GIVING UP on Kooks LTH's - They sag and being 2 piece leak like crazy

nitrojunk

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Thoughts guys ? I have old 2 piece Kooks long tubes which have the collectors that bolt to the headers. Over time they always leak and rattle, plus they sit really really low .. With BC Coil Overs, I have less than 1 1/2 if that ground clearance which makes it hard to drive around NJ roads.

Now here is the real questions. - note that I have a catted X/H pipe for the kooks headers ..

Question #1 - Should I replace the old Kooks with new one piece Kooks? Do they tuck up higher than the old ones? since i already have the matching mid pipe ?

Question #2 - Do I just buy the ARH setup that already comes with off road X pipe and ive heard they tuck up nice ? Then sell my existing mid section and headers ?

Problems im trying to solve = Leaking 2 piece headers and low low ground clearance .
 

DSG2003Mach1

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ive got one piece kooks on mine adn the ground clearance is poor. If you're pulling them I'd go with someone else
 

nitrojunk

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No way really ? I hear so many different opinions on clearance .. some say awesome others say terrible .. Right now i have about an inch if not less ... I've scraped on raised man holes LOL
 

DSG2003Mach1

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on a new edge car - i have not heard anyone say there were thrilled about kooks ground clearance, theres way too much gap to the floor pan imho. I even rotated mine on the mounting studs to point the collectors up toward the bottom of the car before snugging them.
 

NateDogg

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I've ran Kooks on multiple cars and decided to go ARH on my current car. LOVE the ARH, they tuck up nicely.

My only complaint is getting one of the bolts in on the rear of the head.. I can't remember which side it was, but it was a PITA.

Sounds great paired with the 3inch Bassani Catback.
 

01yellercobra

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How low are you though? Saying you're on coilovers doesn't really say much. Plus the beauty of coilovers is you can raise the car a touch. I raised mine recently to gain some tire clearance. It was enough to stop scraping my mid pipe over speed bumps too. And I'm still lower than what I was on H&R race springs.
 

dazwelding

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That is terrible to hear! Kooks looks like they do great work, and to hear this is terrible. I even spoke with them years ago at zMax in Charlotte about headers for our cars! I have Mac LTs (very little help I know since they are out of business) and I am on coil overs, very low, and I clear speed bumps. I had issues with my mufflers scraping, so I removed the u bolts on my tailpipes and welded them and pushed the mufflers and tailpipes up as far as possible with some aftermarket multi hole rubber hangers. Now I have no issues with scraping. Hope you find something that fits better for you! Maybe someone knows where the fixtures from Mac ended up??
 

nitrojunk

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So just found a guy in NJ selling a used set of Bassanni mid lengths with matching x pipe .. Just going to buy these and be done with it .. This solves my leak issue and rubbing on basically anything protruding 1 inch from ground.
 

nitrojunk

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So just found a guy in NJ selling a used set of Bassanni mid lengths with matching x pipe .. Just going to buy these and be done with it .. This solves my leak issue and rubbing on basically anything protruding 1 inch from ground.
 

cj428mach

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So just found a guy in NJ selling a used set of Bassanni mid lengths with matching x pipe .. Just going to buy these and be done with it .. This solves my leak issue and rubbing on basically anything protruding 1 inch from ground.

Bassani's have the same slip fit primary/collector setup that your kooks do.

I went with these
JBA 6635SJT: JBA 6635SJT Long Tube Headers 99-04 Cobra 1-5/8Titanium Ceramic
They're stainless, and no slip fit connectors, they also have the O2's in stock location so the delay in reading doesn't even need to be adjusted in the tune. The ground clearance is actually better than when I had stock manifolds and aftermarket midpipe. The clearance may have been better than stock midpipe as well, but I can't remember that far back.

The only complaints I have are
1. flanges were about .020" off from port to port (JBA said this would seal and work but I didn't want to trust that a 3/8" flange would bend that much so I ran them across a belt sander until they were within .005" of each other.)

2. On the pass side, 1 primary touched the Kmember, a couple of hits with a hammer and I had clearance. I know one guy I spoke to said he had the same thing but just let the header lay on kmember and never had an issue. If you had an aftermarket Kmember this wouldn't be an issue at all.

3. They only offer an H-pipe which I hated the sound of, so I took the front half of their H-pipe off and spliced it into my X-pipe and now I have the X-pipe sound and I love it.
 

blownfox

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I have the 2 piece Kooks but I just ordered ARH headers with cats. Same reason as you. I ordered them through Lethal but they were on back order until July.

@NateDogg did you remove the K-member when you did the install? I'm doing a Clutch next month and figured I'll swap the ARH headers at the same time.
 

nitrojunk

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guys doing this themselves ? any special tools needed? i cant justify 1k to install headers ... For the 1k i can buy the engine holder, compressor and a bunch of other tools needed .. lol
 

DSG2003Mach1

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guys doing this themselves ? any special tools needed? i cant justify 1k to install headers ... For the 1k i can buy the engine holder, compressor and a bunch of other tools needed .. lol

I wouldnt bother with an air compressor and air tools, the electric stuff is pretty amazing now. I sold all my air tools and just have a little pancake compressor for tires. Im not sure how much help theyll really be, the tight spaces is what makes it a crappy job.

Plenty do it themselves, its a pita and time consuming but definitely doable. Support the motor and lower/drop the k-member for clearance. bolts are just a pain in the ass to get to.
 

cj428mach

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I have the 2 piece Kooks but I just ordered ARH headers with cats. Same reason as you. I ordered them through Lethal but they were on back order until July.

@NateDogg did you remove the K-member when you did the install? I'm doing a Clutch next month and figured I'll swap the ARH headers at the same time.

If you need an engine support bar, I have one you can borrow. I just need to get it back from my buddy that used it.
 

cj428mach

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guys doing this themselves ? any special tools needed? i cant justify 1k to install headers ... For the 1k i can buy the engine holder, compressor and a bunch of other tools needed .. lol

I did mine on my 2 post lift and I'd say it took about 6 hours start to finish, dropping the Kmember. I'd work on it a little bit after work each night and it wasn't bad at all. Honestly it was one of the easier header installs I'd ever done, definitely better than my big block 69 mustang or my old 4th gen F body with the kmember in place.

Only requirements are the ford metal gaskets and an engine support bar. Also you might want to have a dipstick tube oring handy.
 

nitrojunk

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guys doing this themselves ? any special tools needed? i cant justify 1k to install headers ...
I wouldnt bother with an air compressor and air tools, the electric stuff is pretty amazing now. I sold all my air tools and just have a little pancake compressor for tires. Im not sure how much help theyll really be, the tight spaces is what makes it a crappy job.

Plenty do it themselves, its a pita and time consuming but definitely doable. Support the motor and lower/drop the k-member for clearance. bolts are just a pain in the ass to get to.


Do you recommend any of the electric stuff in particular?
 

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