Headers
Professional
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 145
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RE: Headers
When I did my Gibson headers, I jacked up the front end with a floor jack under the front cross member. Took off the front wheels. Then removed the fender liners. Then each side of the engine is fully exposed. From there I supported the exhaust pipes with a jack stand underneath each pipe where it bends under the frame from the cat converters.
Taking off the existing exhaust manifods is easy. Putting on the headers was hard because the bolts are hardly accessible with anything other than a small wrench. Once on, be prepared to retighten all the header bolts frequently. They loosen up quickly particular in the first few hundred miles.
Ultimately, I couldn't keep up with the retightening regime every oil change, developed a gasket leak, and then just put the old cast iron manifolds back on. Never had another leak, never needed to retighten the bolts, and didn't observe any change in gas mileage. Of course I have a light foot and never did any WOT acceleration measurements where the headers might have made a difference. I now have the headers sitting in a box in my gargage taking up space...
Roger...
Taking off the existing exhaust manifods is easy. Putting on the headers was hard because the bolts are hardly accessible with anything other than a small wrench. Once on, be prepared to retighten all the header bolts frequently. They loosen up quickly particular in the first few hundred miles.
Ultimately, I couldn't keep up with the retightening regime every oil change, developed a gasket leak, and then just put the old cast iron manifolds back on. Never had another leak, never needed to retighten the bolts, and didn't observe any change in gas mileage. Of course I have a light foot and never did any WOT acceleration measurements where the headers might have made a difference. I now have the headers sitting in a box in my gargage taking up space...
Roger...
Captain
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 580
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RE: Headers
Locking header bolts work great. I have never had a problem with a set of headers using them.
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Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 878
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From: Ann Arbor, MI
RE: Headers
ORIGINAL: reiderr
When I did my Gibson headers, I jacked up the front end with a floor jack under the front cross member. Took off the front wheels. Then removed the fender liners. Then each side of the engine is fully exposed. From there I supported the exhaust pipes with a jack stand underneath each pipe where it bends under the frame from the cat converters.
Taking off the existing exhaust manifods is easy. Putting on the headers was hard because the bolts are hardly accessible with anything other than a small wrench. Once on, be prepared to retighten all the header bolts frequently. They loosen up quickly particular in the first few hundred miles.
Ultimately, I couldn't keep up with the retightening regime every oil change, developed a gasket leak, and then just put the old cast iron manifolds back on. Never had another leak, never needed to retighten the bolts, and didn't observe any change in gas mileage. Of course I have a light foot and never did any WOT acceleration measurements where the headers might have made a difference. I now have the headers sitting in a box in my gargage taking up space...
Roger...
When I did my Gibson headers, I jacked up the front end with a floor jack under the front cross member. Took off the front wheels. Then removed the fender liners. Then each side of the engine is fully exposed. From there I supported the exhaust pipes with a jack stand underneath each pipe where it bends under the frame from the cat converters.
Taking off the existing exhaust manifods is easy. Putting on the headers was hard because the bolts are hardly accessible with anything other than a small wrench. Once on, be prepared to retighten all the header bolts frequently. They loosen up quickly particular in the first few hundred miles.
Ultimately, I couldn't keep up with the retightening regime every oil change, developed a gasket leak, and then just put the old cast iron manifolds back on. Never had another leak, never needed to retighten the bolts, and didn't observe any change in gas mileage. Of course I have a light foot and never did any WOT acceleration measurements where the headers might have made a difference. I now have the headers sitting in a box in my gargage taking up space...
Roger...
