Lt1 Header Installation

i got some headers and a y-pipe for my lt1, all the quotes im getting for installation are between $400 and $600. im sure someone on here has installed their own headers before, could anyone tell me if it is really that difficult or is it worth it to fork it out that much. please help

my friend has alldata at his job that tells you how to do anything to any car, i think i can pull it off but any tips?

well gee thanks for all your lovely responses!

your welcome!!!

are you planning on doing this w/ or w/o taking out the engine?

without

same problem im having but i think its possible to unbolt the current one and put in the new one, havent done it yet till next year...

alldata says that you just have to remove the ac compressor and the serpantine belt and some wires

ive done headers on my 3.4, it wasnt bad at all. ive heard that headers on the eighter maros is pretty difficult, but do-able. i dont know what your mechanical abilities are but if you are good with your hands you should be able to pull it off...

ive done headers on my 3.4, it wasnt bad at all. ive heard that headers on the eighter maros is pretty difficult, but do-able. i dont know what your mechanical abilities are but if you are good with your hands you should be able to pull it off...
im good with my hands in many ways... lol , no im ok but my uncles should be able to help when i do it, i hope changing heads/cams, headers, rockers, and some other stuff wont be too much w/o taking out the engine... i got a question, what kinda pushrods and lifters do i have to use?
thanks

LT1MAN, lets not get snippy now, just cuz you dont get immediate responces dosnt mean your being ignored.

to answer your question, yes you can do it yourself, probly over a weekend, maybe a bit longer depending on your skill level. putting on headers, y-pipe, cat, and catback exhaust on my camaro at work (i had lifts) took me roughly a week of one/two hour sessions after work. but i have a bit more room to work with than you do. the price quote from the shop is fair, i got the same 400 for my headers, and 200 for my cat back. thats why i did it myself. if you have any mechanical ability, and are used to turning wrenches, and feel that you can handle it, you probly can, the biggest pain in the ass will be trying to finagle everything in place. i suggest taking a picture of the engine bay before you start, so that you have a reference point for putting it all back together.

thanks 89, i am pretty sure i can take it on, ive got access to impact wrenches which should help and my buddy is going to help me. the only thing i have to take off of the passenger side is the alternator, acc. belt, the bracket and the dipstick,
should be able to tackle it.
ill post up pictures and progress

well, impact wrenches are good, but youre really only gonna be able to use them on the Y-pipe, there isnt any room for them up near the headers. i did most of my work by hand.

ive done headers on my 3.4, it wasnt bad at all. ive heard that headers on the eighter maros is pretty difficult, but do-able. i dont know what your mechanical abilities are but if you are good with your hands you should be able to pull it off...

What kind? I've heard that the vast majority of headers for the 6ers are crappy, dont fit right, leak, wahtever

they are pace setter headers and ypipe

hope yours work out better than mine did. i got pacesetter's also and they really werent all that they could have been. as 97 said, they didnt fit quite right and the quality of the parts was lower than i was used to seeing.

i would suggest getting them coated with something before you put them in (if you didnt order them coated). i got a couple cans of spray on silicone that is high temp from summitracing.com, that stuff has worked real well. the one thing i would suggest that you painstakenly do is make sure the flange that mates with the head is nice and smooth. when i got mine put on they leaked like hell. took em off a few months later and noticed that there were little pimples of metal that were on the flange (from where they welded the headers together and splatter hit the flange). after i smoothed out the flange and used better gaskets, everything sealed up a lot better...

you think ill be ok if i just sand the flange down a little just to get rid of any imperfections. the headers have a black paint finish on them which will surely come off, could i silicone over that?

The price the shop quoted you was very fair and I would not say your getting ripped off.

Me and my friend did headers and y-pipe on his 94 Z28. It took both of very comfortable with wrneches in hand, two good full days to do with a lot of lil cuts ands scraps on the hands as always. I used the old Mustang technique for headers of unbolting the motor mounts so I could lift each side of the engine up a lil to slide the header in easier. It may not have to be done on a Camaro but I have found this always tend to make header install easier.

hmm, thats a pretty good idea. my friend is willing to help me, i told him it'll probably wear our asses out, but hes still down. and he's the mechanic. id much rather bust my ass and then go out and spend 500 bucks on something else......hmmm, something else.......mmmmmm, well i'll just go one step at a time

On "Horsepower TV" they just installed headers and catback on a 94 Z28 LT1, they had to remove the altenator, and on the other side remove the steering coupler. They did it from the top, however it was a very tight fit.

you think ill be ok if i just sand the flange down a little just to get rid of any imperfections. the headers have a black paint finish on them which will surely come off, could i silicone over that?

yeah, i just used a dremel and a little grinding stone to get rid of the imperfections on my set. and the paint will come off, and it comes off fast. i would recommend coating the headers with something, whether you have high temp paint or if you can find a spray on silicone coating like i found. dont use the wrap though, apparently that is no good for the tubes, it does more harm than good. also, dont spray over whatever the headers come with, clean that stuff off before you do anything, you want good contact with the metal...

