What did you do with your Trans Am today?

[Decadence75]

Well,

What i did to the car today was breathe a sigh of relief!!!

The correct headers showed up at my door.... after waiting in all day
for the man in brown.... but i STILL had time to get to my buds shop
and with the car in the air we excitedly offered them up and they all but
fell in and once temporarily buttoned up with about three bolts per side
we could see that the Kooks Y will marry up really nicely

The correct TSP headers have zero clearance issues and i just wish the fools
at TSP had sent the correct ones in the first place. I would be finished and
driving long before now.....

OK... there will be a little tweak here and there and i will have to weld the
Magnaflow cats to the Y pipe tubes but all in all a good day and once i
have welded the cats onto the Y early tomorrow we will be able to complete the job
tomorrow!!

So... I saved myself around $180 by buying the ORY and cats separately and i
would venture that if the cost was not an option and i HAD bought the Kooks
catted Y it would mate up to a TSP set of headers very well with minimal
trimming or tweaks!

Very pleased with the progress

I'll post a few pics and maybe a vid of the end result!!

Glad to hear you have gotten it all sorted out! You'll enjoy driving it a little more now that it can breath better It's always a good feeling when finally finishing a project and being able to play with it. I finally wrapped up working on a project yesterday. Picked up a non-running ZRX1100 that had been in storage a few years at auction last month and after a carb rebuild and a few mods thrown in along the way I was out tearing up the streets last night and today.

[speedyWS6]

The Header job is finished at last!

Under the car all day yesterday and it has all gone together very well! What i will say is
anybody claiming they can do this whole installation in two hours.... really?!!!

Anyhow... a lot of time was fiddling to get all the header bolts in followed by all the spark
plugs! It was joy to have the correct headers falling in and just playing along.

The rearmost 10mm holding the coil pack onto the passenger head never went back in and you
know why, i am sure!!!!?

Spent at least 45 mins just scratching my head to figure out where the hell the dipstick tube
went back in!! Finally saw the hole hiding behind the starter motor.

If anybody should have to consider it then a Kooks Y DOES mate to a TSP header quite nicely!
You will have to cut small lengths off of the Y tubes here and there to allow alignment but
generally extremely good, as the pics show!







The Magnaflow cats were earlier welded to the Kooks Y tubes ok and just some band clamps later
and we were done. Just needed to switch the PCM for the Frost item and the O2 sensors to fit.

As you can see from the pic, the stock pressed steel little crossmember thing will not fit as the Kooks
merge is just a whisker too low and would probably rattle together so i will knock up a tubular
re-placement with a little bend in it and it'll be good. (where the red circles are showing).

Only issue i can see is two, i think, spark plug wire boot thingies actually touch the headers slightly
so i would welcome suggestions as to a good set of re-placements with more room/angled heads etc??
Maybe actual part numbers as i looked at MSD stuff but there was a raft of choice and it was not obvious
which ones to choose!!

One other thing which may suffer from the proximity of the header tube is on the passenger side. It is
that big black plastic box (dunno what it is!) and i am guessing some of that sticky backed aluminum
relective tape stuff would suit? Your thoughts??

The car started first turn of the key (huge relief) and is running just great. The different shifts are obvious
and it sounds wonderful!!!! No codes showing... Yet another satisfied Frost customer

Car needs a darned good clean now! It had an engine bay steam clean this morning before i drove it home
and no.... despite all the stories about poor running after doing this sort of thing it was fine! Obviously
i covered the PCM and other vital bits but all good!!

Trev

[SMWS6TA]

That's called the tunnel brace. Most ppl do not reinstall that because the reason you stated. There are after market braces that incorporate a DSL if you really want it.

Good job. And yes you can get headers on in 2 hours if you have lots of practice Hell me & my son can completely remove a T56 transmission down to removing the fly wheel in less than 90 mins in my garage, no lift. That's with taking a break or two.

Pass side issue - is it against the firewall? That would be your heater/ac box. As long as you have 1-2" clearance between it and the header you'll be fine.

[speedyWS6]

There are after market braces that incorporate a DSL if you really want it.
As long as you have 1-2" clearance between it and the header you'll be fine.

Scott... More like 3/4" tops so i am concerned it will be a problem. Some of the tape i described i reckon
will help out?

I have the means to make a brace and i will get that done tomorrow. You are right in that some may leave it
off but it is an easy thing for me to make one up!

Don't really see me incorporating a Driveshaft loop though....

[SMWS6TA]

Don't really see me incorporating a Driveshaft loop though....

You start too when you get to this level, see signature

[pajeff02]

Good to see the install completed! Underside of your car is super clean -- I like that.

[RONS98TA]

Yep, super clean under the car! Great job on the install too. Amazing how well the correct headers fit, compared to the incorrect headers.

[SMWS6TA]

Well,

A picture speaks a thousand words!

Have a look.....

You can see the pre-grind pic followed by the post grind pic of the motor mount.





You can see the notching and insertion of the "U" tube in the lower member prior to clean up.





