Well as the title suggests, this is basically going to be a review for these headers mostly but also I want to bitch and moan about the hell called a motor mount swap. I used this post for my research and preparation on how to tackle this monstrous task. https://ls1tech.com/forums/generatio...otsa-pics.html


The headers:
- 1 3/4 primaries
- "race" version with no air ports
- ORY with rear O2 plugs



The deconstruction:

Instead of removing the A/C, alternator and other things from the engine I decided to leave all that intact and just removed the clamshell and pedestal to do the motor mounts. But before that I had to rip out the old exhaust.
1. Rolled the front on ramps, put the rear on jack stands then raised the front higher on another set of stands.
2. remove the spark plug wires and coil packs from the engine bay.
3. removed the y-pipe (had to use a sawsall to cut the drivers side catalyst from the header.
4. removed the headers and dropped them through the bottom.
5. removed the steering knuckle for extra room.

On to the motor mounts (holy **** they sucked)
6. working one side at a time, support the oil pan with the jack and a piece of 2x4.
7. unbolt the pedestal from the k-member and the clamshell from the engine block.
8. wiggle the thing out of there (rotate it, jack up the engine, rotate some more, jack up the engine, beat the **** out of it until it drops out the bottom)
9. follow the directions to replacing the motor mounts in the clamshell.
10. I cut off the little tab on the clamshell to aid in reinstallation and it still was an absolute bitch to fit it back in there.
11. hand tighten all the bolts and move on to the passenger side by redoing steps 6-10 and may help to remove your starter to get the passenger side out.
12. To finish you may need a crowbar to wedge in the pedestal to line up the holes while also using your jack to get all the bolts lined up and started by hand.
13. tighten up all bolts on both sides pedestal and clamshell into the block. Reinstall the starter.

Installation of the headers
14. With the car jacked up the speed engineering headers literally just slid into place. If working alone it helps to have a rope to hold up the headers with one hand while you feed the (NEW m8x1.25 x 25mm) header bolts, starting with only threading in the front and rear bolts.
15. I cut wedges out of the bottom of the front and rear bolt holes on the new gasket. That way I was able to just slide the gasket between the block and the headers while it rests on the front and rear bolts that lines up perfectly.
16. feed the rest of the bolts and hand tighten as much as possible.
17. place the y-pipe components in place
18. It may be necessary to cut off small lengths of the male end of the pipes to reduce the rearward length.
19. The clamps my kit came with were too small so I had to buy U-bolt clamps from the store.
20. And finally tighten up all the bolts, double check your motor mount bolts, header bolts.
21. Reattach the steering knuckle (its kind of a bitch to put the knuckle back on the rack so you need to push it in pretty hard and far and then tighten up all the bolts as much as you possibly can to avoid a loose steering wheel.

 

I'm in the middle of this project too. Getting ready to tackle the motor mounts. I plan on removing the large bolts on each mount and jacking the engine up to give me more room to work as I'm replacing both mounts and pedestals. I removed everything in my way so far to try and make this "easier" lol.

 

I found the easiest thing to do was to just unbolt the mount from the block and the pedestal and remove it as one piece then take it apart when you have it out of the car. That being said it took me at least 6 hours with mini breaks to do each side.

 

Just removed pedestals and clamshells today. Jacking up the engine, removing pedestals, then clamshells worked like a charm. Couldn't believe how easy it was. Now I'm on to dropping the oil pan to replace the pan gasket. Joy...

 

Yea it was relatively easy but still putting them back in and lining everything up was a slight pain in the *** but much easier that removing all the accessories and using the scissor jack lol

 

I'll be doing this soon too, but my heads are removed. How much easier would you say the motor mounts are going to be with just a shortblock in the car?

Edit: also I have to do it the way you did it, because I'm going solid motor mounts.

 

The more crap you have out of the way the easier it is. I'm the guy who'd rather remove parts than fight longer with it.

 

I did ES mounts and SE 1 7/8 headers all at once. It was not as bad as everyone made it out to be. Everything fit perfect and no complaints.

 

Got my Walker mega clamps in and now have 2 3/4 inch of clearance at the lowest point.

 

Good lap joint clamps really are a must. I got the cheaper ones from summit and they worked great. No more leaks and the car sounds 10x better.