custom "hack" job to get my exhaust hooked to the y-pipe until i fgure out what i want for my exhaust! itl just be so i can drive it!

 

Alright well I did not have anytime today or yesterday to do it.. so this will be a project for during next week to finish up... Heres whats left.
Tighten Bolt for steering column.
Fab up bracket for Power steering pump.(seeing how i eliminated the ac compressor bracket that had a mount bolt for the ps pump)
Put in Oil dipstick tube.
Install y-pipe and fab up the exhaust(for temp job until i can afford real exhaust)

and only other thing is figure out what i should do about the break lines being so close to the headers.. i mean they are not touching them but they are about a half inch to an inch away... and in some spots closer. What can i do? or should i not worry about it?

i believe thats everything! i mean shouldnt take long.. just need a good little chunk of solid straight work time on it lol

 

you could probably get the non AC bracket off some other GM V8 from the 80s.
I've got a spare power steering pump off a full size truck, I can check to see if it's got the right bracket. I bought mine on ebay for like $5 lol. AC never worked and was dissconnected when I got my car, and I ditched the stupid serpentine setup in favor of the 87 style V belts.

The brake lines for my car are pretty close to the headers also.. I've never done anything about it.

 

ill keep my eye out and thanks for the heads up on the brake lines! and ill check around ebay.. dont have time today or this weekend but i will be looking into everything for next week! and hopefully being ready for the bbq on that saturday

 

alright well tomorrow it should be drivable! here she is on and running.. my yuotube link!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc3tn...x=0&playnext=1

 

=D