Ok, i took off my intake runners and plenum tonight, and well it not to fun, anyways im just curious for all of you who have done this and put on headers, what do u think was harder, how would putting on headers compare to taking off and puting on the intake. i know this sounds kinda stupid, but i really want some headers, i just don't know if i want to put some on.

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- David
88' GTA 5.7L TPI MODS---> air foil, K&N, Shift Kit, 180* therm, TB bypass, Gutted CAT, Flowmaster 80 Series

http://www.geocities.com/david_angel_16

 

i would say yes taking off the tpi setup is a pain but i would have to say headers might be a little bit harder, but it all depends on who does it too, my brother had the hardest time ever tring to get every thing togeter and i did not nearly have the problems he did, one reason he told me his mistakes before i did it so that helped a little, i just took out the front passenger side braket for surpintine and slid it in there without any problems, but my brother did not have the surp, so he had a harder time and i thing went a differnt rought, and what kind of headers are you planing to get?
but i think it is a modification that really is not that bad and hard and also more experiance the easyer things usally happen, if you do it once you prolly can do it in half of the time, such as taking off the manifold.

 

i would say headers are more difficult by far, well not so much difficult, they are both fairly straightforward, but headers are a pain and take time, i imagine swapping headers after you already have a pair would be pretty painless though. anyway, id vote for headers taking more time to do

 

The intake is easy compared to headers. On the headers you cannot see half of the bolts you are removing, they are most likely rusted, and its a very dirty job. It also takes probably four times as long. I've swapped intakes twice in a day, but I would never think of swapping headers that much.

 

Having just spent the last two days fitting my new headers I can say the only thing harder was changing my clutch. The lack of clearance all round and the need to remove everything within 6" of the pipes makes for a very tedious job. And now I have to make a Y pipe to suit.

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84 Trans Am HO L69 WS6
5 Speed manual
Vortech Cherrybomb no cat
JB Headers
Comp Cams XE262H-10
Removed A/C A.I.R. Hdflap
H/made tri cld air induction
K&N
Otherwise STD
Currently painting

 

Putting on headers takes a long time. I have a 91 formula WS6 with the LB9. I have spent the last day and a half taking off the exhaust manifolds.

WHAT WAS GM THINKING?? Why are there sheetmetal tabs on the sides of every bolt I had to take off. It took me two and a half hours to take out the farthest back bolt on the driver's side. I had to cut out all of the sheet metal with a dremel, work for about an hour with a pair of needlenose pliers to bend that little tab down enough to get a socket on the bolt, then fight the rusted out bolt.

Seriously, those tabs are rediculous. I don't think I want to put the EGR on my headers--takes up too much room and is ugly.

 

i put my headers on while the engine was out of the car so that was wicked easy. put putting the y-pip on that was a pain in the a$$.

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90 RS 305 tbi, 4 3/4" cowl Hood, Edelbrock TES headers, Flowmaster exhaust, Crane roller cam, comp roller rockers, vortec heads/intake, ported tbi, w/new injectors, MSD probillet Distributer/ coil, 1 inch tbi spacer, air foil, 14x4 k&n flat base air cleaner, Rebuilt 700r4 w/ B&M shift kit, B&M Megashifter, 3.23 posi, 2 12 RF's with mtx amp, top of line alpine cd player, soon to have 90-91 gfx, z-28 wing, new paintjob, rims, and all new lowered suspension.

 

Took my brother and I 6 hrs. to put headers on. I have a carbed engine which I assume would be a lot easier taking off than TPI. I would say go for the headers, it's not that bad at least in my experience.

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"Rice burners are like tampons...Every pu$$y has to have one"
'86 IROC
T-TOPS, TINTED WINDOWS, BRAKE LIGHT BLACKOUTS
GM GOODWRENCH 350
EDELBROCK TES HEADERS
3" Hooker CatBack w/Aero Chamber muffler
EDELBROCK 600CFM CARB.
KN AIRFILTER
ACCEL HEI DISTRIBUTOR
160* Stat, just switched to 180* b/c of winter coming and going to college in the mts.
3:73 Posi
Rebuilt 700R4
B&M Megashifter, 5" Autometer Tach w/shift lite

 

I've always had an easy time with headers on the thirdgen's I've owned. I've installed/un-installed hedman and slp shorties on both. The slp are really easy (maybe it is the practice that counts ). Then again, I use headers with no AIR fittings. I've had less fun experiences on tpi itakes in the past - getting ready to tear into one again shortly though . . .

 

lol....i've taken apart my intake so many times it has become a 25 minute chore

WITH NO AIR TOOLS

when i put my IROC back to stock i put it all back together thinking i switched ALL the injector o-rings i had to....

