Guys,

I'll be getting a cam and heads for my 2002 Firehawk eventually, but I'm going for headers now.

I've decided on 1 7/8" American Racing Headers with their Y pipe. I've heard adding poly motor mounts at the same time is a good idea, but this car only has 30K miles on it, is that necessary?

I'll be adding the headers, new plugs/wires and getting it tuned in this first step. Is there anything else I need to do for now at "stage 1"?

 

Absolutely, do the poly mounts. The undercariage of your car is not a very good design on the driver side and there is just not allot of room there so your exhaust will be very close to the floorpan and the stock rubber mounts are gonna let the motor flex too much. The exhaust will end up hitting the floor.

 

"Adding ARH to an 02 Firehawk..." Is a great idea!!

30k is low mileage, but better to get the polys in there now and be done with it forever. When the manifolds, cats and Y are off there is a LOT more room to work with. Even though your stockers are low mileage, they have still been supporting the weight of the engine for 11 years.

I would also do the free ram air mod, and *my opinion* add an AC version Chrs1313 ram air set-up.

 

As the others have said, DO THEM

I did the same install a few months ago, ARH 1-7/8", ARH ORY, and Poly MM's and let me tell you, it is better to do them while you're down there because they are a royal pain in the ***.

We made it harder on ourselves though, by using an engine hoist to raise the motor slightly but we only did it from one side so it made the engine slightly cockeyed and nothing lined up going back in with the MM's. That being said, I am glad we did them because I wouldn't want to do it later (or ever again)

Edit: My car had 25k miles on it. Has about 25,600 now.

 

When I did my solid mounts, I took BOTH mounts off, and supported the engine with a floor jack on a piece of 2x4 going horizontally on the oil pan right in front of the oil drain plug. I have an M6, but for me, that was perfectly balanced and I could literally move the motor around with one hand. It was perfect for me.

 

Is there a particular poly mount you can point me towards? It's not a dd, but I don't want an insane amount of vibration either

 

Prothane.

 

Yep Prothane is what I got. You can get them in red or black, not that you'll ever see them again really.

 

It's a good idea. The collectors will bang on the floor otherwise.

https://ls1tech.com/forums/pcm-diagn...ck-retard.html

 

My car only had 30,000 miles when the ARH headers and Y were installed. I went ahead and took care of the poly motor mounts at the same time to not have to worry about it later. I'm running the red prothanes.

 

Wouldnt adding the poly mounts also make the vibrations feel alot more than with the rubber mounts ??

I got a daily driver and I dont want to add more vibration that what the car already has. I sit in traffic and i dont want to be shaking.

 

If everything is stock, and is going to stay stock, you probably wont need them. If you have a cam that lopes, Poly MMs will shake the car less. Keeping that heavy motor from rocking back and forth really makes the car feel more solid. It does add a bit of vibration, but not nearly as bad as the rocking back and forth with the stock rubber.

 

Poly trans mount will add a lot of extra vibrations. The poly motor mounts shouldn't add much, if any, vibration.

 

It will shake the car more. If the motor isnt shaking as much where do you think that energy is going? To the car.

 

Just an update for those interested-

Did a baseline dyno pull, came out as 312rwhp, 323rwtq.

After adding the headers and a custom dynotuning, the numbers are 345rwhp, 356rwtq



I did get the poly motor mounts, and am not noticing any undue vibration added