Pacesetter LTs and Y pipe installed - My review - LOOOONG
11-20-2006, 10:23 AM
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Pacesetter LTs and Y pipe installed - My review - LOOOONG The Story:Well I traded in my 01 S2000, and picked up my 02 Trans Am on 10-31 of this year with the intentions on having a fun/quick car to drive. After doing some research, I found the Pacesetter LTs, and Y pipe were very affordable, and seem to deliver plenty of bang for the buck.
Thoughts on the headers/Y pipe:
For what I paid I can't complain about the quality. The headers look great inside and out, I think the welds on the inside could have been better, but oh well, I went the cheaper route. I was also impressed with the copper gaskets they sent, I guess the listed to all the paper gasket horror stories and fixed it The Y pipe wasn't as bad on the inside as some that I have seen on here, it wan't perfect by any means.
The install:
The install was a bitch, i'm not even going to lie. Although this was really the first work to an F body, I have done many turbo installs on Hondas in the past that were MUCH easier. I work at a car dealership so I had access to a lift,ad air tolls, which made life alot easier than it would have been. I give props to all of you that have done this on the ground. I'm sure it was a chore.When I bought the car it had a Borla cat-back exhaust on it, what I didn't know is that the car obviously came from up north, or the beach, because the exhaust bolts and clamps were all rusted to hell. The bolts for the stock Y pipe, and the cat-back ended up breaking, even after soaking for an hour with PB blaster. I knew I was in for a long day.
I started with the driver's side because, well, it looked alot less intimidating. The driver's side went on pretty smoothly except for the header bolt in the very back was broken before I could even touch it. Luckily it had enough left that I could get a big set of vice grips and twist it out without damaging the hole. So after taking out the plugs, wires, and the annoying *** air tube, a little finessing, the header went in.
The passenger side wasn't as bad as I thought. I removed the plugs, wires, airtube, and then had to remove the starter which is only 2 bolts. It actually wasn't that bad at all.
The bad:
Well, besides the broken bolts, and the rusty clamps, I ran into a few other hurdles. The exaust had been welded at some point for an exhaust leak i'm sure, so that made the Y pipe about 3 inched too long, and had to be cut.. I really didn't want to unbolt any part of the exhaust if I didn't have to, but it had to be done. So after soaking the rusty clamp and bolts that had to come off in PB blaster for another hour, it was time to try to take it off. Thankfully it came off without incident. So after cutting the exhaust off it was FINALLY all together. SO after plugging in the 02 extensions, tightening all the clamps, changing the oil, and making sure everything looked fine it was time to start the car.
I started the car and noticed how much louder the car was.
- After making sure nothing there was no exhaust leaks from the heads, I raised the car to check on the bottom. Both headers had exhaust leaks at the Y pipe, the Y pipe is 2 piece and also had a leak where the 2 pieces bolt together, and also was leaking where the Y pipe and the cat-back bolt together. I really hate using slip fit exhausts, and those cheap clamps and this was the main reason why.
Finished:
I tried to rearrange the clamps and retighten them, but I still couldn't get rid of the leaks. I suppose I am going to have it welded up at some point this week to prevent anymore leaks from happening. The car is alot louder even with a few leaks. The worst part of the entire project, is now my car has a bad misfire when driving. It does not happen at idle, or really at any point except when I try to lug the car at low RPMs. I am hoping maybe one of the plugs got damaged somehow and I just missed it. I really can't comment on how much the car picked up, but I can feel the car moves through the RPMS alot sooner, until the misfire happens
Hopefully I can figure it out this week. I have no doubt the car is going to be alot faster. Just looking at the restrictave stock exhaust manifolds and Y pipe, I said to myself "it HAS to pick up a bunch of power."
Overall:
I wouldn't want to make it a habit putting longtubes on this thing. It took myself, and a friend who had installed LTs on his old LS1 Trans AM, and on his C5 Vette, a good 6 hours to do. Which I guess isn't bad considering all the problems we had, but we also had a lift to use.
The headerss fit great, no modding the body, suspension of any kind. The Y pipe fits like a glove, and would have been a perfect fit, had my exhaust not been modified already. It sits nice and snug on the driver's side, and just as well on the passenger side. I give the LTs/Y pipe an 8 out of 10 for fitment and quality. It is definately worth every cent.
If you are not mechanically inclined, DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS YOURSELF. Save time, money, and the headache. One thing I would have done differently is got the version with NO air tubes. They really make everything hard to get to, and would clean my engine bay up a TON if I didn't have them. Well that is it. Stay tuned for my next review of the Magic Stick 4 project that will be happening in the next month. I will be happy to answer anything I didn't mention.
Robbie
Thoughts on the headers/Y pipe:
For what I paid I can't complain about the quality. The headers look great inside and out, I think the welds on the inside could have been better, but oh well, I went the cheaper route. I was also impressed with the copper gaskets they sent, I guess the listed to all the paper gasket horror stories and fixed it The Y pipe wasn't as bad on the inside as some that I have seen on here, it wan't perfect by any means.
The install:
The install was a bitch, i'm not even going to lie. Although this was really the first work to an F body, I have done many turbo installs on Hondas in the past that were MUCH easier. I work at a car dealership so I had access to a lift,ad air tolls, which made life alot easier than it would have been. I give props to all of you that have done this on the ground. I'm sure it was a chore.When I bought the car it had a Borla cat-back exhaust on it, what I didn't know is that the car obviously came from up north, or the beach, because the exhaust bolts and clamps were all rusted to hell. The bolts for the stock Y pipe, and the cat-back ended up breaking, even after soaking for an hour with PB blaster. I knew I was in for a long day.
I started with the driver's side because, well, it looked alot less intimidating. The driver's side went on pretty smoothly except for the header bolt in the very back was broken before I could even touch it. Luckily it had enough left that I could get a big set of vice grips and twist it out without damaging the hole. So after taking out the plugs, wires, and the annoying *** air tube, a little finessing, the header went in.
The passenger side wasn't as bad as I thought. I removed the plugs, wires, airtube, and then had to remove the starter which is only 2 bolts. It actually wasn't that bad at all.
The bad:
Well, besides the broken bolts, and the rusty clamps, I ran into a few other hurdles. The exaust had been welded at some point for an exhaust leak i'm sure, so that made the Y pipe about 3 inched too long, and had to be cut.. I really didn't want to unbolt any part of the exhaust if I didn't have to, but it had to be done. So after soaking the rusty clamp and bolts that had to come off in PB blaster for another hour, it was time to try to take it off. Thankfully it came off without incident. So after cutting the exhaust off it was FINALLY all together. SO after plugging in the 02 extensions, tightening all the clamps, changing the oil, and making sure everything looked fine it was time to start the car.
I started the car and noticed how much louder the car was.
- After making sure nothing there was no exhaust leaks from the heads, I raised the car to check on the bottom. Both headers had exhaust leaks at the Y pipe, the Y pipe is 2 piece and also had a leak where the 2 pieces bolt together, and also was leaking where the Y pipe and the cat-back bolt together. I really hate using slip fit exhausts, and those cheap clamps and this was the main reason why.Finished:
I tried to rearrange the clamps and retighten them, but I still couldn't get rid of the leaks. I suppose I am going to have it welded up at some point this week to prevent anymore leaks from happening. The car is alot louder even with a few leaks. The worst part of the entire project, is now my car has a bad misfire when driving. It does not happen at idle, or really at any point except when I try to lug the car at low RPMs. I am hoping maybe one of the plugs got damaged somehow and I just missed it. I really can't comment on how much the car picked up, but I can feel the car moves through the RPMS alot sooner, until the misfire happens
Hopefully I can figure it out this week. I have no doubt the car is going to be alot faster. Just looking at the restrictave stock exhaust manifolds and Y pipe, I said to myself "it HAS to pick up a bunch of power." Overall:
I wouldn't want to make it a habit putting longtubes on this thing. It took myself, and a friend who had installed LTs on his old LS1 Trans AM, and on his C5 Vette, a good 6 hours to do. Which I guess isn't bad considering all the problems we had, but we also had a lift to use.
The headerss fit great, no modding the body, suspension of any kind. The Y pipe fits like a glove, and would have been a perfect fit, had my exhaust not been modified already. It sits nice and snug on the driver's side, and just as well on the passenger side. I give the LTs/Y pipe an 8 out of 10 for fitment and quality. It is definately worth every cent.
If you are not mechanically inclined, DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS YOURSELF. Save time, money, and the headache. One thing I would have done differently is got the version with NO air tubes. They really make everything hard to get to, and would clean my engine bay up a TON if I didn't have them. Well that is it. Stay tuned for my next review of the Magic Stick 4 project that will be happening in the next month. I will be happy to answer anything I didn't mention.
Robbie
11-20-2006, 10:28 AM
#2
yeah its not a short install thats for sure...it took me about 8 hours of actual work with NO help other then my friend hooking up the egr & getting an extra hand to connect the ypipe to the borla catback after I had done pretty much everything else on my own. Theres a writeup in my sig with pics & all.
11-20-2006, 11:52 AM
#3
Did you install the headers with the plugs in? You may have cracked one of the plugs. Id check that out. Maybe a plug wire isnt on all the way and its arcing. When I did mine, there was an original wire, and two original plugs in it. One of the wires was burnt because of arcing. I too wish i would have got the off road version, but I didnt want to take it two hours away to get the codes deleted.
11-20-2006, 12:55 PM
#6
You had to remove the starter? Really? I've done 3 sets of Pacesetter LT's on the ground, never with a lift, and never had to do that. The passenger side slid in no problem with ease everytime. It was the driver side with the stupid tab on the block where the issue came in.
Mine took about 50 miles to completely get used to running w/ the change in flow. The big fancy band clamps from Napa are the clamps I use at the Y and Headers and never have had a leak.
Mine took about 50 miles to completely get used to running w/ the change in flow. The big fancy band clamps from Napa are the clamps I use at the Y and Headers and never have had a leak.