they are painted black, how should i get all that paint off?

they are painted black, how should i get all that paint off?
you should've gotten the ceramic coating so it wouldnt really rust unlike the black painted ones...

well you can do it the way i did, install em and let the paint burn off and then three months later have to take em off and do everything again :banghead: or you could get a wire brush, or some sandpaper. you could go out and get a wire brush end for a power drill and use that. you could maybe use some kindof paint thinner or something. either way, its gotta come off...

well you can do it the way i did, install em and let the paint burn off and then three months later have to take em off and do everything again :banghead: or you could get a wire brush, or some sandpaper. you could go out and get a wire brush end for a power drill and use that. you could maybe use some kindof paint thinner or something. either way, its gotta come off...
why does it have to?

cause it's not high temp paint, so when the headers reach operating temp the paint literally burns off (in a cloud of less than healthy smoke) and exposes the bare metal of the headers to the elements. mine had started to surface rust, so when i took em off i had to sand blast the rust off and coat them in something. that way the headers would not rust away and get holes and stuff...

Even high temp header paint burns off. You can't paint headers and expect it to last it just doesn't happen. Some type of ceramic coating like jet-hot etc., is the only thing that will last.

yeah, i guess this is true...

im having them sandblasted today. im going to use high temp paint, i think it'll be alright. ceramic coating is too expensive

make sure that you get the 1500 degree paint, and you do have to bake the headers for the paint to be high temp. just giving you a heads up...

i got the 1200 degree paint, and the guy said that the headers do not need to be baked unless you are ceramic coating them. you dont need to bake paint to make it bond he says, especially after sandblasting

well if you read the paint can it will tell you that the paint will withstand up to something like 400 degrees, but if you want the full 1200 degree protection you have to bake it for like an hour at a certain temperature...

when it comes ceramic coated, you dont have to do anything besides install em or do u?

when it comes ceramic coated, you dont have to do anything besides install em or do u?

Nopo just install them and enjoy.

whats so good about the nickle plated ones?

are the edlebrock tes headers pre-coated?

i think you can get em pre-coated.

as for the nickel coated ones, i think that just gets the chrome effect without the blue-ing effect that happens at high temp, so in other words: looks...

well finally, i got the headers installed this weekend. it took every bit of skin off my hands and pulled every muscle in my body but they are on there. had to take off the alternator, steering shaft and dipstick to get started. i had the drivers side header off in like 45 minutes and it took me about 3 hours to get the passenger side off. there was just no room to turn a wrench. i had to bring the new passenger side header in from the bottom after taking out the back 2 spark plugs to realize that i didn't have enough room to get the spark plug wrench back in there to tighten them back in, so i vice gripped a socket and that worked. so, i am very proud of myself considering i havent dont much work to my car other than maintenance myself, changing oil, alternator, basic stuff. and i was using basic wrenches and rachets, no air, and a sawzaw. it would have been worth it to fork out 400-500 bucks for this installation but hell im glad i saved that money.

Good job, definetly a tough choice for your first big job. I told you that price the shop gave you was fair! LoL

But just think about the $500 you saved that can now be used to buy another mod that you can bust your knuckles installing!

By the way don't forget you'll probably need to tighten the header bolts again in a few days.

yeah dont forget to re-torque em. how did the pacesetter's fit in? everything was smooth and easy or did you have to work em a little?

well it was tough to fit the passenger side in, i wouldn't go in from the top so i took the valve cover off to give a little more room and it still wouldn't go in, so i resorted to takin out the back to spark plugs and goin in from the bottom. but after they were all in and everything was back in place they cleared everything remarkably well, i was a little worried about the steering shaft clearing on the drivers side at first but hell it even cleared that good. and they gave me a good 25 - 30 hp at the ground, im not sure how much torque, but i smoked my brothers ls1 and hes got flowmaster and real ram air along with a few other mods; whisper lid, tb bypass, descreened maf, k&n, etc. before he would just dust me off the line and then up at about 60 mph the ram air would kick in and he'd be gone but now i pulled all over him at all speeds. WOOOOOOOOOWEEEE!!!!, thats all i could say afterwards, HEEEEELLLLLL YEAH!!
good product though, im pleased

thats awsome, glad to hear that everything worked out for you...

wanna do mine now for $20?

ill do yours for 20 bucks and gas money to get to you...

well done, i gotta say, im very impressed you got it done in a single weekend, i woulda thought it woulda taken longer. i suddenly feel like a slacker ;)

Good job on the headers.. Pacesetter's are pretty good headers (often under rated) but you should feel like a slacker 89 I did my Hooker's in like 1 hour ofcourse I had the engine out of the engine bay and on a hoist but still.

lmao

Good job on the headers.. Pacesetter's are pretty good headers (often under rated) but you should feel like a slacker 89 I did my Hooker's in like 1 hour ofcourse I had the engine out of the engine bay and on a hoist but still.

oh well thats freakin cheating...

Yeah well a little cheating never hurt anyone (except Hillory Clinton) but beside her its all good.

burn...