i bought a pair of hooker competition shorty headers last sept. but havent had the money for the Y-pipe, i finally bought it and should be receiving it soon.

how hard is it to install headers by myself, either on the pavement or on a lift? is there any sort of tips that i should know before doing this?

also what are the best header gaskets? i bought aluminum gaskets from my local speed shop for i was told they were the best but ive head of a lot of people buying copper.

lastly what should i do about the A.I.R. system? in NJ it is required for inspection but these headers dont have the system capabilities that it does, should i just plug it or should i try to give the appearance that its hooked up (the smog pump doesnt work anyhow lol and has no belt to it) and if i do plug it up, how hard is it to do that?

thanks a lot for your help
-brian

 

just got the y-pipe in today....anyone have any advice at all? or has no one used these headers ever before?

 

Well, i have done several sets on our cars and it really depends on the make of the header, you wil more than likely have to remove the engone mount bolt on the pass. side to get it to squeeze by but the hardest part is removing the old manifilds. Once that is done then the rest is cake to me. I reccomend removing your spark plugs unless you are not woried about replacing them but a couple will have to be removed anyways. The steering shaft bolt can be removed by the brake booster to allow the shaft to separate and make instalation on the driver side easier. The gaskets you bought are great, they crush easier than the copper ones but i have re used my copper gaskets probably 5 times so far, emissions wise i dont know what to tell you, i just dont worry about it here but thats just me.

 

As far as your smog goes I really couldent give advise, no testing here and mine is all deleted. The headers however, I can offer a little. Just that they are good pieces in my experiences(they are on my car), and that the Percys "Dead Soft" aluminum gaskets are top notch(I uses them as well).

I will also say, check your header/collector bolts every other day for two weeks. That is probably way overkill, but mine loosened a little bit initially. Now I have no problems, been 6 months since I checked em'.


Max,

 

There's really no way to make the AIR system "look" like it's attached to headers. You should have bought the version that comes with AIR tubes.

If you ever plan on an AC Delete now is the time. I yanked my AC on the passenger side and the steering shaft on the driver side, along with whatever else was in my way and both headers dropped right in from the top no problem. I used copper gaskets and after a year haven't had one leak. I do tighten the bolts a couple times a year. This car gets daily driven 10,000 miles a year too, 95% of which is city.

 

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/exha...ght=header+slp

 

well i am actually thinking that if i have to make it look like the a.i.r. tubes are connected...i'll throw the spider lines back on and get some copper rtv and glue them to the headers for just theone day for inspection then tear them right off the next

and i am doing this job on a lift...will it make this job any easier or will it still be a pain in the a$$?

 

The lift will only make it easier to remove the Y pipe and install the new one.