1987firechicken

Currently working on my header install and after 3 hours of working I'm still not even close. I wanted to make this post a little different from the guys that say you can pop these bastards in, in like 2 hours. This is my first header install so everything is a learning experience so if your a newbie to header installs read up. I will only cover what is challenging for this install. First of you will have to remove the coil pack brace which is a big pain in the ***. All the bolts that have threads coming up through the top of them have to come out 5 on each side, easy right? WRONG! they hide the ****** things all the way in the back and on my 02 WS6 the driver side rear bolt was covered by the valve for the AIR system I was removing the air system anyhow so I litterally yanked the bastard out and bent the bracket covering up with a pry bar. The passenger side ... is worse the bolt on the back can't even be seen you will have to feel it out and work on it with a small wrench and turn the thing like a 1/64 of a turn at a time. All the while GM put the window cowling on with POINTED plastic scews (I look like a cutter now) and they will cut the sh*t out of you. If you are killing the air system don't bother unbolting the air tubes off the manifold just grab them and bend them till they break off much easier then unbolting the thing. The spark plug wires will have to come off to get to the manifold bolts and you will need regular sockets and extensions to get to them. I still haven't got off the rear manifold bolts they do look like a bitch to get to. Looks like the air con. system is gonna give me fits trying to get my hands in there. This has got to be the hardest part of the whole install just getting the old crap out. Now the rest with getting the y pipe off is easy. Alot of guys say soak the y pipe bolts in wd-40 but mine were so rusted I just cut them off would be a waste of time trying to break them out and no use in trying to save them since they are getting trashed anyhow. I found under the car to be MUCH easier and a good moral booster since big stuff comes out and you can see progress (and I was pissed with all the trouble i was having with the coils so I moved to a different part. I plan on getting frustraded again tommorow since I'll be getting all the hard bolts I left on the manifold. I don't want this to be a negative post I just wanted to let people know about all the frustrations they will run into if this is thier first time, there are alot of posts that say it is an easy job. It is a challenge but you got to keep at it and if you get pissed move somewhere else in the car to cool off. This seems like I have gotten through the hardest part of it putting them in seems like it is going to be a breaze compared to taking the crap out I'll post up after I get the headers in and Y and let you guys if I run into any more challenges or shortcuts

TUFAS4U

iTrader: (5)

DUDE, drink a beer and take a breather, My first go-around w/headers was 2 yrs ago and it took me 2 days to get my car back together. its normal to have difficulty but it pays off when its finished. good luck

99mongooSS

iTrader: (4)

ahh, thats why I did mine when I did the heads and cam.

ssman00

iTrader: (7)

why are you taking coil pack brackets off to put headers on? maybe my car is diff but all I had to do was take out plugs and wires, get the y out, and take out the manifold bolts and then everything slid back in like a glove. But i did use pacesetter headers

darkside98

iTrader: (10)

i have done a few header installs on ls1's and NEVER did i have to take off the coil pack brackets...the longest it ever took me was 5 hours because i took my time

1987firechicken

Yeah I wasn't pissed when I was doing it and when I got frustrated I took a step back to try to think of another way to get to the bolts. I looked at the sticky at the top and there is almost nothing about getting the stuff off so I wanted another post to kinda cover this so any body that doesn't have experience doing this kinda thing knows what they are getting into. I want to do this myself so I can learn and try to help other people. I had 2 buddies helping me so I have backup. I didn't plan on getting it done in 3 hours I just wanted to get it done before this weekend so I can cruise I should be done by saturday since I will have all day to work on it. I'm gonna put in a few hours tomorow night so by then I should have the manifolds out at least after that I think it should be a breaze getting the QTP's in they look top notch I bought them so I would have less issues with fitment. So in all right now I have a little less then 3 hours in it and have the y pipe out the coils off, the rear O2's simmed up, most of the manifold bolts out, and most of the air system out. The engine bay really cleaned up since removing the air tubing and the bolts look so much easier to get to with the QTP's in so we'll see tomorow hopefully. All in all not really that much time into the car and have quite a bit out of the way so I'm pretty happy with it. Should be awesome once I get them in .

1987firechicken

They were in the way with the tools I have on hand (I'm buying some ratcheting wrenches tomorow and highly recomend them) and it was easier getting the plug wires off with them removed. Think in the long run it may save me some time and now I know the best way to get to them so I should have less trouble getting them back on. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

camscam02

iTrader: (21)

in the 3 header installs i have done takin everything out was the easiest for me usually takin bout an hour and half or so to get everything out from the car! and takes a little longer when muffler shops weld the stock Y to the I! idiots! i have never taken the coil packs of when i did mine i guess skinny arms or soemthing like that but i wouldnt want to take those off they are a pain in the butt! as for puttin the longtubes in i think i will have the most fun ecspecially when you go to put the spark plugs in. what i use to get to the manifold bolts the best would be a mix between 1/4 and 3/8 inch ratchets and extensions and dotn really need those wrenches!

lovin myls1

iTrader: (4)

Just finished my header install yesterday but car runs bad.Seems like a miss so going out this morning to double check plug wires and connections.Planned on cruising this weekend also!
I read 100's of threads on this and other sites on install and I got the impression that you had to remove coil paks.That last bolt onPS side,I removed the coil itself(two bolts) and that made it easy to remove.The threads also recommend NOT to put that last bolt back....makes it easier.
Good Luck!

