I'm buying a set of coated 2055's from ACS prolly right after christmas and to my dismay i learned today that i'd have to install them myself. (friend cant do it as planned) anyway onto the questions.

Is it possible to do this with out raising the motor or anything like that?

What tools do i need for the install? i was just trying to get at all the bolts the other night and i dont think i can do it with the sockets i have. What have you used in the past?

what is going to give me trouble from each side?

should i install from the top, or is it easier to go from the bottem?

what additional parts will i need? copper gaskets and stage 8 locking bolts right? (anyone know of anywhere these can be had for cheap?)

What is the likely hood i break a bolt of in the head? if so what do i do and how can i prevent it?

thanks a million already, i ran a few searches and found some vague answers, but they were from some pretty old posts and i know there are new people here who have installed their headers since then, so go nuts guys! i appreciate it!

-chuck

(anyone feel this would be better off on the exhaust board? i usually just browse this one and since they're going on an lo3 i thought it suited to be here)

 

No special tools should be required, and the best way would be to install them from the top. I had to remove me starter, AC and bracket all the plugs, of course, and on the passenger side i had to remove the steering arm. and i think that was about it. Shouldnt be too complicated though. All the parts you need should come in the kit, includeing all the gaskets and bolts. as far as breaking a bolt, thats something your just gonna have to play by ear, my came out very easily. All in all, shouldnt be a very hard job.

 

I installed my 2055s about four months ago. They were a pain in the *** but definitely worth the glory. You're gonna spend around ten hours doing this from start to finish. Take off all of the support brackets, AIR crap, and anything else immediately in the way of the old manifolds. The manifold bolts have little metal tabs around them preventing them from turning, so bend them back and you can access them with a ratchet. The rearmost two on the passenger side will drive you insane. I stripped both of them, and had to squeeze my hand in there with some vise grips.


Tools I used:
- 14mm socket and combo wrench
- 9/16th socket and combo wrench
- a 14mm deep socket for removal of the collectors
- lots of penetrating catalyst (PB Blaster is a miracle)
- Vise Grips, really strong ones


Random Conflicts:
-How are you going to be mounting this? Do you have a 3" cat? If not, you should get one, or at least a piece of 22" 3OD stock. It's about $7 at Autozone, plus a pair of clamps and some metal strapping to hold it up (temporarily?).

-Your O2 sensor wire will be too short, so I'd recommend making it a little bit longer. I just pulled mine out of the sleeve an extra 6", but whatever.

-The AIR tubes face the wrong direction. Either cap them off with a pair of 3/4" brass caps (I think) or get some extra tubing to keep the AIR system. I have my AIR pump still attached, but it blows freely. It will come off when I swap my engine eventually.

-My SES light comes on when I am on the freeway, giving me a 32 EGR code. It's because of the reduced backpressure. I'm still looking for something to fix it.

-If you have an AFPR you should crank up the pressure a little bit.

-You need 90* plug wires or they will not fit.

-I'd highly recommend changing your spark plugs before you install headers. Looking at them later, you're gonna have one hell of a time getting them out with headers on. I'm worried.

 

What is the likely hood i break a bolt off in the head? If so what do i do and how can i prevent it?


If you run into any stubborn bolts, tap them on the head squarly with a hammer . It jars them enough to break the grip of the rust that is locking them up. Some times you can tap them slightly side ways using a punch. If you do break one off, they usually break at the bolt head. This means that after the manifold is removed some of the bolt will be sticking up. Tap on it squarly and firmly with a hammer, soak it with penetrating oil, then using vise grips wiggle it back and forth while soaking with more penetrating oil till it willl turn out. Imeadiately celebrate by dancing arround the garage with the offending bolt held high over your head shouting things like "You thought you could beat me, but I'm the man and I kicked your but !!!"

Good luck and enjoy the extra power you will recieve.

 

"-How are you going to be mounting this? "
I've got a 3inch american thunder kit sitting in my room. I'll be replacing the cat w/ a 3 inch straight pipe (no checks in MI).

"Your O2 sensor wire will be too short"
I really dont understand this. well, how you fixed this. You say you just pulled it out of a sleave a little longer? is there enough wire where this wont be a problem and i'll be able to figure out what's going on pretty easially? or am i going to be cutting and soldering over this....(never really looked at my o2 sensor much)

ACS will hack the tubes right off so that wont be an issue.

