NEED help on headers?

**justinlandis** · 01-16-2006, 07:14 PM

hey guys...i have an 02 SS M6 basically stock except for an intake and borla cat-back(not the removable plate cat-back). im wanting to get some headers that are mid range price w/y pipe and cats. i need some help on what kind of headers and y to buy. i figured i would get a y-pipe with cats to keep it a little quieter. I've looked at the Jet-hot Lt with the jet-hot y pipe w/removable cats. Do yall think this will sound and perform good? please help and any type of suggestions will be appreciated. thanks

**QKSLVR99** · 01-17-2006, 02:28 PM

sounds like a good deal but why keep the cats, the nice thing about LTs is the sound and the power

**justinlandis** · 01-17-2006, 05:36 PM

Thats why i was wanting to get some LT's is to gain some power and sound better. But i didnt know if i didnt have cats if that would be too loud for driving on the highway and become annoying. My exhaust right now is just a little bit louder than stock so that will prob help keep the loudness under control...lol

**QKSLVR99** · 01-17-2006, 07:26 PM

LT with ORY sounds awesome. Not to loud but loud enough to let you know it is not stock, you could always go with a electric cutout, open it for those days that you want to be real loud, push a switch and close for a little bit of quiet time

**justinlandis** · 01-17-2006, 07:43 PM

When u mention a cut-out. Were u suggesting puttin one in with the stock exhaust manifolds or if i were to get some LT's? Also what kind of performance difference do u think there is between putting a cut-out in compared to LT's? thanks

**QKSLVR99** · 01-17-2006, 08:34 PM

cut out WITH LTs not with stock manifolds

might pick up a couple horse with a cutout on the dyno due to less back pressure, but mostly for the sound

**justinlandis** · 01-21-2006, 10:32 AM

I was also wondering if someone could give me a little bit more information on if i should get race style headers or have the emissions fittings for my daily driver. I will be getting an ORY, so should i bother with the egr and air?

**keliente** · 01-21-2006, 10:36 AM

Originally Posted by justinlandis

I was also wondering if someone could give me a little bit more information on if i should get race style headers or have the emissions fittings for my daily driver. I will be getting an ORY, so should i bother with the egr and air?

You can't go wrong with Pacesetters. Some of the most affordable headers out there, great fit, great gain.

Keeping emissions is up to you. I got rid of mine because I like a cleaner engine bay. If you are going to get rid of cats then I guess you can kill the other emissions stuff too...just keep in mind you'll need a hook-up if you are in a state that requires an inspection.

Since you're getting rid of cats and possibly other things, you will need someone to tune your car to get rid of the codes and make it pass inspection. It's also a good time for a dyno tune simply to maximize the gains from the headers.

I have pacesetters with an ORY, and I use a magnaflow exhaust. It sounds great at wide open throttle but is very tame otherwise, it's perfect in my opinion.

**justinlandis** · 01-21-2006, 10:59 AM

My dad has pretty good mechanic knowlegde while i have basic mechanic knowledge nothing advance. Do you think we can install the Pacesetter LT's, ORY, and understanded all the emission stuff that we can remove with out screwing my car up...lol. Like the air pump, egr, and all that stuff that i dont know much about. We dont have a lift, but we do have shop with quite abit of tools and equipment. Would this be that hard of an installation for someone like me and my dad with basic knowledge and no lift? I was also wondering if Pacesetter headers and TSP ORY come w/installation instructions, if not is there somewhere that gives pretty detailed instructions for these headers and all the how to's on removing all emission stuff. thanks

**Kyle C** · 01-21-2006, 03:55 PM

I went with Supermaxx and love them. Fit was exceptional, all stainless headers and catted ypipe comes with everything needed including )2 extensions. I drove it for several days with no codes thrown but I did have all of the potential stuff deleted when I did the dynotune. I debated for weeks about spending the extra $$ on stainless but now am glad I did, it was $1320 delivered.

**keliente** · 01-21-2006, 04:53 PM

Originally Posted by justinlandis

My dad has pretty good mechanic knowlegde while i have basic mechanic knowledge nothing advance. Do you think we can install the Pacesetter LT's, ORY, and understanded all the emission stuff that we can remove with out screwing my car up...lol. Like the air pump, egr, and all that stuff that i dont know much about. We dont have a lift, but we do have shop with quite abit of tools and equipment. Would this be that hard of an installation for someone like me and my dad with basic knowledge and no lift? I was also wondering if Pacesetter headers and TSP ORY come w/installation instructions, if not is there somewhere that gives pretty detailed instructions for these headers and all the how to's on removing all emission stuff. thanks

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 dad 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. My drivers side was a tad tighter, but I just smacked the header with my hand and it slid in just fine.

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.

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....

**ninobrn99** · 01-21-2006, 04:58 PM

damn kelly!! thats alot of stuff! im not even gonna try to read it right now!

Id recommend the TSP catted Y pipe. I have it and its pretty good. Im actually gonna give them a call and see how much they'd charge for the pipes they use in their ORY so i can swap to that when i wanna go to the track.

**QKSLVR99** · 01-21-2006, 09:20 PM

just installed me new pacesetter LT and ORY today, only took about 3 hours to install

removing the old MAC system was the hardest part

Everybody kept saying that the pacesetters fit really good, now I believe them, they slide in so easy I didn't even scratch the powder coat

**justinlandis** · 01-23-2006, 08:26 PM

For those of yall that have have Lt's w/out cats, does your exhaust smell really bad?

**alien21311** · 01-27-2006, 10:21 PM

Hey wuts up im new to this forum and i was just tryin to get some opinions on wut brand of headers to get. From reading the posts it looks like pretty much everyone likes the pacesetters. I have a 98 z28 with a couple mods, MTI air lid, K&N filter, MAF (dont know brand cause it came with it when i bought it), the "free ram air" mod, and a B&B Tri-Flow exaust. I was looking at the SLP Tuned Lts but i noticed that it reduces ground clearence by 1 1/2 inches and my driveway is pretty steep along with all the other entrences in my town. I'm definately gonna get some Lts and keep the EGR and Air pump. I also plan on swapin the cams with somethin better and gettin the LSX 90mm intake manifold. I also wanted to put a electronic cut out valve in too. Any suggestions?

**justinlandis** · 01-27-2006, 10:28 PM

Go w/ pacesetter Lt's and the TSP ORY. Thats what im planning on doing.

**alien21311** · 01-27-2006, 10:50 PM

where can i get the TSP ORY i looked at summit but i couldnt find em

**justinlandis** · 01-27-2006, 10:56 PM

go to www.texas-speed.com, the TSP stands for Texas speed and performance.

**alien21311** · 01-27-2006, 11:10 PM

so the OR is off road which means no cats right? but it says its street legal too? so u dont need the cats right after the headers to still be street legal?

**justinlandis** · 01-27-2006, 11:37 PM

i dont know bout the street legal for what that is refering too, but if u have longtube headers with no cats that is technically illegal. Many people do it and i will be doing it, u just have to have someone that will pass your inspection for emissions or be able to get around it some how.