Help! Doing headers. 305 TBI
what is that box on the left side of the engine. It has heater lines going to it and 2 electric things with 4 electric wires coming out? Its not the heater valve it some other thing. Is it a smog thing?
thanks

 

Yea, thats your smog thing. It bolts to the back of your smog pump and I think there is a screw on the bottom side of it. Take those off and it'll come out. The hoses should slide right out with a little twisting. Its so useless I wanted to vomit when I took mine off.

 

I believe it's the AIR diverter valve you are referring to. And yes get rid of it.

 

ya I kinda figured it out when I saw the line to the smog pump. O2BQIK confirmed it for me. THANKS! I thought they were coolant lines before but they didn't have clamps on them. We got everything off so far except the passanger side rear bolt and the Y pipe. Any tips on that one? This was MUCH easier than I thought it would be so far. Its just time consuming.

 

Comes right out man, don't worry about it. Goes bye bye with the rest of the AIR system.

Heres where it used to be:

 

I think I'm gonna leave it in. I have to get it smogged in Feb.

 

HrdRockA4305: if you wanna clean that area up a little more, you can bypass that heater control valve thingy. JPrevost has a good write up on how to do it on his site.

 

you think its fun getting that stuff out. Just wait until you put those headers back in there . It took me 2 hrs to get all of that stuff out and a day and half to get the headers back in there. Much less the 3 sets of spark wires that I burned up before I got a set that was tough enough and routed well enough to withstand the headers.

 

I'm with brharris...

It didn't take me as long to put my headers back in but it is a pain. The last bolt on the passenger side is a pain...the only thing I could squeeze back there was a stubby open end and did some hammering on it to break it free. You can use a standerd size open end to get it snug again after the headers get installed.

The Y pipe...just cut it out. You are going to have to have it welded back together so you might as well not try to break eleven years of rust. If you feel up to a work out you can use the old hacksaw...but an exhaust pipe cutter is alot easier.

When installing the driver's side header, take the rocker cover off, unbolt the joint in the steering shaft, and wedge it in....and that's the easy side

good luck!

 

Yeah, I was sitting here staring at the picture thinking about it last night. I should check it out, I haven't been to his site for a long time.

 

update:
my friend and I were doing them all day and we're almost done. The drivers side went in like butter. NO problems there. The pass side was satan himself. We had to move the ac, the freon or whatever it is burst out, had to drop the starter, had to take the steel heater line out, the last bolt on that side wouldn't come out. I finally had the idea to put some nuts on the stud to get it more distance away from the manifold so it could be gotten out better. They gave us the wrong gaskets and bolts in the Hooker 2055 box. They were bolts for some s-10 v8 swap headers or something. The locktite spilled on 2 of the header bolts and dried solid so we had to go get new bolts...............

we should have taken out the oil dipstick too. Anyone know how I should do that?

 

you unbolt the dipstick tube from the block and lift it out of the side of the block.

I think I forgot to put the bolt back in. last year.

 

Umm the dipstick gets bolted to one of the exhuast manifold bolts. When ya take that bolt out, the dip stick should just flop arround. Just pull up on it and it will come outta the block. It is just pressed fitted into it .

Kat

 

update
all done. I think I need more fuel pressure or something. Its not as big a differance as I thought it would be. Maybe the cat needs to break in.

 

Gee Tas, sorry i read this late. I could have maybe saved you some time. I found out the easiest way to put the passenger side header on was to loosen the motor mount bolts, put a piece of wood between the oil pan and a floor jack and lift the motor up and fit it up from underneath. Wasn't to bad, was still a pain but worked effectively. I think it took me like 6 or 7 hours to get mine completely on.

 

ya the instrutions said to do that but that seemed more dangerous than taking out the starter and moving the AC. Think I should put the bracket back on the front of the starter that goes to the block?

 

Are you sure there's no exhaust leaks? If so, it might make the 02 sensor sending a low voltage reading to the computer; increasing fuel delivery.

