According to LPP on another forum, ltxtech i believe it was, they had XSPerf/SSAutochrome do the headers for them. As pictured on XSPerf and SSAuto's sites, these are indeed same headers. So, that's good. 300$ price, better, but i dont think they're making more. Limited stock type deal, so thats bad i guess. LT1 isnt a hot seller.

They look great. Nice, thick, straight flange. Stepped up design, AND primaries cleared for bolts. Couple clearance issues though. Got a few mocked up pictures as i plan to wrap them.






Driver side, near collector, it touches frame rail. I have new poly motor and trans mounts installed already.





Im pretty sure steering shaft will clear. Thats the widest point, but am a bit concerned after i wrap them.

​​​​​These are just mocked up, but both slid right in after removing spark plugs and steering shaft. Can probably do it without removing shaft, but i had to in order to get the crappy pacesetter shorties out.

Will post more pics later this week when i get to finish.

 

Have you considered ceramic coating vs wrap? I don’t know whether it applies to stainless, but I’ve heard wrap shortens the life of headers, perhaps significantly.

 

I have considered ceramic, and decided against it, multiple reasons. Heres my justification, may not make sense to most....

Ceramic is $300+ if I have it done by someone, 150-200$ to do it myself, and I have to find an oven big enough to bake them, if done properly. Thats already approaching cost of coated Dougs or Hookers. Which, these fit better than the Hookers, which had the #1 primary separate from the rest, and you weld or copper glue it in place. Alright design given the space to work with, but ultimately crappy way of doing it.

Wrap is 30$ for 100ft on Amazon, but I might send this back and get the DEI instead for 50$, doesnt seem well made, and "instructions" say to soak it before applying, but all the others say dont require it. I may have got Bezos'd again. I hate Amazon.

But, for me, its all about heat mitigation. Because its not a high performance engine, no turbos, or nitrous, or anything like that, its not going to see that kind of heat, which wont decrease longevity THAT much, negligible amount. Plus, I dont have CATs, which will not trap as much heat. However, yes, ultimately it will degrade the life compared to no wrap or Ceramic. I am more concerned with burning wires than anything else. The radiant heat will degrade the life of all the plastics and rubber in the engine bay as well. This is not that big of a deal if the car is NOT a daily driver, but mine is going to be for the most part. My commute is about 25miles one way, daily, get most weekends off, but sometimes theres 7days a week. I do plan on taking the RAV4 from time to time, but mostly be in this because its actually more comfy on my lower back than the RAV4, only downside is the clutch when I get stuck in **** traffic. So, even with ceramic, there will still be considerable radiant heat degrading all my 24yr old plasteks. The wrap will cut all this down pretty much to nothing. I am curious how this effects under carriage heat though. I do not have CATs, so I am thinking it wont be too bad, but I have not seen any mention of this in my browsing of different takes on wrapping.

I also dont care much for looks, performance, drivability, and comfort are what matter most. You dont get to look at my car much with the way I drive

So, ceramic just adds too much to the cost already, wrapping does not, longevity is not affect that bad unless youre turbo'd, or other power adders, but then, you would probably need the wrap anyways because you would be creating MORE heat to deal with. Unless of course, you run all your wires way out of the way, and properly cover everything else instead of the exhaust. Which I need to anyways because I have alot of cracked wire looms and stuff. Everything already aging as it is, wrapping exhaust will help with longevity of literally everything else in the engine bay.

Im also thinking maybe I just need to wrap the upper portions of all the primaries. But, then your oil filter gets all that heat, as well as starter on other side. So, its probably best to wrap entire header, or wrap everything else. HEaders will be easiest for me because they are off, I would have to remove alot more stuff in order to protect that driver side body harness properly.

Ive been looking at all kinds of stuff. Heat reflective tape, aluminized fiber glass stuff, It just sems the header wrap is easiest, cost effective, and will do everything I need. Just gotta keep an eye out for leaks or any build up. Im rambling, guess I need to get back to work. Will attempt wrapping the driver side header tonight after work.

 

I don't like what I see with meat around the bolt holes protruding into the D shaped ports like that especially on the ports at either end. I would hate to bolt them up to a set of heads and have those protrusions blocking/impeding some of the exhaust flow. Although I have concerns especially with the ports on either end (pic may make the end ports look worse than they are) it could all potentially be a non-issue, would have to do some mocking up with clay or the like to know for sure. I can't say any of the headers I've run on an LT1 have had those protrusions but someone please speak up if my recollection is just wrong.

Is the ID of the primary tubes at the flanges a true 1-3/4"? Some of the cheap headers advertise 1-3/4" but have measured out to 1-5/8" ID. How does the merge spike look?

Another vote against wrap. It's a good way to trap moisture. I've wrapped Harley pipes in the past and it just ***** em up. I've been running bare stainless Kooks headers on multiple vehicles for the past 10 years and the heat has never been an issue. You're much better off leaving them alone vs. wrapping them. I would just do an OTVC wire kit or the like to get your wires away from the primaries.

Edit: looks like you've got an OTVC wire kit so that's good.

 

Ill take better pictures of the primaries and flanges tonight. It did not seem to be an issue, but this is also NOT a high performance engine. Might be a concern if youre trying to perfect everything, but will take better pictures tonight. #1 and 7, 2 and 8 seem to be just fine. But, possible I didnt notice something.

