How did you install your Hawks longtubes headers on your gen3 car and what did you have to modify for them to fit? Did you slipped them in from the top or did you jack up the car and intalled them from below? every tips are gratefully received because I cant get them in from the top on any side and I dont even have my heads on yet . I have unbolted the starter and the oilswitch what more do I have to do?

 

Dont even try to get them in from the top. All thats going to do is frustrate you to high heaven.

I had to jack the car up and install them from underneath to get them in.

The drivers side was the toughest for me as I had to work with it a bit to get it in. The passenger side slide right in after I took the starter out.

Now one thing to note is that depending on how high you can get your car up will be a factor in getting the headers in..the higher up the easier it will be.

Also if you have some wire hangers or bungee cords they will come in handy by allowing you to secure the headers from the top side of the car (allowing them to hang). This will allow you to be able to lower the car back down without having to worry about damaging your collectors so you can bolt the headers to your heads.

 

Did you have to move the knocksensor or whats located in front of the starter to the other side? did you have to isolate the wires to the starter? are your coated or did you use heat bandage somewere?

 

When i installed mine i put both sides in from the top. you need to take the motor mount bolt out on the left side and jack the engine up as far as you can. then you should be able to install the drivers side header. I was spoiled on the passenger side my car is anon-a/c car. but i would think you could do the same with raising the engine before installing that side. You here all these people saying you have to install a small starter you do not have to. I have the old style in mine have not had any problems with heat either. knock senser is fine you do not have to relocate it.
the starter wires are ok if you tie the bundle together nicely it takes a little bit of time to get them sitting in ther nicely .

 

yup i did the exact same with my hedman shortys..had to pull the motor mount bolt on the drivers side and jack that side of the motor up about 2 or 3 inches and they bolted right on from above

 

stinger, i didnt have to remove the knock sensor. You asked about isolating the wires from the starter...am I to understand that you are asking about just moving the wires? If you have removed your starter like you should to make room, the wires will not be an issue provided you disconnected the battery (i hope you disconnected the battery).

My headers are not coated and I have not used any heat wrap anywhere. If you have a stock GM starter then you could have some heat soak issues. In that case either wrap the starter (ok solution) or get a mini starter (better solution). The mini starters generally dont suffer from heat soak like stock starters just do to their construction (i.e. better materials).

 

ok then I can screw the knocksensor back again :-) No I just wondered if the wires came to close to the pipe so I had to isolate them. I have a ministarter so I guess it wont be a problem then. Thank you very much for the help.

 

I put mine in when i dropped the motor in. a little easier,but not by much. I mocked mine up when i had the engine on the stand. I couldnt get a stock starter to clear. I had to go with the mini starter.