Pacesetter headers are here!

[ModularSpeed]

They will be similar to other headers.

On a PD blower car, pretty much every LT header on the market will make similar power. Not the same, but close.

 

[My96z]

Sorry guys, still no updates. K-member should be ordered this week.

But here are some quick cell phone pics of my valve covers and coil covers I just picked up from the coaters:

The covers are just the standard blue that the shop had on hand,and I think it came out looking great - should look good in my silver cobra. The coil covers are a "chrome" powder coat. I was going to paint the" Powered By" in black and the "SVT" in red, but I think they look great like they are, so I will just leave them as is.

 

[Boobinspector]

Who did the coating on the cam covers and how much did it cost. Just curious, thinking about doing this soon.

 

[My96z]

Hi-Point Powder Coating. They are in Liberty Hill, Tx about a half hour south of Lampasas on 183. They charged me $180 with military discount for the cam covers and the coil covers. Included sand blasting and everything. That was a hell of alot cheaper than anything around Killeen. Shoot me a PM when you get back and I can get you in contact with them.

 

[TMSVT]

You guys sold me. Just ordered them. Thanks.

 

[Nosdog2]

Get in line, I have been waiting over a month.

 

[evolve]

I got mine in 5 days! (Jegs had them). You can order from them and price match too, its awesome. $410 shipped

 

[Nosdog2]

Thanks! I might have to canx my order and give them a call. Seems like every time the "ship by" date comes, I check it and it adds another week. It is getting old.

 

[Bruha]

Interesting! I can't wait to see the results.

 

[46stang]

Okay so I got around to installing these headers. No dyno results as yet because I would like to get my old Steggy port updated first but currently lack the funds to do so. :nonono:
I ended up using an engine support bar from harbor freight to hold the engine and pulled the subframe. I think it would be impossible to do it any other way. Some of the bolts are very tricky to get to. The good news is I was able to keep all the factory studs and nuts rather than the supplied bolts. I like the factory nuts because they don't loosen up. Also i bought new ford exhaust manifold gaskets because the gaskets that come with the headers were not as good as the factory ones. you will need to unbolt the motor mounts from the block to get to a few of the bolts and then bolt the motor mounts back in. Also after getting them bolted in I noticed the passenger side header was lightly rubbing the subframe so I dimpled them a bit. Then when I went to install the X pipe that pace setter sells for these headers it was off by about 1/2 inch. So I pried the headers inward a bit and slipped the Xpipe on. This pulled the headers inward more so I doubt had I slipped the X pipe on first and then tightened the headers down I think I wouldn't have needed to dimple them. Oh well, no biggie. And lastly the headers come with u bolt style clamps that I really dislike so i bought these

Summit Racing SUM-692300 - Summit Racing® Band Clamps - Overview - SummitRacing.com

to hold the X pipe to the header. They worked perfectly and give a much cleaner look imho. Also the headers have 3 bung holes in the primary tubes. Two are for smog pump air lines on the 96-98 cobras and one is for I would guess a wide band o2 sensor or? Well the headers Only came with one plug for the three bung holes. I called Pacesetter and they sent me two more plugs right away. Excellent customer service btw, in that he was in the area I live and offered to deliver them to me but I declined and he mailed them out. I did however figure out that the plugs are also used as an oil drain plug for a 2006 BMW 750. So if you need them and don't want to wait or whatever that is the plug they use.

Now for the good part. The sound is amazing and my sotp meter tells me it picked up some hp. My old setup was a bassani X pipe with cats along with the quiet borla muffler catback. The pacesetters X pipes have no cats so under wot it is pretty loud but sounds great. cruising on the freeway it is very quiet so all in all , I bought the headers and Xpipe for $450 and It was money well spent imho.
So thanks original poster for helping me decide to go this route. in the end, couldn't be happier.:beer:

 

[TRBO VNM]

46stang, did you get a retune after installing them? Don't go WOT, sounds like you already did. Headers lean the car out. Make sure you get your a/f checked out

 

[TMSVT]

Thanks for the write up. I emailed them for the 2 extra plugs. I received mine in less than a week , so im not sure why it's taking so long for some to receive them. I'd try a different vendor.

 

[Nosdog2]

Thanks for the write up 46stang. I have mine sitting in the garage, just waiting for my cat-back to get here. I ordered mine from Summit on April 23rd and they didn't arrive until June 9th. I should have found someone else in hindsight to get them from. But it was only a week wait when I ordered and then every week they added a week. Oh well.

46stang -- do you still have your stock K-member or aftermarket??

 

[My96z]

Thanks for the review. I talked to one of the guys working on my car and he said the headers fit great with no issues. I still have the stock k-member also, but I am going to have a upr unit put in. I am just waiting on the supercharger and stuff to be installed.

 

[evolve]

Awesome! Great write up!!

