I'm in the middle of installing my Hooker 2055's I got from Jet Hot. The install has been a real bear, but that's nothing new to any of you.

Today I got to the point of installing my Y-pipe to check for fit and I'm finding the pipe sits 1" lower than the front cross member in front of the oil pan. Also on the right side of the car the pipe is about 2" lower than the bottom of the ground effects. My cat already has scrape marks on it, and lowering the front of it 2" more is just going to make the problems worse. If everything wasn't already jet hot coated I'd cut the pipe and raise it up an inch or two.

Is this normal or am I the first one to have this problem?

 

my stock y-pipe setup with hooker catback sits at least a an 1 1/2 lower than the tranny crossmember. You might try getting an exhuast shop to weld on a extra hanger and try to pull it up some. I'd see (after the car cools down over night) if you can just push it up by hand if you can i'd try another hanger on it. Good luck.

 

i have the 2055's in my car and they are kinda low but i think you should be find with a 1.5" drop in the front. but i haven't lowered my car yet so i'm not 100% sure

 

The 2.5" piece that goes between the pan and cross-member is slightly lower than the cross-member, but not 1", I don't think. The 3" piece before the cat is visible from the side, but I don't have GFX.

I got it all tucked up as much as I could before hitting floor pan/oil pan - I wasn't limited by the down-pipe length. I tend to scrape the clamp on the I-pipe after the cat (I brain-farted and got a universal cat) over bumps. I don't want to think about what would happen if I lowered the car.

 

Well since I've posted this I've called and talked to jet hot, and the holley rep. The jet hot guy (Todd @ ext 112) was pretty cool. He told me that if I wanted to cut and re-weld the pipe to make it fit, he would re-coat it for free. And he also gave me the holley reps number and I called him and left a message. And, amazingly enough, he called me back in about 45 minutes. I described the problem and he said his prototypes weren't that low, so I asked him for his email and sent him the pic I'm posting here. He was about to go to lunch, so he said he'd get back to me when he got back.

Anyway, from looking at my pic, are any of your y-pipes this low?

 

mine is yes.

 

Well it's just too darn low for me. My car isn't lowered, but it is an everyday driver and I'd smash the pipe within a week.

The holley guy finally got my email and he said it looks low. Not sure what to do yet. The holley guy is gone for the day, so I'm on hold until tomorrow.

But on the flip side of things, I did get my Alston SFC's in today

 

Is anyone elses 2055's as low as what's pictured?

 

Mine is low as well, here is a pic:

 

How much more clearance do you have before you can't tuck it up anymore? I might have to cut and weld mine if it hangs that low, but just wondering how much I might have to cut off?

 

The way the hooker y-pipe is designed, I can cut and take a 1" section out of the y-pipe just below the ball flange. I'll have to grind a little off the lower a-arm mount for it to clear, but it's in a non-critical area.

I pulled off a really nice y-pipe for stock manifolds I bought from turbo city about 12 years ago and it tucked up very nicely. I guess that's why I'm so diaspointed in the hooker design, I know it can be done better. And for the $ I spent on these, they should fit perfectly. But, after a year of reading all the posts on here about headers, I should have known I'd have problems. Why should I be the exception to the rule

 

I wanna know if this has happened to everyone, or just a select few. Everyone with the hookers please reply! Here are some pics of the 2055's installed that I found online. Hows does everyone's fit compare to this?

http://users.erols.com/gcwestph/Headers.html

 

Ok, the holley rep got back to me, and has dropped it back in jet-hot's lap. Here is his reply.

I've called jet-hot and left a message. Am now waiting for a call back. Wonder how long that will take


From Holley Rep:

ChrisReid@holley.com

"I have never seen one of our y-pipes hang that low. I think you had better get back with Jet Hot and get the y-pipe warrantied.

Thanks,
Chris Reid"

 

It appears two of you have it hanging that low. Perhaps Chris should be pointed to this thread.

I'll try to post a photo of mine.

 

I'm way ahead of you. He already has been emailed a link to the thread Hopefully he will use the link I gave him.

If any of you want to email him, please feel free to do so!

