I just finished installing my TSP headers on my 97 C5 and now it's running real rough. It's idleing at 400 rpms and will not accelerate smoothly. The car is running super rich. It sounds like it has a cam in it. There's a noticible miss while it's trying to accelerate (which you have to give it half throttle before it comes to life).

I removed the cats and the rear O2's. I've read where the rear O2's don't hurt performance. Is this true? I left them off the car. Is this the problem? Do I have to get simulators or get them tuned out?
The only other change I made was the small lines that bolt to the headers. TSP headers don't have a flange to bolt them to so I made plates to "cap" them off.

None of the symptoms I described happened until after the car ran for about five minutes. Ahter the headers were installed I started it up a few times and rev'd it. Then after I got the car off the jack stands I went around the block and that's when it started.

Thanks in advance for the replys!

 

spark plug or wire loose? that would cause the rough idle and miss. all the rear 02's do is send a signal to the ecu to tell the cats are working. did u make sure to take care when handling the front 02's, one of them may be damaged and is not reading correctly

 

It's going to take a while to re-learn the idle and how to run well. Put about 75 miles on it then get back to us.

Did you remove the plugs for the install or put new ones in afterwards? It's very easy to crack a plug and have it shorting out on the head.

 

O2's were crossed. I thought both of them were the same. I swapped the wires last night and it immediatley cleared up.

 

Good to know, thanks for the post!