jrwilliams95z28

Hello fellas,

I am installing my pacesetter long tube race headers and I have my car up on wheel stands, I removed the stock maniflolds, y pipe, steering shaft, A/C was already deteted, AIR was already deleted I removed the starter, alternator and oil dip stick & tube.

My problem is I cant slide my headers in from the top and I dont have enough ground clearance to slide them in from the bottom.
How much ground clearance do I need to perform this, I am going to buy a jack tomorrow morning and I am wondering if I should get the highest lifting one they sell or if I should get a cheaper one and just lift the motor?

The drivers side was kind of close from the top, passenger side was actually alittle closer to sliding right in but still wouldent go.

I know I can easily get both in from the bottom if I lift the car high enough.

Any thoughts? who has done this job with a floor jack, did you lift the car to go in from the bottom or did you get enough room to go in from the top disconnecting the motor mounts one at a time and lifting the motor to slide it in.

My other question is, if you do lift the motor one side at a time, how much can you safely lift the motor without putting stress on any other components attached to it, tranny, other mounts and such.

Thanks for the help!

93BlackZ28

iTrader: (5)

I believe they will go in from the top if you unbolt the motor mounts and jack the engine up a little. I jacked the car way up in the air and went in from the bottom.

SS SLP2

iTrader: (8)

Don' t think eather side will go from top I did my pasesetters from bottom on a lift , did not remove any moter mounts only part of steering shaft starter and all plugs I think most ppl say you need about 2 1/2 ft of space on botton because the headers must stand all most stright up on end to go in
be very care full when car is up that high will be very easy to rock off the jack stands
good luck, Johnny

SoxXpupPeT

iTrader: (34)

I have not with pacesetters but with my LPPs last week. You have to get the nose of the car up at least 18". Get yourself really good jack stands and support it under the frame rails. IF your jack doesnt go high enough get it up all the way. Place the jack stand under the frame. then put something in between the jack and the car and get it up again. After that if they dont slip in from the bottom. You might have to lower the K member abit. with the vehicle supported by the frame rail. Crack loose the 6 bolts that hold the k member to the body and lower it about 1/4" and see if theyll fit then.

jrwilliams95z28

Thanks for all the quick responses guys, I really appreciate the input!

I think Ill try jacking the motor up and sliding in from the top, I dont think Ill be able to get the car up high enough.

How much is safe to jack the motor up?

jrwilliams95z28

should I undo both motor mount through bolts and jack the hole motor straight up?

SoxXpupPeT

iTrader: (34)

Yeah take out both bolts but be careful not to kink anything by getting it caught between the engine and the body.

jrwilliams95z28

Update: unbolted the 3 bolts holding the motor mount to the drivers side of the block and tranny crossmember bolt and jacked the drivetrain up 3 inches which gave me loads of room to slide the drivers side header in, installed everything on the drivers side and hooked up the o2 sensor w/ extension and it looks great! I'm gunna tackle the passenger side now

SS RRR

iTrader: (2)

If they're coated, get some self-adhesive bandage from a pharmacy and wrap around the primaries. Especially for the passenger side since it will take some fandangling to get into place.

jrwilliams95z28

there painted, I figure since i dont drive the car in the rain or snow they should last until I buy a vette

got them all installed and everything works great, they sound amazing like a proper v8!

It seems like its a lot louder from the front/engine is that normal for headers? i dont think there is any leaks I cant hear or see anything when I rev the motor at idle.

Pulls alot harder up top its nuts! just woke the motor right up, I can feel the slight hit in trq down low but is gone if i give it more than 50% throttle.

SoxXpupPeT

iTrader: (34)

The noise you hear is just the exhaust through the primarys on the headers. Its common with LT's. Post up some pics and vids!

jrwilliams95z28

yah thats what I figured, i mean I got under the car while my gf was revving it and I could hear any leaks at all. But when I stomp on it on the street it just seems noisey up front but I figured its because the headers dont insulate sound like the cast manifolds. I listened to some old school muscle cars driving down the street today and they sounded exactly the same lol.

Ill post some video's tomorrow! There painted headers so naturally the paint burned off in about a day lol but I dont think they look to bad, kinda raw I like it.

It pulls so much harder up top its insane! I havent even dataloged and retuned yet lol

bufmatmuslepants

iTrader: (3)

Wait till you get a tune, right now your ears are telling you it's faster. A tune and it'll be your *** telling you.

jrwilliams95z28

Sweet! Do headers lean it out that much? I'm going for a good datalog this afternoon so ill know soon enough! I should probably richen the PE AFR targets eh?

96LT1Z

Just got my headers done about a month ago! I will agree it is a huge difference! And I love the sound, it just sounds pissed off! and i love it!.
When i did it i unbolted each motor mount one side at a time and jacked it up until it pretty much tried picking up the car.. and there was a huge amount of room from up top, both mine went from the top with ease.
Glad you got them in

96LT1Z

Also did you get race headers or ones with the emissions stuff? and with out the y pipe mine ran rich because of the back wash of air, once the y pipe got on it sounds better and runs better

jrwilliams95z28

Thats awesome bud! Yah 100% agree its a must for these cars! I did the exact same thing one motor mount at a time and there was tons of room!

jrwilliams95z28

I got the race headers so I had to delete and tune out the EGR and I already had the AIR system deleted.

I havent had a chance to hook it up to datamaster because its been raining here non stop since i installed them, but with the y pipe I am thinking it will be leaner with all the extra flow but who knows! lol

96LT1Z

Awesome I also did the race headers, kinda alot of stuff going on when i installed everything, had to cut the air tube the wraps around the oil pan, egr plates, and the air pump, and also when i did the headers, i did the water pump and water pump drive gear seal all at the same time...
Anyways let us know when you get it all tuned! I havent tuned anything so its not running the best it could be it still pulls hard! (for me that is)