They claim on the site 1-3/4 to 1-7/8, I have not measured them.

Wrap is not necessarily for the spark plug wires, as I have the OTVC kit, and the ends are essentially triple wrapped. Kit came with a single thin fiberglass sleeve, I have some I think cool socks left over from previous LT1, so slapped those on. These are the double layered, double stiched, with the metal ring at one end. Forget the brand. My main concern is that main body harness next to the steering shaft. On the pacesetters, it is way too close, and Im sure would cause it to burn/melt in a matter of days or weeks at most.

With LSx engines, the header design is a little better to deal with this issue, especially on fbody cars. So, I can see it NOT being as much of an issue. However, Im being paranoid and dont want to fudge that harness up, as that will introduce a world of other issues. Im actually leaving early today, so gonna try and mess with the engine bay some more while headers are out. Im definitely sending the wraps I got back, already coming apart and I havent even unrolled it yet. Second pack is even worse, and still have plastic shrink all over it. So, have time to dick around and see if I can fix all the wires out of the way.

 

I'd definitely be taking a bit of time with a grinder in those primary tubes. You don't have to get too crazy but if the tube is welded all the way around I'd take as much protrusion out of the tube as possible. You can measure the port width and also the tube width and see if it's going to be a problem or not but even with the large ports my ported Trick Flow's have my Kooks headers give plenty of room around the port.

 

 

Couple pictures showing the inside better.

How much benefit do you guys REALLY think would be had by cleaning up these welds more? Remember, stock motor, only mods are these headers, Solomon tune, and removal of emissions stuff. Im not chasing tenths here.

On another note that'll make some of yall happy, im not wrapping them. I wrapped the driver harness with that stuff i got. Best i could without removing all the brake goodies. I didn't get pictures before it got dark because i got called back into work.

Are there sleeves for oil filters? I know i could wrap the starter, which i might still. Weather blows, might get rained out all week.

Inlaws are ***** about me doing anything in the driveway...

 

I wouldn't bother grinding em at all.

 

I dont plan on it. These buttholes just keep putting ideas in my head.

Added pictures to show its not that bad. Extremely less restrictive than the pacesetter shorties, and the hooker super comps were smaller primaries all the way.

Im curious, how are the Kooks flanges and bolt clearance? These are awesome, can get all 6 started with my fingers. I cant find any good pictures of the LT1 setups besides install pictures of the Kooks.

Ill chip away at it more Thurs if the weather permits. Get more pictures too. Had them both pretty much tightened all the way when mocking up, only clearance issue is the portion of the driver side K-member. Few whacks with a hammer will fix that.

 

Ports look better in the additional pics. The original pics made the end port look way skinnier than it really is. They appear oversized so you’re good. Unless you’re particular about that kinda stuff like me and Vicious just slap them on and enjoy. I’m the type to grind down the screw heads and **** on the TB blades but in my mind it’s the little stuff that adds up and that attention to detail is why some cars run harder than others. Most people couldn’t care less.

 

Yup, I'm a picky butthole I guess. That's not good enough for me.

 

A good way to keep the primaries from getting scratched when navigating them through the engine bay is to wrap them in a self-adhesive elastic bandage.

^^^

 

Well, TIG weld some nice and pretty, and ill buy them for 300$!

I've been trying to be careful, only scuffed the collector area so far. Might take tomorrow off and wrap the starter, and clean anything else up i can. Looking for good side terminals to do the big 3 mod, i just suck at the internet now, takes me forever to find ****.

 

Only little Chinese kids work that cheap man, sorry.

 

Not the cheapest but good website to find what you think you are looking for
https://www.mcmaster.com/electrical-connectors

 

I keep forgetting about McMaster.

Well, i got them in. She runs, but need to reroute the bundle of wires for CPS, o2 sensor, and oil level sensor, and some ground. I had routed them through motor mount to ensure clearance down low, but didn't realize i had pulled it tighter up top, which causes that same bundle to sit on primary. *****.

Still on jack stands, gonna see if theres enough light for pictures before i button everything up.

 

Feeling kinda defeated today...

Dont know whats up here yet. Still hot.


Dammit. Just dammit all.

Was running just fine, drove to Bucees to get sone real 92 gas, engine light came on when almost home. Running funny, started hearing a funky dinging/ticking intermittently. Well, here it is. Cant frickin win with this damn thing.

Haven't gotten at it yet, just got home. Letting it cool off.

 

got these wires from a member here. Nothing against him, because he got ripped off more than me. But, still gotta replace at the minimum, two wires.

One arced out on both sides of the last clamp. Not sure why, they weren't nicked or anything. Wasn't very tight, snug, could probably slide them back and forth with WD-40 or oil without loosening.

Then, same one was arcing through the backside of the boot it looks like. Rubbed it with thumb twisting it for the camera, was more charred looking initially. Also, boot was getting hot enough to melt even though its tripled up with fiberglass.

not entirely sure if arcing in this third spot. Im going by wire damage as opposed to witnessing the arcs. Third spot could be due to clamp melting from the arcs from that upper area, and dripping down on the wire.

And i was gonna do the dipstick today so i could actually drive it. But noooooooo.



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I prefer my wires under the headers. 13 years that way and never burned the first wire yet.