You can see the headers finally in with the ABSOLUTELY NEEDED clearancing of the M mount!!!



Dunno what else to add. The fitment was sh*t but we got around it, happily

Tomorrow the passenger side!!!

Speedy...now with the correct headers I'd be saving up for a new K member. I just wouldn't feel like it's safe or going to last with all the notching you did. I saw you weld in patch panels but there is still some structure loss that might crack on you later on. Just my .02 cents. That engine mount would always be an issue in the back of my mind. just saying I may be wrong and this last 100 yrs

[speedyWS6]

Mmmmm.

I hear you Scott!

The second to last pic does look a bit "iffy" but trust me... it was fully welded and subsequently
cleaned up to Look like a notch that was supposed to be there.

The other side had the carefully disc cut piece welded back in and you would be hard pressed
to tell it had been removed. I am more than happy that the integrity is good with these areas
and i would agree on the motor mount bracket... something to consider replacing down the line
but not yet!!

Piece removed.....


Piece put back in....


I may add that i AM a coach builder by trade and i can weld with the best of them and am happy
that the car will not fall apart on me!!!

All of it would never have happened at all if the dispatch moron at TSP had done his job properly, eh?!

Anyhow, i spent the morning making a tubular tunnel brace as i just wanted to fiddle and put back a member of
some kind... It'll look good all painted up and i will obviously show a pic!

The car also got a damn good clean and detail after spending over a week in the shop.

[theorangeguy]

Mmmmm.

I hear you Scott!

The second to last pic does look a bit "iffy" but trust me... it was fully welded and subsequently
cleaned up to Look like a notch that was supposed to be there.

The other side had the carefully disc cut piece welded back in and you would be hard pressed
to tell it had been removed. I am more than happy that the integrity is good with these areas
and i would agree on the motor mount bracket... something to consider replacing down the line
but not yet!!

Piece removed.....


Piece put back in....


I may add that i AM a coach builder by trade and i can weld with the best of them and am happy
that the car will not fall apart on me!!!

All of it would never have happened at all if the dispatch moron at TSP had done his job properly, eh?!

Anyhow, i spent the morning making a tubular tunnel brace as i just wanted to fiddle and put back a member of
some kind... It'll look good all painted up and i will obviously show a pic!

The car also got a damn good clean and detail after spending over a week in the shop.

I think its pretty cool that you know enough about metal and welding to try and make the other headers work...looks like you did a really good job of putting everything back together.

[SMWS6TA]

Speedy I tip my hat to your welding skills. Not everyone can do or does that good of welding. That's why I pointed it out in case some amateur tried this.

[speedyWS6]

I think its pretty cool that you know enough about metal and welding to try and make the other headers work.

Thanks guys.

means a lot! I try to maintain a good standard to what i get up to!!

I have to say Patrick, that neither i nor Nigel realized they were wrong until the final
OMG moments! We just got stuck in trying to fit what we thought were "correct
but of iffy manufacturing standard"

Just bought a pair of Corvette fuel rail covers off of CL that will come in for a
hydrographic dip... probably carbon effect but not sure yet? Is carbon too cheesy??

I'd keep them stock but i have very little money in them as they are slightly scuffed.

[pajeff02]

Ok Trev - translate please and tell us what "coach builder" means in Britishese.

[98TransAmWs-6]

Ok Trev - translate please and tell us what "coach builder" means in Britishese.

Sounds British for a bus line, horse carriage, or trailers lol.

[pajeff02]

Could be British for a lot of things with wheels...

[speedyWS6]

Ahhh...

Not sure what a coach builder is??

Nothing to do with horses!!

Waaay back i did an engineering apprenticeship with what was BREL
or British Rail Engineering Limited. It was working on refurbishing/rebuilding the rolling
stock and where i live in Eastleigh, it is steeped in Railway history but sadly it has
all but gone after decades of being here. My dad was there as a fitter, my brother as
a sheetmetal worker and other relatives too!

Simply put a coach builder (or vehicle builder) is all manner of things to do
with vehicle body construction. In fact yet another term is "vehicle body builder".
After a four year apprenticeship i remained for 13 years before leaving. I spent a
good deal of my time on the doors and it was seen as the plum job. I completely
restored a VW beetle whilst on the door stage! You could get away with murder
back in the day!

You must have an equivalent type of job in the US, surely? Maybe a different term?

Because it was a good all round set of skills i ended up with, it works very well in
my present job as a Workshop Instructor at Winchester Boys College in the design
and Technology Dept. Because it is one of the most expensive colleges to send a
boy to, (about $50k a year for one boy!) we have a really good bunch of equipment
and i make good use of it!!!

There you go. a potted "me"

[SMWS6TA]

So over here you would be called an auto body specialist...

[speedyWS6]

Well, maybe...

But my original trade has no real connection with cars. It is all
commercial stuff such as the railway or truck body companies.

Having said that, it would of course translate to cars as shaping a panel
is shaping a panel!!

[98TransAmWs-6]

I wish I knew how to weld that well.

[SMWS6TA]

ditto...