I've got the egr code right now anyway. could this be from a leak i have where the manifold meets the head(little off topic)?

no AFPR

definitly doing the plugs when the manifold is off. you say i need 90* wires. does this mean i need to invest in a new set of spark plug wires? (hidden costs adding up) if so what route should i go? 8mm HEI? i hear there is a special socket someone makes for removing plugs if you didnt do yours.

Should i soak the bolts overnight in this PB Blaster? where can i get it? local autoparts store?

thanks again

-chuck

 

is the steering arm the black thing with the blue and white sticker on it under the break fluid resevouir? how hard was that to get off?

 

The O2 sensor wire was too short for me. It's wrapped in a sleeve with a few other wires. I just cut the sleeve off another few inches and took it from there. It's not a big deal.

Yes, you need 90* plugs. Another $50 hidden in there. I went with MSD plugs, but it probably doesn't matter just as long as they're 90* on both boots. I think they make low profile spark plugs also, which I'd love to get some.

PB Blaster is $3/can at walmart. It's one of the greatest tools I've ever used. It works on contact. I'd hit all of the bolts a few times in the 24 hours before you begin working just to be sure. Don't get it in your eyes, I can tell you from experience it hurts.

I didn't have to take off my steering arm. The header fit nicely on that side (a little harder on the other side). Watch out for the fan switch on the passenger side (I broke mine right off, and in fact is still broken).

 

90*wires right. never heard of 90*plugs.

What about my air conditioning. Am i going to have to take that out?

10 hours eh? thats quicker than the shift kit! just got to find a heated garage if i want to do this in the winter.

i might be able to get access to a 20000lb hydrolic lift. would this pose any advantages?

 

yeah haha 90* wires not plugs! My bad.
I didn't touch my A/C, I don't know why people even had trouble with it.
I did it with a jack and stands, in my driveway.
I don't see how a lift would help significantly, but it probably wouldnt hurt.

 

i just finished installed mine this weekend.

here is a rundown

the headers themselfs are cake,

i unbosted the whole AC brackets, to move it out of the way, disconnect the AIR diverter valve from the air pump, and move it out of the way. all but 1 bold on both stock manifolds can be removed from the top. the rearward bolt on the pass. side needs to be taken out from the bottom, you can get both headers in without removing anything else, just work them in slowly.

i always use liqued wrench on almost everything when i am disasembling, it just makes things go easier.

if you are removing the old Y pipe from the cat you have now, and installing the new one in the same cat, that is going to be by far the largest PITA. if you are installing a new cat, then it will be pretty easy. Twilightoptics and myself wrestled with a piece of my old y-pipe (we got a little sawzall happy, and cut too early ) for quite a long time, we also had quite a time slipping the new Y into the cat. mine were Jet-Hot coated, that may have been part of the extremely tight fit.

all in all it was pretty straight forward, would have been a 1 day project if not for the issue that we caused ourselfs. as it was, we did it in a lazy 2 days.

good luck, and enjoy the power gain, without even tuning, my butt dyno noticed quite a bit over stock. 14's on a stock LO3, here i come!

 

heh, butt dyno, i like that one....

liquid wrench and pb blaster the same thing?

yea, im replacing the WHOLE thing. like i got the 3 inch cat back sitting in my room and i'm going to be buying a 3 inch pipe to put inplace of that choke point of a cat. I've got enough for the headers now, just waiting for an extra $100 or so for wires, bolts, plugs, and gaskets.

so did you pull your whole ac out or just unhook the brackets?

Which headers did you get?

-chuck

 

i got the hooker 2055's

i unbolted the braket, and just moved it a few inchs forward for better clearance.

yes PB blaster is the same thing.

the 2055's i got, came with header bolts, and gaskets. you will need to re-use 3 of the stock studs instead of hte header bolts. alos the spacers that come with hookers kit are not the correct lenght for TBI cars, you will need keep the washers you take off the stock manifolds, and add 2 of them to each spacer, to get the studs to fit correctly.

HTH

 

I think this is hillarious to me becaue I've done it.

 

did you invest in locking bolts at all? if i dont whats the worst that can happen? i have to tighten them every so often? what about copper gaskets?

-chuck

 

I did but couldn't install the locks because of how close the primaries were to the bolts. Mine have yet to back out but I thightten them every now and again to make sure. Everytime I climb under the car I make sure to tighten the last bolt on the passenger side.