NOPE

took it all apart and had it back together in 20 minutes flat

if i had to do the whole intake....30 minutes

try doing headers that fast...i dont want to think about it

 

headers really arnt that hard, its just getting the old crap outta the way tahts a pain

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Trent
---Car---
89 Firebird/305 L03 TBI A4/t-tops
Open Element Edelbrock Aircleaner w/ K&N air filter/Summit Chrome Valve Covers
Edelbrock TES headers 3" out/flowmaster American thunder 3" exaust/Catco cat
---Stero---
Pioneer DEH-P730 Premium
Infinity 2way 4652 4x6's/Pioneer 4way ts-a6985 6x9's
profile cl640 110x4

 

hedders are harder, involves lots of cussing and possbile skinning your knuckles

[This message has been edited by 1989CamaroRs (edited November 04, 2001).]

 

Don't forget that bolt by cylinder #7? (closest to the firewall,passenger side) That goes into a rusted unused hole(tap it first to clean threads) Needless to say, with edelbrocks, I made that last bolt considerable shorter with a hacksaw, which helped a lot with the TIGHT rusted threads and needed to do some grinding on a wrench for clearance to turn it anything worth while. Headers are a real b*tch, but they aren't hard to do, just a pain in the a$$.

The worst thing I attacked was setting up 3.73 gears and posi. Just sucked, anything with measurements between .008"-.012" and involves shims suck. I'm going to try a cam/head/valve spring/seals swap in a few weeks, should be interesting. Good thing I can walk to school.

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14.62@96mph headers, muffler, chip, ghetto stuff, duct tape
89 GTA 305 TPI 5 speed 3.42 gears

 

Headers, grrr... I had to do battle with the evil headers/y-pipe this weekend. But with the help of the Big F***in Hammer victory was mine. Installing headers is pretty much a miserable experience, I'd take an intake any day.

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91 Z28
Come see The Vicious...

 

I think it kinda depends on who made intake manifold and who made the headers.

In my case ('87 IROC, 5.0L), replacing the TPI manifold base wasn't more difficult but was just more time consuming. I began swapping the stock manifold base with an Edelbrock one the weekend of the Oakland, CA fire (1991...time flies). It took me about 4 days because this thing was far from a bolt-on; the 'Vette EGR block off plate was in the way, had to fab a custom coil bracket, had to drill and tap AC bracket bosses, among other things as I recall.

With the headers (those old SLP Tri-Y's), The most difficult things were getting the stock exhaust system off and removing the cat from the pipe.

 

I have installed a few sets on stock cars and its a day prodject with takin your time.

 

On the intake manifold, there is nothing hard about it. Very straightforward: remove plenum, runners, bolts, distributor, clean surfaces, new gaskets, new rtv, replace manifold and torque down bolts, replace distributor and the rest of the intake. Simple.

Headers are very different. I did mine when I replaced my heads and intake manifold, it took less time that headers would take alone. All of those metal tabs on the exhaust manifolds were merely an inconvenience; I just took a small screwdriver and bent them outward so I could fit a socket over them. Having the headers inside the engine bay before the heads really helps.

 

Installing the headers was pretty easy, same as removing and installing the intake manifold.
Removing the stock manifolds took me a loooooong time, most of the day.
Everything else is cake.

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WS6 Trans Am.

View My Ride @ thirdgen.org

 

Headers are a hundred times worse. Removing the stock TPI took me a couple hours because I couldn't find all the bolts. SLP 1 3/4" Headers however have been the bane of my existence .

 

Oh, I failed to mention that I don't have Smog or A/C on my car. That makes a big difference.

 

headers are by far harder, took me like 4 days struggling with removal of old ****, and fitting new **** in.

i have swapped a tbi itnake 3 times in one day before (fighting an oil leak) and a tpi over the coarse of one day or two days if i do other crap.

 

This thread is 3 years old.....

 

Holy Batman, atleast somebody has been using

 

i get search and 'new threads' mixed up sometimes and when im searching i see a thread that catches my eye and before i realize it, im replying!

 

hehe love the "bolt on" headers that take 2 nights to get in

 

took me 30 min tops to do both of my headers

 

you have been doing that lately

 

this is good to hear!
As a car newb, I was a bit worried about wanting to change my intake. I did my headers already, so if the intake is easier I'm happy. For even a car without rust, those manifolds sure rust, and the bolts.... what. a. pain.

Soo, thanks for asking the question!

 

Which is harder.... headers or intake? I'd have to say yes.

 

on many cars i think the headers are harder especially if the intake is setup for a carb. if you have shorty style headers on our cars i would say its a toss up.

 

On my car, I would rather swap out the headers than do a full intake change.

 

and when we are refering to intake.. thats tpi right? cuz a carb or tbi intake is easy as cake.

 

Hooker 2055's aren't that hard.....just don't wrap them


Yippee...this post took me to the lofty status of "Senior Member"

:hail: :hail:

 

hey anybody got pics of their a/c with headers i have a 84 so that means the a/c is on the drivers side

 

I can get a pic for you.

For my car or a tpi car, I would rather change the intake manfold. Carb is easy, tpi isn't that hard, just takes time. Installing headers was a pain.