My thoughts exactly!

As I mentioned in a previous post, the previous owner of this car had the cats removed for some reason, leaving me in a situation where I would need to put another cat on the car to pass emissions this spring. Over the last week or so I've been puttering around removing the OE exhaust manifolds & Y-pipe to make way for some new parts that came in yesterday! Drivers side manifold came off without issue......passenger side is being a little more stubborn, but almost there.

I'm really hoping they fit as good as they look!

WP_20150203_001 by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr

Once these are in place I can decide where I'm going to put the new cat/cats.

Then I am ready to bring on spring!!!

.....and then start dealing with the gremlins that crop up!

^ sweet pipes. Id steer clear of comp springs personally. Use PAC, great outfit who INFORM customers when they have a bad batch of springs that might break unlike others who simply deny deny deny even when they know they have faulty product out there.

Call PAC and inquire as to what they suggest for a spring. Pending seal type and seat dia you may be limited on selection that will work properly.

Here is some info from Lloyd Elliott on the Comp 918 springs he used on my old LE2.2 setup. In reality I received PAC springs (1218's I believe) that are equivalent, but better quality. It was Comp that released tons of bad springs and didn't admit it back a few years ago.

"they need to be installed at 1.750-1.760 to get the right seat and open pressure. Installed at 1.800 (even though Comp has that suggested in their catalog) will result in about 10 lbs lower seat pressure and the springs will not last as long. They NEED to be set up at 1.750-1.760 to last."

^ Interesting and it does make sense somewhat but sounds like a workaround for a spring that was improperly designed and built. It all changed for me when I met the guys at PAC personally and we discussed the process, the checks in place, and how things go wrong. I spoke face to face with the engineers who make these springs and in the end it really comes down to one simple issue.

Clean.

Seriously. With these new compounding variable rate springs ( tech talk for beehive ) the material purity NEEDS to be as close to perfect as possible. When its not? Those little contaminants act like fulcrums within the material when its pressured to bend so instead of beninding it fulcrums over contaminant and snaps. Thats it.

Seen many broken beehives now, checked them thoroughly and cant find any other reason to go on than that one. PAC is small group of talented people who run a tight ship. Comp is just another brand owned by parent 123 who has a bunch of 15 dollar per hour staffers and not a single "owner" in sight of the entire operation so you think the QC is going to be equal to the guys making the valve springs for Top Fuel teams?

Heres the best part. PAC are lower cost than Comp and why most of you havent heard of them is marketing is BIG bucks and they dont have to advertise, those of us who know? Know.



Moreso.... PAC is "one" of the vendors who "used" to make springs for comp. They "used" to make the 918.... so.... theres some info you dont get every day. Enjoy over paying for less if you run the comp 918

Those are some nice headers! I like they are still some companys out there making new stainless headers for the tpi and lt1 cars.

Sweet set up. Should sound good once it's all hooked up? What cat are you going to use?

I'm undecided on the cat right at the moment. I want to get the headers/y-pipe installed so that I can get a feel for what location is going to work best (clearances etc). Don't want to rush out & buy a cat (or possibly dual cats) only to find that where I wanted to locate them isn't going to fit.

So my spare head got pressed into service tonight.

WP_20150224_002 by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr

Turns out 2 of the bolt holes on my new headers do not line up with the head. Unfortunately I didn't discover this till after I had it in the car.

Far simpler to open the holes up to line up this way rather than in & out of the car!

Will definitely be checking the passenger side header before it goes anywhere near the car.

Hey auto

I've been looking at these headers and like the idea of them. Very interested to see the clearance once they are installed. Also I notice you're in a 91 or 92 car. How does it work with emissions and no air tubes? I ask only because I have an 88 and obviously still have to emission just like you would.

The air system is only used on cold starts to help heat the cats faster. It will have no effect on the test readings. Road side inspection would result in a fine for missing emission equipment.

^^Flame pretty much covered the emissions ramifications. From what I've heard up here where I live the MTO guys are pretty reasonable as long as you've had the sense to ensure you have catalytic converters on the car.

Ground clearance looked to be very good when I had the driver's side header in (prior to discovering the bolt holes don't line up). I'll post pics after I put it back in tomorrow.

The only issues with them that I've come across so far is the bolt hole issue (now rectified with my porting burr), & they also contact the lower control arm mount. I'll be rectifying that tomorrow. Shouldn't involve anything more than a little time with my angle grinder to make some clearance.....I'll post pics of that too for you. Installation is pretty straightforward on the drivers side header. Once you unbolt the motor mount & rotate the engine up a bit to make some room it pretty well slides right in. The passenger side......not looking forward to that! Lol!

Speaking of my porting burr.....after I finished with the bolt holes in the header, I didn't have the ambition to go put it back in the car once again.....but my spare heads were sitting there so I thought "What the hell....let's see what these things are going to clean up like". I still need to square up the port & hit it with my flap wheel to polish it out nicely, but looks like these should work nicely with some time put into them.

WP_20150222_001 by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr

Certainly a big improvement over what they look like in stock, untouched condition.

WP_20150218_008 by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr

Thanks fellas that's what I had thought.

Here is a pic of the drivers side header installed.

WP_20150223_003 by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr

As you can see they actually sit higher up than the transmission pan.

Passenger side manifold is out finally! Progress is coming along nicely!

That looks great. I'm very tempted however really want to leave bye air tubes which is holding back my buying decision. What did they end up costing deliver to the door?