Headers Are Installed

[Cale]

Clear Image headers. Took about 6 hours. It really wasn't that hard. Just needed alot of patience. Two of the bolt holes on the headers didn't line up and I had to tighten the bolts crooked. I can always tap the heads in the future if I need to. Hands are a little scratched up, I'm a little tired.

Just need to have the Y-Pipe welded to the cat now.

The car is louder than hell. More annoying than anything. I took it for a drive. It lost quite abit of power w/o backpressure. Hopefully the welding of the exhaust system well cure that.

I'll respond to this message w/ results after exhaust install.

[Brendan Hearn]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Cale:
The car is louder than hell. More annoying than anything. I took it for a drive. It lost quite abit of power w/o backpressure. <hr></blockquote>

Back in March when I got my headers on I questioned wether or not i liked the sound, once it was all together with the high flow cat and the cat back system it sounded great. you just gotta learn how to throttle the car right so you get the best sound. and i gained a lot (well, some) of top end power, over all I wouldnt go back to the manifolds. If it is too loud you can always turn up the radio :D

[John_D.]

I finished mine last weekend. I had a couple of bolts that tried to start cross-threaded. One of them, on the driver side, I was able to finally get started straight by putting a socket on it and sort of prying the bolt straight while turning it at the same time. The one on the passenger side, in the middle, on the bottom, would not start straight at all, no matter what. I had to pull the header back off and slot the hole out some.

So did you run it with no exhaust?! I was going to do that, actually I was going to fire it up with just the headers and no y-pipe, but I was on a roll, and didn't want to get everything hot and then have to wait for it to cool down.

It would have been way loud. It's loud anyway, with the 3" pipes and the borla bypass fully open!

I think I lost a little bottom end too, but after I drove it for a while, it improved some, I think the computer probably had to adjust. Bottom-end is still off a little, but mid-range and top-end are very strong.

[Cale]

John - yea I ran the sucker w/ no Y-Pipe, just headers ;-P It's still like that. Hopefully I can find an exhaust shop that is open today. If not I'll be driving my car to class tomorrow w/ open headers! Actually I do plan on slapping the Y-Pipe on today so that might help a bit.

Have you had any problems with leaking thus far, John?

Thanks for your input, I appreciate it.

[John_D.]

No leaks at all.

I did have to adjust the exhaust for 2-3 days, it would vibrate against the cross brace behind the catalytic converter. Luckily the brace was easy to bend a little. I finally put washers under the passenger side for a bit more clearance. It was that, or take the brace off, and I really wanted to keep it on there if possible.

[nino]

cale, how those headers holding up? any leaks? it looks like i am the only one with cia headers and leaks. granted i am the 3rd owner of this one set.

[Steve Presley]

This is the third or fourth post I've seen about the bolts not lining up... the headers were modeled on a 98, yet I seem to remember just about everyone with 98's having to pry or tap at least one of the bolts.. Is it a common thing, or have only the people with the line-up problems posted? Anyone have a success story (99 bird in particular??)

[nino]

i take it all back about my leak. had the car on a lift today and it turns out the reason they are leaking is cause 2 nuts had come off. now i have to find out what size that gasket is and get another set.

[Patrick Javert]

The easiest ways to get more low end is to get a whisper lid, K&N, FTRA, removed maf screen, and 1.9:1 aluminum roller rockers, in that order. As I keep adding more intake stuff, i feel my powerband shifting lower and lower. The K&N lowered it some, the whisper lowered it a lot, and the removed maf screen lowered it a bit more. It pulls over a larger area of the powerband than when i had my car stock. When i put in my FTRA, I'll lower it a lot more again I bet. Conversly, exhaust mods move the powerband upward in the rpm range. If you ever get your heads P&P and a cam to go w/ them, you'll see huge gains compared to if they were done to a stock car w/ no exhaust. You'll wanna get a better ignition soon too, since it'seasier fro more air/fuel to get in and out of the cylinders, you'll need a more powerful spark, or more sparks period to ignite the entire mixture.

[RacerJ]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by nino:
it turns out the reason they are leaking is cause 2 nuts had come off. now i have to find out what size that gasket is and get another set.<hr></blockquote>

Was it the passenger side? My passenger side had the same thing happen. I think it's because the bolts supplied weren't long enough, and the nuts weren't of the locking kind. You also want to make sure the bolt is graded steel.

The gasket is 2.5" standard header gasket. I recommend just taking your car to an exhaust guy to fix. Mine changed the gasket, nuts, and bolts in 15 min for $20. Had way better tools to properly reach and well-tighten those pesky passenger side bolts.

[scottblack]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Patrick Javert:
The easiest ways to get more low end is to get a whisper lid, K&N, FTRA, removed maf screen, and 1.9:1 aluminum roller rockers, in that order. <hr></blockquote>

[img]graemlins/bs.gif[/img]

But, wait, what if i did the K&N, then the MAF screen removal, then the lid? Would that decrease my low end torque?

[img]graemlins/rofl.gif[/img]

Scott

[Patrick Javert]

dude, you don't have to be a smartass about this. the main thing I meant is that you should do the cheapest stuff first, and then the other stuff. it's not worth it to put on $500 1.9:1 aluminum roller rockers if your lid and air silencers are still the biggest restrictions in the intake, and the same goes w/ the other stuff too. would you go out and buy a ssm heads/cam pkg if you hadn't done anything else to the car intake or exhaust wise? I doubt you would. Sure, the heads/cam make a lot of horsepower on a stock V6, but having the inatke and exhaust already done will only accentuate the power gain even more, meanwhile giving you better power, throttle response, sound, and look. Basically, you do what you can, when you can, and when you get up to those levels where you need the heads/cam or sc to make more power, you'll already have a quick car and you can just save up until you can purchase it, or work on other areas such as appearance, chassis, suspension, cooling, braking, driveline, interior, or stereo.

[Jlo]

i got my headers installed a few months ago, to be honest i was looking for more top end like after 4500, but it always drops accel right at that point, its so anoying, is something wrong with my motor. i have the intake with the complete exhaust system so why do i lose major torque after 4500 is there a cure.