BlackScreaminMachine

iTrader: (17)

On a side note, you know someone is pissed off when they block write lol, j/k header installs most of the time, suck ***.

1987firechicken

^^ Yeah I'm pretty new to the whole process so I'm sure I'm doing alot of "wrong" things but that is how you learn. I wish I could get them in in like a few hours but now I know not to dream like that. Going back at it tonight for round 2 with those rear exhaust bolts. I read somewhere that the back ones can be gotten from the bottom. Any truth to this?

melchoir

iTrader: (4)

I found removing the coil packs made it much much much easier to change the #8 spark plug, or get that last headerbolt on the passanger side. If you have large hands it's going to be near impossible to get to those bolts/plugs without removing them first.

radz282003

iTrader: (1)

I too remove the coil packs on the passengers side. It helps with access for the header/manifold bolts and makes getting to the plugs and wires a little less painful.

I would recommend a 10mm Gear Wrench if you haven't got one yet. I think that's a really good tool for the header/manifold bolts.

Good luck!!!

1987firechicken

Ok time for an update on this another 3 hours and made some good progress those ratcheting wrenches were the ****!! WAY easier then with the sockets and the coil packs out of there made a big difference too. I got both manifolds out with the cats still attached to them all I did is remove the O2 sensors and with some wiggle they slid right out. I'm going to replace the spark pluggs then chuck the qtp's on up. I actually already slid up the passenger header like it was nothing So now in a much better mood have the car jacked way up just got to replace plugs, slide headers up, and get them bolted in and finally piece together the Y pipe and reinstall plugs and coils on the valve covers. Figure about another 4-5 hours on it and should (god willing) be done on this install. So I got about 6 hours in on the install and have it wrapping up tommorow in time to cruise ...... Sweet. Can't wait to hear those long tubes married up to the corsa should be wicked. May get a video posted we'll see.

GMmexican

iTrader: (7)

i have no idea why QTP advertises there headers as "best fitting"

qwikz28

iTrader: (12)

indeed... they ****** suck and since i live 10 minutes away, i went and showed them my messed up header. i was told to just put it on and now i have a MASSIVE header leak which i am ecstatic about

Smokin00WS6

iTrader: (4)

So did you get them on yet????

RevGTO

iTrader: (12)

Pull the plugs with the manifolds off, replace them once the headers are bolted up. Otherwise you'll risk cracking one while jockeying the headers around.

1987firechicken

I completed the install on these and I was wrong about having the easy part done. I was having massive problems getting the driver side up. I have heard alot that QTP's just take some jockeying to get them in and for me that was NOT the case!! I had to bang in part of the floor board, remove the steering shaft (that now rubs on the 1st primary), take out a bolt on the engine mount, grind down the K member, remove oil filter, and grind down some extra metal on a tab on the block. With all this done it still was a bitch to get it in!! I had to bench press the thing up in there to get it up. The passenger side slid in as said before but it is resting on the K member but I left it due to lazyness and also it is not banging and causing knock retard (checked on a solace GM scanner). The QTP y pipe would be a much better piece with and extra 3-4 bends in it I would have lost NO ground clearance but as it is now I could probably fit about 8/10ths of a coke can under it got about 4 inches clearance from the ground. We got it all sinched in and plugged back up and running working from about 9:45 to about 9:45 so another 12 hours of work just to get one header up and Y bolted up (will say alot of it was figuring a way not to beat in the floor pan and beating a knarley crimp out of an exhaust pipe I put in it when i tightened it up and we ended up having it to take it apart again). I don't want to hear that it would have slid in if my car was higher bc I had the damn thing over 30" in the air and could stand the header vertical without issues and it still would not go. I started it and the thing sounded crazy mean though I have a vid I am going to pull off my brothers camera and post up. I also have some pics I'll post in a few minutes where you can see the headers and the rubbing issue I have with the steering shaft. I ended up with 2 misfires though holes 2 and 7, that happen when the car seems to be under a heavy load like when in 6th gear and hitting the gas it will chug and pop. Going to replace the plug wires on the cylinder and see if that takes care of it bc they looked kinda crappy.

1987firechicken

PICS of headers (it sounds very mean at WOT)