ChrisReid@holley.com

 

Well I just got off the phone with Dave @ Jet-Hot (1-800-432-3379 x 109) Todd never called back and didn't answer his phone, so I called and asked to talk to someone else.

I must say in the 30 plus years I've been modifying cars I've never spoken to a nicer person than Dave in a customer service department. I just sent him my emails to and from Chris @ holley along with a copy of the pic I posted here. Nothing is resolved yet, but I have a really good feeling that Dave will do right by me.

I'll keep everyone posted as to what transpires on this.

 

Having second thoughts on the hookers? I thought you didnt even want to have to take the time to move a steering column over. I bet that it is more work to get the ground clearance from those than lossening 2 bolts, sliding over the column and tightening them.

 

Well my hookers are a mile away from the steering column. And I didn't have to pull the shaft to install the headers either. But I did have to pull the left valve cover and #3 plug out. The brake lines need to be bent over some also. They touched the headers before I moved them.

 

No, these dont have that problem. It is the SLP's that tend to hit the steering column. The reason he gave me for not liking the slps is because they dont always bolt in without having to modify stuff. In my opinion thats the way it works with cars more times than not though.

 

Nope, no second thoughts. Ide rather cut the y pipe than the steering shaft. This seems like something rare for the hookers anyways. Even the hooker tech said so, so nope, no second thought on the hookers. The reason I like them so much isn't only because they fit so well, they also flow better.

 

I have yet to see proof of that.

 

And I doubt you will either. Nobody here wants to take the time and money into dynoing back to back runs on the same engine with SLP and hooker headers. I doubt there would be much of a difference anyways. All you have to do is look at the design and pipe sizes. SLP guarantees they will produce more power and torque over any other headers with the same tube size and diameter. The hookers are bigger Anyways, this is off topic. I would like to hear from others with the 2055's to know if they had the same problem or not.

 

Mine fit right in with no modification at all. I have a 91 RS, and I installed the 2055's. I love them. I did have to remove the starter and intstalled them from the bottom. And from the side I can see a little of my y pipe but it does not look as much as what I have been seeing on this thread. I have not had any problems grounding out or anything. I have 18s on my car, and its not lowered but eventually I will.

 

How much of a gain did you notice with them?

 

Ok, talked to Dave @ Jet-Hot today and they are ordering me a new y-pipe. It will be about a week for them to get it from holley, then they have to coat it, and then ship to me. So, bottom line is about 2-3 weeks for a new y-pipe

But I told Dave that I need the car and obviuosly didn't want to pull the headers off and put the stock stuff back on, so I'm going to put it togehter as is and drive it until the new y-pipe comes in. He said that in his opinion that's reasonable and he didn't have any problem with taking the used y-pipe back.

He also said everyone looked at my picture and agees the pipe is too low. So it sounds like the pic was the thing that proved my point and allowed Dave to justify ordering a new pipe for me. So if you have a simular problem, be sure and take a pic of it to prove your point. As they say, "A picture is worth a thousand words".

Another thing Dave mentioned during our rather lengthy conversation was customer attitude. Dave told me a couple of stories and people can really be jerks, but if you are decent and reasonable to them they will be the same to you. At least in my case they were. I own a manufacturing business and there are some people I hate to deal with and won't lift a finger to help them due to their attitudes, and then there are others that are nice and I'll bend over backwards to do what I can for them.

Overall I'm disapointed that there was a problem with the pipe and the time it will take to get a replacement to me, but they are doing what they can to take care of the problem.

I'm not sure how this wil lend up, or if the new pipe will fit better or not. So when it comes in I'll post and let everyone know how the new y-pipe fits.

 

Night and day was the difference. I went from dynomax pair to the hooker and am very pleased with the results and sound. It sounds mean and I dont even have a 3'' I pipe yet nor the muffler that I want. Dave and Chris with Jet hot are both very reasonable they helped me out quit a bit because there was a problem with my shipment and they were all over it.

 

Dan, have you hooked everything up yet?

it might be worth me driving over to your place ot see if my Y-pipe is defective also....

 

Dewey,

I asked if I could do this on the crew site a couple of days ago. I didn't get a response from you, so I figured you didn't want to. Guess you must not have seen the post.

