header install questions???????

[white01ws6]

It is official. I am getting pacesettter LT with offroad y from texas speed perfomance. I will also be getting the o2 exstensions and the o2 sims. I plan on soaking the bolts with wd40 the night before. What type of header bolts/gaskets should I get? Is there anything else I need or should look out for? Any help at all will help me out. I cant wait to hear it when the instal is done.


Thanks

[onyx_rock]

get OEM gaskets from the dealer. When I did shorties I used the edelbrock gaskets and they leaked like crazy. When I went to LTs I used OEM metal gaskets and stage 8 locking header bolts and havent had any problems.

What catback are you running?

[SLOW346]

It is official. I am getting pacesettter LT with offroad y from texas speed perfomance. I will also be getting the o2 exstensions and the o2 sims. I plan on soaking the bolts with wd40 the night before. What type of header bolts/gaskets should I get? Is there anything else I need or should look out for? Any help at all will help me out. I cant wait to hear it when the instal is done.


Thanks

The stock ones are the best. As long as the stock gaskets you have on there now are in good shape, you can re-use them. Chances are the ones you have on there now are fine. If not, stock GM replacements are best for a leak free fit. The paper gaskets that Pacesetter sends will leak, and are meant for the trash!

[Baluchitherium]

get OEM gaskets from the dealer. When I did shorties I used the edelbrock gaskets and they leaked like crazy. When I went to LTs I used OEM metal gaskets and stage 8 locking header bolts and havent had any problems.

What catback are you running?

I got the stage 8 locking bolts also...Haven't even started the header install but was wondering if they were hard to install??Hopefully there will be no need to keep checking the bolts after these babies are in!

[keliente]

No offense guys, but you really should use the search function more often. These type of questions are covered every day...I spent less than 20 seconds searching 'header' and brought up an old post of mine with some hints.

I didn't use a lift when I did mine either, but just keep in mind you need to get the car pretty high in the air so that you will be able to maneuver the old stuff out and the new stuff in. They don't come with instructions (at least mine didn't) but it is not necessary because there really is nothing to it. The day before you do it, do yourself a favor and take a can of PB Blaster or WD40 and douse all of the bolts you will be removing on the exhaust manifolds, exhaust, catalytic converters, etc.

First remove the EGR and AIR pipes from the manifolds...Start by taking the spark plug wires out...I just left my plugs in, no problems. Then loosen and remove all of the bolts on the exhaust manifolds...from there get under the car, remove whatever pieces of exhaust that you need to. I also took the cats off from the manifolds just to make it easier to get 'em out. Take the cats down, and then slide the manifolds out.

Make sure the surface on the head is clean, the gaskets are clean, the headers are clean, don't want anything in between them. I did my install solely by myself, so what I did was slide the header up into place and put a bucket underneath it to hold it there...but you can just have your friend hold it up. Thread one of the bolts in on the middle to keep the header up (not tightened all the way). Then start from the front and slide the gasket in between, put the front bolt in loosely. Then you can remove the bolt in the middle and put the gasket in, re-bolt. At least for me it was a little difficult to do the gasket with the header in the first shot, hence why I recommended doing it like that.

Thread all of the bolts loosely before you think of tightening any of them. Torque them down in sequence. It's not a bad idea to grab some new bolts and lock washers to keep them from backing out. The passenger side slides right in. My drivers side was a tad tighter, but I just smacked the header with my hand and it slid in just fine. Don't need to remove steering shafts or anything else.

Once you have the headers on you can put the y-pipe on. Fit it and before you tighten anything down, see if its going to rub the car. If it looks like its going to touch anything, take it down and bang it out a little bit...because if it does rub the car it will drive you insane. Then you can tighten down all of the clamps (most of them are slip fit tubes with u-clamps). You might want to slide the clamp so that you are tightening it from the side, if it is pointing straight down you may scrape it off when coming into a sharp driveway.

Reattach the rest of your exhaust, recheck everything.

Now figure out what you are doing with your o2's. Your front ones need to go back in...as for the rears, you can use simulators, or have them tuned out of the computer.

If you're getting rid of emissions stuff....

Removing AIR/EGR is simple. The EGR solenoid comes off with three bolts I believe. Then just tie the connector out of the way so it doesn't get hung up on anything. The AIR pump is located under the drivers side headlights, held on with three bolts. Once you get it out, remove all of the thick rubber tubing that snakes around the engine bay. It will lead you to a small plastic box thing on the back of the head, that can come out too (it also has an electrical connector).

Keep in mind you'll need a tune to delete the SES codes in it. At this point it's a good idea to get tuned anyway to maximize your gains like I said before....

[TommySS]

Helms manual says to remove the valve covers. Is that "really" necessary?

[easyericvan]

I would remove the heat shields where the y-pipe could hit.

[keliente]

There is absolutely no reason to remove the valve covers to install headers.

[TommySS]

There is absolutely no reason to remove the valve covers to install headers.

I agree !

I couldn't believe the manual calls for it.

It looks easy enough to do as long as the vehicle is high enough.