About 4 weeks ago i bought shorty headers new from a guy on the collective. I got em really cheap, $115 shipped.
anyways i woke up that saturday and started putting them on @ noon.
literally 10 hours, 4 bloody knuckles, several bruises and 3 deep cuts later i shut the damn hood and parked her in my other garage disgusted...
(i did take a lunch break so it was only 9 hours of work, 3 times more than the estimated time and im still not done...) and when i started the damn car, the driver side header was leaking where it connect to the cats... Minty stopped over around 4 to help out a little. When i say help out i mean he layed under the car and did what i told him.
We only got one header on. I would have have the other one on but the largest bolt that goes in the flange (the one that holds the coil pack on) just wouldn't budge. I sprayed it several times with wd-40 and even simple green. the freakin thing wouldn't come off. Oh and by the way, DONT EVER use the bolts that the headers come with, i twisted 2 heads off the bolts so now i have a damn bolt in my engine block and no way to get it out.
A few days later i was over at Brandons while him and Darrin were working on the rx7 engine swap. I borrowed a jack handle, slid it over a wrench and busted that freakin bolt loose! Finally.
Anyways i skipped my Tuesday night class a few days later to finish the header install. Minty came over and i bossed him around some more. The headers are finally on and they were definitely worth the little money i shelled out for them. Thanks to travis and rob for letting me borrow all their damn tools since my dad doesn't believe in tools.
here's a little review i wrote over at the collective:
The Headers
I started seeing a bunch of cheap "chinese" headers on ebay for the 4.0 about a month ago for fairly cheap. I started looking around for some and found out that ACRBILL was selling his on the collective. I got them for the cheap price of $115 shipped. Thanks Bill! The Headers are very light compared to the stock manifolds that i yanked off. The welds are really good around the flanges and the interior welds to keep the 3 individual pipes together seemed pretty good but not great. I was kind of concerned that i would get a leak or two and this kind of scared me... I opted not to get them ceramic coated because i don't have the funds for it and i have heat extractors on my hood. Ceramic coating would probably be a good idea for anyone who has the money though.
The Install. . .
-The install took A LOT longer than predicted. Total time invested was around 10 hours in this, mainly because i was being careful with everything. I only had one bolt give me a hard time and that was the 15mm bolt that holds the coil pack mount to the engine block. I used my friend's Engine dolly arm and slid it over the end of the socket wrench and gave it hell. The header flanges themselves weren't really cut perfect... Basically what i mean is the holes that are predrilled in the flanges don't line up perfect with the head studs on the block. I just used a hammer and pounded the flanges until they slid onto the studs right, this made for the headers being nice and snug against the block. Hammering them in cold weather probably wasn't the best idea because the welds might break but it all worked out fine in the end.
One side note is to get under the car and unbolt your crossover pipe from the cats so you can line the cats up right with the headers so there isn't any leaks. The xpipe was sealed to the cats pretty well but thats where the BFH (as mrjimmy would call it) came out. I just hit the edges a few times and it loosened up the rust and what not for the cats to slide around just enough to line them up with the headers right.
Post Install
I surprisingly didn't have any leaks at all after installing! i was pretty relieved. The Stainless Steel has started changing colors already, first a goldish color now its turning blue but it really doesn't bother me, anything looks better than those rusty and hefty stock manifolds.
The Difference
Sound
The car definitely has a different tone when it idles. I didn't really notice at first but after a few days i started to hear the difference. The idle is a little bit deeper and just seems like the car has a tad bit bigger balls. Now don't get me wrong here, the change isn't big at all. I was hoping that the tone would change drastically but that isn't what happened. Unless you're obsessed with your car, like i am, you shouldn't notice a big or even mild difference. It just gives the exhaust that little extra. It doesn't change much during revs either. Its does make it a bit more raspier according to MY ears though.
Drive
The first little spin i took through town didn't really show me anything. After driving it for a couple weeks or so i definitely do notice a difference now. Again, its not a big change or even mild. It just seems to add a little more GO to the car. The change is biggest at WOT obviously, the engine seems like it wants more now.
Overall
I am VERY happy with these headers, for $115 shipped it was a phenomenal deal! (thanks again bill). I had 0 leaks and very little trouble with these, i even used the supplied gaskets with them. JUST DONT USE THE CHEAP A$$ CHINESE BOLTS, i twisted off the heads on 2 bolts, one of which is STILL in my engine block. I'll get it out eventually...
While i was under the hood, i got the urge to paint the valve covers. Hmmm... that would be my next project.
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