Installing Headers

[Fez1085]

Has anyone installed headers by themselves? I am thinking i should do it by myself to save money. I heard the only hard part is taking the heat sheild off. Any input would help a lot, thanks

[miamieclipse]

What Headers did u go with? And yea if anyone has any helpful directions i could use them too, thanks

[Eclipse96Ryder]

hey guys i just recently did this install myself about a week ago on my non turbo eclipse. Let me tell you....do not pay anybody to do this for you. Its really easy...not hard at all. The heat shield is kind of a bastard to get off, but its not worth paying someone over 150 bux for it. When i got my heat shield off it was in 2 pieces...lol. Just take your time and dont worry about it. Just take the easy bolts off first, and then it will start giving a little and you can figure out what bolts need to be taken off from their. So thats the heat shield, its not too hard

as for the exhaust manifold...

Its really easy, but there are a few hidden bolts in their that you will probabaly not see. This got me frusterated ### once i thought i had all the bolts off, the exhaust manifold wasnt even budging. Soon after i saw 2 bolts i missed. Once i got those off, it just slid right off.

Installing the header...

This part is just common sense. Put the header on, and put the bolts back on.

IMPORTANT: make sure you get the gasket nicely placed and make sure all the bolts are nice and tight because an exhaust leak is very annoying. If you end up installing these and here a little bit of a ticking noise, its most likely an exhaust leak....if this happens move your hand across the top and bottom of the header (where it attaches to the block) and see if you feel any puffs of air coming out. If so, then just try to tighten up that bolt in that area. If this doesnt work then you put your gasket isnt sealing. If this happens, you have to go buy this thing that seals gaskets. Its like a glue type of thing, you just rub it nicely on the gasket around the port holes and then put it back on and it should seal up pretty nicely.

Hope I helped. If either of you need any help just lemme know and maybe you can call me or something if your having trouble.

-Tim

[Fez1085]

Hey thanks for the help, I was thinking about going with SSautochrome headers. At their website, they are about 225 bucks, but on ebay i found brand new ones for about 100.. 23 S&H. I heard they from some guys in this Forum that they work really well, the only bad thing is that they change color. Me and my friends are thinking about doing them ourselves, but i'm only really concerned about the connection between the downpipe, and the cat. I'm pretty sure its going to be all rusted and stuff. Also the O2 sensor has me a little worried too. Did you have any trouble dealing with those two things?

[miamieclipse]

Eclipse96Ryder: Thanks for that info. i think it is going to help alot, and yes i am too goin w/ ssautochrome & i also had the question on the Downpipe. Bro how r u gonna help me if u live in Arizon n i live in FL? lol, thanks for all the help, and if anyone knows about the Downpipe please let me know.

PS I thought we don't need to use our o2 Sensor as we are n/a, I AM probably wrong about this so dont take my word

[Eclipse96Ryder]

the dowpipe and cat isnt a problem..the header kit from ssautochrome comes with new gaskets and it seals up nicely. theres absolutely no problem their. The 02 sensor is really easy too if you buy the ssautochrome ones, theres a plug in directly on the header that you just screw the 02 sensor connection into...thats probabaly the easiest part of the whole installation.

[Defiant]

Very similar:

http://fbox.vt.edu/j/jconvry/psetter_vfaq/