Long tube header install

[FISHTAIL]

It's annoying. I've got one side done. I did the passenger side first because I wanted to get the more involved side out of the way. I wouldn't call it hard, but it's definitely a pain in the can. I have the canton "T" pan, so I had to unbolt both engine mounts, jack the engine way up, remove the starter, upper radiator hose, battery and battery tray to get that sucker in there. And even then I scraped the hell out of the ceramic coating.

I plan on doing the drivers side tonight, and buttoning most of the car up afterwards. Except for my battery tray..it looks like crap (all white) so I'll repaint that before putting it back.

The plus side is I'm getting faster at removing my fender liner so I can get my power pipe out. Only took me about 10 minutes this time.

That's it, just wanted to rant a bit. I was hoping to get both headers on last night, but the passenger side alone took me 2 hours.

 

[wheelhopper]

Wow Mike. Have you even got that car consistently running the way you want yet? I think you like tinkering on that car.

FYI. I got my fox dynoed this weekend at VIR. It is basically set up the same as when you put the GT40 heads on it. I dyoned at 264rwhp and 301ftlb at the wheels. The car was running really rich. The guys at ProDyno said that they don't usually see that much power for my mods and given the rich condition they think it would be close to 300rwhp if I got it tuned.

 

[FISHTAIL]

LOL, I do like fussing with it actually.

It's still up in the air at the moment. I'm pretty sure I saw metal when I changed the oil to put the drivers side header on (and the metallic plugs were COATED), so I have a sample off to blackstone, and I"m waiting on that.

The bottom end is quiet, oil pressure is good, no smoke, and no knocking...so if there is excessive metal, I'm hoping it's from a sized up lifter and I can get away with swapping the cam out. But I don't want to throw 100 bucks worth of synthetic in the car just to drain it right back out..thus, the car is sitting.

As for the tune...get your TwEECer and Wideband installed. We can take care of that. I had mine pretty much dialed in before I took it down for the header install. And most of my fussing was trying to figure out my un-documented injector behavior. You have FRPP injectors, those things have known high/low slopes, offset functions and breakpoints. All I'll have to do is dial in your MAF, and your WOT AFR table, and you'll have a basic tune up and going.

Also, that's pretty damn good power for your setup. I'm surprised by that. And WOT on a stock fox is in the 11's I think, it's pig rich. Your Aftermarket MAF should have that leaned out some, but you could probably crank it up to 12.8 or so safely.

 

[NEMES1S]

So u started the header install! I wanted to assist you if you needed it. I wonder what my dyno numbers are.

 

[FISHTAIL]

So u started the header install! I wanted to assist you if you needed it. I wonder what my dyno numbers are.

Yeah, but I may not finish it right now. Depends on what blackstone says. If it's all good, I'll finish. If it's not, then I'll be pulling the upper/lower intake off to have a look at the lifters/cam, and if that looks alright, then the entire engine is coming out.

The install is not difficult, but it is a royal pain in the keester. It'd be easier if I had a lift.

 

[FISHTAIL]

Also Ray, don't feel bad, this is one of those things that I did here and there in the evening over a couple of days.

 

[NEMES1S]

Well long as you know I am here standing by to help and it can stuff that doesn't deal with cars. I move furniture pretty well to,lol.

 

[Five_oh]

I did my LT header install over the weekend and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I had to remove the passenger valve cover to get the passenger side in and on the drivers side I had to unbolt the steering knuckle. Other than that, the only issue I had was getting the rear header bolt to start on the drivers side.

 

[FISHTAIL]

I did my LT header install over the weekend and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I had to remove the passenger valve cover to get the passenger side in and on the drivers side I had to unbolt the steering knuckle. Other than that, the only issue I had was getting the rear header bolt to start on the drivers side.

I have a feeling that doing this install is normally much easier, but I have a T-shaped road race pan under my car, and that thing really puts a damper on how much room you have to install the header. For instance, on the passenger side, I had to jack the motor up until the trans hit the tunnel, and even then I just barely had the clearance to get the header in. Drivers side it looks like just the steering shaft (and dipstick) have to come out, but the steering shaft bolts were stuck last time I messed with them.

They are soaking now, but I'm not in a hurry because if my blackstone report comes back bad the car will be getting torn down further, not put back together.

 

[Five_oh]

I have a feeling that doing this install is normally much easier, but I have a T-shaped road race pan under my car, and that thing really puts a damper on how much room you have to install the header. For instance, on the passenger side, I had to jack the motor up until the trans hit the tunnel, and even then I just barely had the clearance to get the header in. Drivers side it looks like just the steering shaft (and dipstick) have to come out, but the steering shaft bolts were stuck last time I messed with them.

They are soaking now, but I'm not in a hurry because if my blackstone report comes back bad the car will be getting torn down further, not put back together.

I forgot about the dipstick on mine. I see where your pan may be an issue. I've done a few LT installs on a few different cars, so I've seen my fair share on PITA areas. Did a 98 GT where we had to lift the motor out of the car, had an 04 GT where we dropped the K-Member and came in from the bottom.

Hopefully you'll be fine. Good luck on your bolts. I'll say that my LT's made a hell of a difference in sound for me.

 

[FISHTAIL]

I forgot about the dipstick on mine. I see where your pan may be an issue. I've done a few LT installs on a few different cars, so I've seen my fair share on PITA areas. Did a 98 GT where we had to lift the motor out of the car, had an 04 GT where we dropped the K-Member and came in from the bottom.

Hopefully you'll be fine. Good luck on your bolts. I'll say that my LT's made a hell of a difference in sound for me.

Thanks. I'm pretty sure they'll come off, I haven't tried it in a few days. I want to make sure the engine is healthy before I spend anymore time fussing with the headers. Crossing my fingers for that...lol.