Okay so I got around to installing these headers. No dyno results as yet because I would like to get my old Steggy port updated first but currently lack the funds to do so. :nonono:
I ended up using an engine support bar from harbor freight to hold the engine and pulled the subframe. I think it would be impossible to do it any other way. Some of the bolts are very tricky to get to. The good news is I was able to keep all the factory studs and nuts rather than the supplied bolts. I like the factory nuts because they don't loosen up. Also i bought new ford exhaust manifold gaskets because the gaskets that come with the headers were not as good as the factory ones. you will need to unbolt the motor mounts from the block to get to a few of the bolts and then bolt the motor mounts back in. Also after getting them bolted in I noticed the passenger side header was lightly rubbing the subframe so I dimpled them a bit. Then when I went to install the X pipe that pace setter sells for these headers it was off by about 1/2 inch. So I pried the headers inward a bit and slipped the Xpipe on. This pulled the headers inward more so I doubt had I slipped the X pipe on first and then tightened the headers down I think I wouldn't have needed to dimple them. Oh well, no biggie. And lastly the headers come with u bolt style clamps that I really dislike so i bought these

Summit Racing SUM-692300 - Summit Racing® Band Clamps - Overview - SummitRacing.com

to hold the X pipe to the header. They worked perfectly and give a much cleaner look imho. Also the headers have 3 bung holes in the primary tubes. Two are for smog pump air lines on the 96-98 cobras and one is for I would guess a wide band o2 sensor or? Well the headers Only came with one plug for the three bung holes. I called Pacesetter and they sent me two more plugs right away. Excellent customer service btw, in that he was in the area I live and offered to deliver them to me but I declined and he mailed them out. I did however figure out that the plugs are also used as an oil drain plug for a 2006 BMW 750. So if you need them and don't want to wait or whatever that is the plug they use.

Now for the good part. The sound is amazing and my sotp meter tells me it picked up some hp. My old setup was a bassani X pipe with cats along with the quiet borla muffler catback. The pacesetters X pipes have no cats so under wot it is pretty loud but sounds great. cruising on the freeway it is very quiet so all in all , I bought the headers and Xpipe for $450 and It was money well spent imho.
So thanks original poster for helping me decide to go this route. in the end, couldn't be happier.:beer:

 

[46stang]

Sorry on vacation with the kids so haven't had time to check in. Yes I have the stock K member. Like I wrote in the write up, hind sight, I should have bolted the X pipe to the headers while the headers were loosely bolted to the heads. This would have put the headers in the sweet spot and I doubt I would have needed to dimple the tubes on the passenger side. Once the X pipe is attached to the headers snug the x pipe down and then tighten fully the header nuts to the heads.
I bolted the headers down fully and then when I went to install the x pipe the headers were a little to wide making it a challenge to get the x pipe to slip over the header collector. I simply used a prybar and pried it over until the x pipe slipped over the header collector. But IMHO it was more work this way. The headers tuck up nicely and no scrapping. I've installed BbK headers on my old GT 4.6 and these headers were comparable to those. I've never tried Arh or Kooks so I can't compare to those but at 1/3 price of those two I think they are a great header. My cobra only has 19K miles in 10 years so I think these headers will last me plenty long.
Trbo vnm, yea I went wot a couple of times. Thanks for the heads up. I will leave it parked until i can get the time to get it tuned again.

 

[Drewmanchu]

Good info in here!

Nice to know a cheaper comparable option is out there

 

[TMSVT]

Thanks again for the write up. I'm in the process of doing the install. I'm doing a bunch of things at once( tubular k member, tubular a arms, Moroso pan, coil over, etc..). Anyway I had a few ?'s Did you have to shorten some of the studs? It seems to interfere in a few spots. Did you use any loctite on them? What did you torque them to? Thanks again, Tony

 

[Nosdog2]

Finished up my install a couple days ago. My take is for the money these headers really need to be looked at. They fit perfect over the stock studs with no issues what so ever. I maintained the stock k-member still for now and there were no clearance issues at all with the k-member or steering assembly. 46Stang's suggestion to keep them loose until you have the x-pipe on was a winner for sure, it made for an easy slip on fit of it.

I dropped the k-member to do the install and it is a pretty smooth install. The top three bolts on the passenger side closest to the firewall are an absolute pain to get to. I lowered the motor down as much as I could with the engine support to get to them. I changed my oil cooler gasket as well since I was in there and it was easy access at the time; so the $6 gasket made for a quick switch.

Other than the bolts on the passenger side, hooking the egr back up to the tube is the only thing that was a pain, but with lowering the engine helped gain access to more room in that area. (another possibility which I didn't try is remove the tube and install on header first and then feed it up through).

Car smoked like a champ for about 5 minutes as the grease from my hands burned off.

Overall I would recommend these header to anyone looking to upgrade. I had access to a lift, but I guess with enough time and patience you can tackle this in your driveway, just alot quite a bit of time because it isn't a quick install for sure.

 

[46stang]

Thanks again for the write up. I'm in the process of doing the install. I'm doing a bunch of things at once( tubular k member, tubular a arms, Moroso pan, coil over, etc..). Anyway I had a few ?'s Did you have to shorten some of the studs? It seems to interfere in a few spots. Did you use any loctite on them? What did you torque them to? Thanks again, Tony

No there is enough clearance for all the studs and factory nuts. I always start all the nuts by hand first and then go around and tighten, otherwise the header may move enough to make some of the nuts hard to get on and started. It is impossible to get a torque wrench up there so I just used a short 13 wrench and tightened as much as possible with my hands or a socket on the very few that I could get it to fit on..
Using the support bar on the motor i twisted the engine left or right depending on which side i was working on because yes getting the headers to squeeze up there is a bit tight. Also lower the side you are working on as much as possible. I've heard of guys slotting the header flange bolt holes on the top side so it slips right up onto the exhaust studs, but I didn't.
If you look at the factory nuts for the exhaust they have a slight crimp on the top portion. This makes them a locking nut and keeps them from loosening up. So no loctite is required. just put them on and forget about it.
Nosdog2, glad that worked out for you!! Great header especially for the price imho.