??

or can you tell me how much you took off

I'm having to take quite a bit off but I dont want to damage the strength of the shaft

it will reashure me if you have put it under a lot of stress

Thanks

 

If you take the column out, and oval the mounting holes, you'll be able to move it over about 1/8", and you wont have to grind the shaft.

Good luck

Dave

 

I could not even get the steering shaft in position after I put the SLP 1 3/4" headers in. I elongated the mounting holes and now I have a whole 1/4" of clearance. I really hope that I can turn the wheel...

 

I called SLP on that steering shaft problem.

They told me that only happens with worn motor mounts.

Luckily my engine is out of the car. So I replaced the motor

mounts. Once I get it back in the car I'll let you know if this

guy is full of sh#it or what.

 

prowler

He is

I already have Energy susp. poly mounts that raised it 1/4" or more

still having major clearance issues

 

Hecubus, where are you having clearnece problems. i just put my new 350tpi in my 91z with a ES motor mounts and slp 1 3/4" slp headers and there is no clearnce problem. i guess its different on every car. i would not grind and material off the steering shaft as it may weaken the shaft

 

Bottledz

The steering shaft is the only place I have the problem

I have moved the column over opened up the holes a bit and just ground the shaft 1/8" or so and still WAY to close I probly have maybe 1/16" clearance at best after all of this

This really upsets me I paid 650 for a set of headers that dont fit worth a damn ...this problem can eaisly be delt with in the process of their manufacture. with not much change

SLP in general is not on my quality list my runners suck BAD as well ...I could have cast something out of some fu*king clay that would have looked/fit better then that crap

sorry still venting some anger

Anyways I'll have to really open up the column holes.....or return them either way there is no reason their products should be so expensve if they can't even manage to make moderate quality parts

 

Not that this is the best thing to do, but you could always dent the headers...

 

1. I'm not going to touch them in case they refuse to take them back

2. They are Jet hot coated so denting them is out of the question

3. I dont want to hurt the preformance in any way [because I will have to dent the hell out of them to fit]

4. I shouldn't have to do any of this

 

Did you try getting ahold of SLP? Maybe they're just F'd up headers and they need to be replaced. My uncoated SLP 1 3/4" fit great, I have about 1/2 to 3/4" clearance between them and the steering shaft once they were bolted up. That really sucks, if SLP headers are worth the're gawd-awful high prices, SLP will stand behind them.

http://www.slponline.com

LAter

Dave

 

85 GLUE FACTORY?

So after you put the new mounts on it made a difference?

I'm just wondering whats gonna happen when those mounts

wear down a lil?

I'm putting new mounts on also.

 

The motor mounts don't make a damn bit of difference. SLP has their head up their *** on this one. I have brand new rubber ones, the guy above has brand new ES ones... none of it make any difference.

You have to get the steering shaft as far towards the fender as possible. See the hole the shaft comes through when it enters the engine compartment? You want it almost rubbing the edge of that damn hole. The only way to do this is unbolt the steering column and oval out the mounting holes where it attaches to the firewall. Youll also have to loosen the two main mounting nots in order to shove the wheel over far enough.

 

I have had some bad experiences with SLP stuff. The laster header tube on the drivers side didnt match up to the head. the holes for the bolts where off about 1/8". this is a lot when the bolt wont go in at all. Luckily my engine was on a stand when i put them on. I had to put a bat in the headers and pry the hell out of them to get the header pipe to come over enough to thread the bolts in. I then got a SLP dual cold air kit and it hits my A/C pulley so I had to grind some plastic off the radiaitor cover. the thing has holes in it to screw into the side of your fenders but once installed there isnt any material to screw into. I bought a slp torque converter and it lasted me 1 week before it exploded.
SLP puts some high prices on their products and there all ****.

 

This sucks to hear guys.I'm about two weeks away from ordering a set of headers and they were gonna be slp's.Do you guys think hookers would be a close second flow wise?

 

Exactly. I was pretty mad when mine wouldn't fit. I would definitely have gone with Hooker if I had known about the SLP fit problem. A good coating inside and out will probably last just as long if not longer than the SLP stainless steel anyway. My Global West steering brace doesn't want to fit either. I'm going to have to elongate just about every hole they put in it. I got lonsal's (TGO member) brace for a certain other thirdgen.

 

Sigh.

Clearly some people aren't listening.



See that dent?

I had that header in my car and it STILL rubbed even after I dented it.

I moved the steering column over, and I now have 1/4" clearance between the steering shaft and an UNDENTED, coated header. I didn't grind the steering shaft. I didn't play musical motor mounts, despite SLP repeatedly telling me it must be the motor mounts--yup, brand new motor mounts MUST be bad, because that's what we've been told to say.

The problem is not that the product is bad, it's that the idiots at SLP can't figure out how to fix it. I fought with this problem for MONTHS before I figured out the solution. But if you don't want to listen to someone who's "been there, done that", be my guest.

 

99hawk


Who didnt listen to you??? did I miss someone telling you you were wrong??? I personally haven't tried it yet so I cant even coment on it.

That's exactly what it is.. I'm not trying to start a argument here but, theres no way around it . If I buy a product that says it will fit with out modification and it wont ...well then it's BAD in my opinion.. it shure *** he!! isn't good

Again I'm not trying to start some lame yelling match but IMO I disagree

BTW my headers are coated so I am not going to dent them

 

So why are people these buying these crapola headers ?!? My Hooker headers drop RIGHT IN with the many engines I've had in my car so far.

