Removing hawks headers from car....while car is completely together....

Can it be done? I want to put flanges on the ends of my hawks long tubes. Im sick of my leaks, and Im going to build a new y-pipe when I finish my crossmember. I need to have some flanges in my system so that I can remove the y-pipe without having to take alll of the exhaust off. Everything is slip fit right now.

So has anyone removed their hawks lts with their cars completely together??? What all did you have to remove in order to slip them out? Have to go from the top...or from the bottom. If going through the bottom, how high did the car have to be... Thanks!!

Justin

 

I removed mine when the car was completely together....I had my small jack stands maxed out......I think all I had to take off was the starter.

 

I just put flanges on it while it was in the car, welded from the inside of flange, did a little bit of cleanup and good to go. didnt have to take them out, this was on red92rs's car and i think we built the y and welded the flanges about 2 weeks ago

 

Hmm....can you elaborate on how you welded them from inside the flange??? Did you put 3" flanges on? Or 2.5 to match the collector? Also...did you TIG them or MIG them on?? Any pics? That sounds like a good idea....

I figured Ide have to do some surgery to get 3" flanges on there. Like cut back into the collector area until it became 3"...then weld in the flange.

However after some thinking, I guess if that is gonig to cause problems, I could do the 2.5" to 3" step up in the y-pipe instead of on the end of my expensive headers... haha.

I dont know...that would also save me the trouble/time of taking the headers off. Which didnt seem fun to me.

Justin

 

with the headers mounted, set the flange on there and we used a mig, just weld the bead on the inside instead of the outside then grind it down so there is no restriction. alot easier than taking the headers off and putting them on to findout you didnt give enough room, also notched the passenger side frame for flange clearance
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also, we matched the 2.5 and then y'd it into a 3 inch pipe

 

Bump... I just wanted to see if anyone else has removed the headers through the top. Im going to look at it today to see if its possible. I might need to remove them for something else...so welding those flanges on would go much better. Otherwise Im going to weld them on the car as suggested.

let me know!

Justin

 

The drivers side came off really easy from the bottom. I haven't had to remove the pass yet.

 

I had mine in and out a few times during mock up and final assembly. Pass side in from the top. Drivers side in from the bottom. Went real easy

I have ZERO leaks using the slip fit connections though??? Single bolt band clamp style

 

Cool... I was lookin at them and they look like they might both sneak out from the top. I might actually be able to get my drivers side up easier than the pass. side. But either way...I think Im going to remove them to weld the flanges. Ill be able to trust the welds more.

CAM-: The slip ons that I have now dont leak much at the header. In fact, if I cranked on the band clamps some more they would probably seal great. My y-pipe consists of a hawks y-pipe...which hangs low, has weird bends, and is just not any good. I had to hack it and rebuild it during my build... Anyway, I figured since Im building a killer y-pipe now, I might as well make install/removal easier and have the seals be leak proof. So Im using v-clamps like they use on turbo systems. These will allow the y-pipe to seal without gaskets. And it will allow the y-pipe to drop straight down and out during removal. Instead of having to wiggle the pipe off the headers. Here is the hot mess of a y-pipe I have now...



BUT...I have to crawl under there with those clamps in hand to check clearances. I might just end up keeping them slip fit, in which case I wont even need to remove the headers making my job even easier.

Thanks for the help guys! I gotta put a Jeep motor back together then Ill be starting on the exhaust. My backordered mandrel bends from summit just shipped finally! So thats a good sign. Got my drews x-member and all the other parts I need.

J.