Anyway, I hooked everything up last night and drove the car. But it's no big deal to take off the four y-pipe flange bolts, and unbolt the cat and mount to drop the y-pipe. The most work is getting the car up in the air to do this.

I'm kinda booked this weekend, but maybe next week, or weekend sometime?

 

any afternoon next week would work fine for me....

 

Ok, we can talk later then when I have a clearer picture of what's going on in the shop next week.

Judging from the few pics others have posted of their y-pipes, I have a feeling that your pipe will be the same as mine. But, it may be different on your car considering the wide variance these cars were built with. At least I hope you don't have to go through this. But, if you do, I have all the contact numbers for you

 

If your engine mounts are sagging it could be that also. If it doesnt look like they are dont replace them though.

 

I have a set of 2055 on the way for my
88 5.7 T/A. The plan is to send them off to Jet-hot after my installer and I look at them. Then I order the new cat and Hooker Cat- back.

My car has ,also, been lowered,

All this has made me a little nervous.


But I'm going ahead.

any advice?

 

No advise other than you should buy the headers already coated from Jet-Hot. A little cheaper that way I believe.

But if you do have problems, take pics and call Holley at the number I posted.

 

Thanks

They are all ready on there way from Jegs.
When I was at Jet Hots web site, I looked at the headers listed but they did not have them for my car. after your post, I went back and saw the "other brands" banner.

Sometimes, I think I need a keeper!

It's not all bad. Called Jet hot and the price is pretty close.

 

I just got the car back. Installer said he added a hanger to the Y pipe, I believe. I took a good look and its high and tight. He Really did a first class job.

 

I'm putting in a set of 2055's soon and I'll let you guys know if I see this same problem. Rodaker, got any pics of how the y pipe hanger is installed. Sounds like a good fix for this problem.

 

Not at the moment. When the wife gets back with the camera, I will see what i can do.

 

I did a check of the car. There is no extra hanger on the Y pipe. Its just a first class install with good fitting parts. I think the extra hanger is on the Cat-back.


The drivers side went in pretty well. On the passenger side one of the bigger problems was the dip stick of all things. It just wanted to be in the way.

 

mine sit as low or maybe a little lower than metallicrs. i dont scrape it as much you might think. I just know what speed bumps r good and whatnot

 

A little off topic but Jet-hot gives a 20% discount to members of camaroz28.com, is anyone using this??

 

They also give it to members of nastyz28.com. I used it, but I dont think it does to much when you buy actual headers because the discount is just supposed to be on coatings.

Ben

 

well i've got the 2055's -> flowmasters all 3" just completed. the y-pipe is about 1" lower than that front crossmember, but so far all i've got was a little scraping on the heat shield covering the cat.
oh and i have the 1" drop eibach kit.

just take them bumps slower folks!

p.s. - anyone know what sort of gains i can expect from adding the jet-hot coated hookers and flowmaster american thunder system all 3" - hp or 1/4 gain?

 

My 2055 y-pipe hangs nowhere near as low as some of these pictures... Sorry for the blinding flash. I think I have around 4" of clearance even at the lowest part.

I have a little tip that may help you though. When I was installing the y-pipe, I propped the end of the pipe up with a jack (just to hold it steady while I was bolting it). I think this kept it up out of the way while I was bolting the collectors in. They have the ball flanges so they will angle a little bit. If you're really questioning the clearance of your Y-pipe, maybe try to re-bolt it up using my method.

 

I have the 2055's and a 1" drop on the springs. Everythings up nice and tight. Speed bumps are noooo problem, though I'm still carefull.

 

Good question on the gains. I have the exact setup and no time/money for a dyno...anybody?

 

.

 

my hopeful guess is about 20rwhp and hopefully shaved a second off my 1/4 after all my mods since my last run at the track.

 

oops, my bad.

 

This is a little off the toipic, but what would cause a stock y-pipe for the 2.8L V6 to hang that low? I'm having problems bolting up my new cat because of that.

 

hoverbord98

Thats one clean looking Firebird!

and only 48k miles.:hail: