I got them installed today and took my car for a long spin afterwords. I had the biggest smile on my face according to my girlfriend. (I don't know what she's talking about . Anyways, I noticed I needed to get tuned real bad since it is running out of the collectors now! . It is missing and hesitating real bad since there is no cat and no O2 sensor. I plan on going to the exhaust shop tomorrow morning to get everything welded into place. I will post pics when it is all done soon. I will be getting tuned by Justune, a local tuner that is also well known on this forum for tuning other lsx motors. Anybody think going catless will have any negative effects on my car?

 

Catless will gain you a bit of free flowing exhaust but I think you may want to install your front o2 bungs (tuners prefer it) you may want to change you plugs & get it neat & ready for a dyno tune to max your performance gains thou. Congrats

 

I had the exhaust shop weld in a bung and I changed my plugs to NGK's over the winter, so I am good on that one. I am getting it tuned by a very well respected tuner who tunes multiple race teams drag cars, so I don't think I will need a dyno to dial it in. He is pretty good.
My first impression of the headers are that I can definitely hear the cam in my car more. My exhaust is more raspy than before when you stab the throttle. At WOT, it is throatier and sounds like it has some serious *****!

 

That sounds awesome! i am looking into doing these on my 06 impala ss. How hard was the install? Thanks

 

also wondering how hard the install was

 

Install isnt hard just time consuming,but worth every penny.Congrats OP,what no vid or pics???

 

I will when I get all the kinks worked out. I have an exhaust leak somewhere on the header. I took it to my tuner today and we had cylinders 7&8 misfiring real bad, which means that I either cracked a spark plug or its bad plug wire (or not plugged in properly). So there are a few small problems that I need to work out to get it running smoothly. It's like Clean said, its not hard, its just time consuming and you will cuss at the tranny dipstick part. It took me and a buddy 6 hours to do in his driveway.

 

here are some pics! Enjoy! I still have an exhaust leak that I have tracked down to the bottom clamp on the header. I am about to go out to the garage now and work on it. Then to the tuner tomorrow (again!). I just thought I would snap a few pics for you all so you can see how beautiful these headers really are.....

 

Very clean install and I like the exhaust. Are you 3" all the way out?
Exhaust leak might be that dam flex coupler..

 

I got 3" all the way back to the Y pipe, no cat. I took it back to the exhaust shop and they told me that it was coming from the bottom clamp and not out of the heads. I hope it is not the flex coupler because the leak is real loud. It is so loud it takes away from the sound of the motor and exhaust note.

 

So I fixed the leak and I now am very, very happy with my choice to buy these headers. The leak ended up being a cracked header gasket that I fixed yesterday. There is a slight leak coming out of the bottom clamp, which I will fix in due time (it is barely noticeable and goes away when the motor is hot). The gains that I have noticed from this mod is substantial and is worth every penny. Second gear on the highway is no longer a dog and it wants to get up and go every time I floor it. I just need to get retuned since I got tuned on 7 cylinders and had a large exhaust leak. I can't wait to see if there is a bigger difference there.

 

Very nice!! So 6 hours for the install isn't bad. Are these headers suppose to bolt up to a stock midpipe or hogan midpipe? Thanks for the pics! Headers are next on my list!

 

What is all needed for the install? Gaskets or headers bolts?

 

I used new header bolts and new gaskets. My header bolts were really rusty looking, so I just replaced them. I originally used a Kooks ls1 gasket for both headers and one ended up cracking and I had to replace it with a GM original metal gasket. The install is pretty straight forward, it is just time consuming and ensuring you have the right tools to do the job is essential. It will take you about 6 hours, if you do it right the first time (unlike me).
I already know my next mod (pending my tranny's eventual demise) will be a ls6 intake.