 

come on...u guys are slow. my header install took 10 minutes...literally. its much easier with the motor removed

 

When I put my headers on, I put them on after I dropped the engine in because I didn't want to bash them up when dropping the engine in. Took me 20 min to put them on and Y-pipe.

 

only a mod could get away with an exhaust post in the TBI board

 

So an exaust leak could make it run too rich? Ya I guess it could be flooding. hmm.....

Driving it with the radio off just now I think I heard some ticking from possibe exaust leaks. Could the noise be from the less muffled engine sounds since the header pipes are way thinner than the manifolds making it easer to hear? Would exaust leaks kill major power? I'm gonna copy this to the exaust board too. I thought when I was done it would be more TBI related from the added power.

 

Tas, yes, need the bracket. Otherwise the main
starter bolts will break and/or strip out. Lots
of weight leveraging on those two bolts.

RBob.

 

I dont know if its true, but I have read that the knock senser can mistake an exhaust leak for knock. It may be retarding your timing if this is true.

 

sounds like an exhaust leak tas. I installed headers in my car a while back, and I still cant get rid of the ehaust leaks. It seems like I have to tighten the bolts down every two weeks. Its really starting to get annoying now. As for dropping the starter, and moving the ac stuff, thats what I did. I stopped about halfway through and realized that I didnt read the instructions. The instructions said to drop all that stuff and it should slide back in. I never put the starter bracket back on and I havent had problems (yet, knock on wood). I have noticed that once I start leaking exhaust my car lacks some power. Once I clear up the leaks it feels torquey again. Anyone know a good cure for the leaky header?

 

try stage 8 bolts or locktite.

 

Tas,

Did you get the coated 2055's or just regular. And also did you go to a 3" cat to connect to the Y-pipe it comes with? Was the AIR hard to hook back up?

 

uncoated. ya 3" catco (I think its a Catco, I got it from UnderdogRS). It slips over the Y pipe. Its a great cat. If I wanted to gut it I could pass a 3" pipe all the way through it after the guts are out. The air was easy to hook back up. Its hard working around those lines though. When I was taking out the air lines on the stock manifolds I just started ripping them out from getting so pissed.

 

If you reconnected your AIR what was that other stuff that you yanked? You asked about it in your origonal post. Do that box thing have anything to do with the AIR setup? When you disconnected it from the smog pump did you have to cap off where it came from. I am asking a lot of questions because I want to be able to do this myself and there is no better person to ask than someone who is currently doing it with the same parts you intend to buy.

 

I put everything back except the air line that goes into the cat because it had nowhere to go. The cat I got used has a pluged air line. I put that box thing that is connected to the smog pump back. I wasn't going to at first but exaust fumes were coming out of the air lines that are on the headers so I had to.

 

What did you do to keep the headers from rusting?

Let us know how it stands up by starting another post in a few months with digi cam pics.

Please?!?

What y-pipe did you use? The hooker one? What diameter is the cat?
Thanks, Tas.

 

haven't done anything to prevent rust. My friend has had edelbrock headers on his mustang for a year+ and they aren't coated. Its no big deal in CA. No salt on the roads down here. The 2055 come with a dual 2.5" to single 3" Y pipe. 3" Cat. 3" dynomax I pipe to 80 series flowmaster with dual 2.2" 1999 z28 pipes and tips.

 

Tas,

Aprrox how long is the cat that you are using? I measered my stock one to see how long it was between my hooker cat back and the stock y-pipe. If the Hooker 2055's have the same length y-pipe as stock than most aftermarket cats won't reach my I-pipe. Stock is about 21-24 inches (somewhere in there) and most aftermarket cats seem to be about 16" to 18" long. I also have to cut off the 1" or so reducer on my catback so that I can make it a true 3" when the headers go on.

 

no idea. It fit great with the aftermarket 3" f-body stuff. I think its a Catco. My friend had a problem getting it on the exaust hanger. I need to get down there and see what's going on.