 

He's full of it. Brand stinkin' new GM motor mounts and my SLP 1-5/8" headers were up against the steering shaft. Not even the nicer 1-3/4" headers, I went with the smaller ones to avoid the whole steering shaft issue...and still got bit.

Grinding my steering shaft is not an option, I autox and race. The SLPs came right back out and my old faithful (and somewhat restrictive) Edelbrocks went back in.

 

I couldnt afford the high dollar SLPs so I went with the cheap Hedmans and couldnt have asked for a better fit. But something I have noticed is my engine sits about an inch or so to the passenger side and I have seen some that is more centered. Has anyone else noticed this or is it just me. I am also running ES mounts.

 

My hedmans also fit great. Only rub was the brake lines on the driver side. Easily bent away. I used good nitroseal gaskets and no leaks so far.

 

I was very disapointed by the quality of my SLP headers.. The ceramic coating sucked, looked like it was diluted with water before they put it on with a paintbrush, after polishing it with a garbage disposal.. the rusted exhaust manifolds looked better then these.. And then in the inside, its got barely any coated at all, looks like someone used a water gun to coat the inside (if it was even supposed to be coated).. and the welds inside suck too, i wouldn't expect headers like this to cost more then $150.. especialy for the crappy collector and y-pipe size.. Not to mention the flange to so freaking thick that i had to modify 2 of my accesory brackets, and had to have 2" bolts just to get them to go 1/8" into the heads..

atleast they don't run the steering shaft, for the most part anyways.. not enough to worry me..

 

Another satisfied customer!

I bought the hooker headers and their y-pipe (p/n 2055). It was a piece of cake dropping them in on the driver's side and i had plenty of clearence between them and the shaft. Now getting them into passenger side was a ***** but once you get them there they fit well. The hooker headers weren't great but at least i'm not second-guessing myself after i spend $600 on a set of SLP's. Its a shame that rip-offs like SLP and TPIS are the only ones that really make anything for our cars.

 

I just installed my coated slp 1 3/4 coated headers with the engine, My motor mounts have to be worn, they're the orignals and dont look as healthy as they could, out of curriosity I installed it with them in there, I have a few brake line clearnace issues, but I've got maybe 1/4" steering column clearance (thank ***)

 

I'm not starting a yelling match.

The problem is actually not SLP's headers. In most cases I've seen, the headers sit in about the same spot in relation to the frame rail. The fact of the matter is the steering column has about a 2" wide hole it passes through, and due to GM production tolerances, it can be anywhere from all the way to the right to all the way to the left. If you think this is bad, try working on a mid 70s GM car, where production tolerances were FAR worse than the mid 80s (IMO).

If SLP simply realized this problem and stated that the steering shaft must be on the far left hand side of the hole or the headers will rub the shaft, then none of these problems would be happening.

As far as who is not listening to me, I'd say pretty much everyone in this thread. Several people put theirs in and immediately removed them when there was rubbing, rather than try and figure out the problem. I guess I'm just too damn stubborn for that.

Bottom line is a cheap, simple, effective solution for the header rub exists that requires nothing more than a dremel, and no one wants to do it because the part "should just fit". Well, guess what... most aftermarket parts are sold "some assembly required" and in many cases require modification to your car to get them to fit right. Should it be like that? No, probably not. But that's how it is, and you aren't going to change things. You work with what you've got.

I'm not apologizing for any of SLP's other problems (and there are many). But the 1 3/4" is a good shorty header (in fact, pretty much the best you're going to get for our cars). The only other option IMO is Hooker Super Comps, and those aren't even remotely emissions legal.

 

Anytime you deviate from the factory installed components you may have clearance issues or bugs you may need to work out. My Spohn torque arm (a bolt on) had clearance issues with the fluid tubes going down the tunnel, at the bracket that mounts the left hand brake cable, and the rear d/s loop lightly contacted the tunnel at the bolts for the for the d/s access plate, just needs a light massaging to clear these up. These things need to be expected. Sure GM knows we will mod these cars but they aren't building race cars we are and some of us get the bad cases. I'm going to buy a set of SLP 1 3/4 headers either on the GP on this forum or Summit (if these guys don't get moving on it) within the next 2 weeks. I just know what to expect so I'll put the Z down for a few days till I get it right. 99Hawk120 is 100% correct on this one :hail: :hail: .

 

SLP can suck it....


I ran into HUGE problems with their y-pipe last night... only to confirm it with a simple search, i feel sorry for all of slps customers

 

It seems like only the single cat y-pipe has problems. My dual cat pipe fit great. As I said though, I'm not apologizing for SLP's other problems (the y-pipe being one of them).

 

Well I have the single cat y-pipe..


It rests on the oil pan and the cross member (noise)

it rests on the SFC which isn't necissarily SLP's fault, however their lack of service and their endless disclaimers about how their "performance garuntee" isn't actually a garuntee is pretty weak...

And Mine was 1 1/2" to long... seriously, thats pathetic...

And because of it resting on both the pan and crossmember I can't widen it and make a slip fit because that will throw everything out of whack....

I haven't even experienced the vibration and heat problems this contact is going to cause... let alone what will happen when my engine rocks..

Its horrible.