Ok fellas I need your experience on this one, anything tricky about removing the stock exhaust manifold and installing an aftermarket header, is it basically a simple bolt-on job? Hopefully I can save some money by installing it myself.

Its basically a bolt on job. Make sure you buy a new gaskets before you being your install. If you have a high mileage engine be careful not to break off the bolt, it happened to my friend and it was NOT pretty ;)

I recommend putting some liquid wrench on it to remove the rust a few days before you plan to take it off, otherwise you may brake some bolts.

Its not too bad at all Abe... liquid wrench is a necessity! The biggest problem I had was the manifold to downpipe nuts. I had to break out the 4 foot lead pipe to break those loose.

I had to drive to a shop like this and have them break the DP to CAT bolts loose. Took the guy about 10 minutes with a torch so they weren't coming off no matter what I did.








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You might want to go to the hardware store and find the same size bolts as your header bolts but in stainless steel. Then when you put them on put some anti-seeze on them too.

Be prepared to struggle with and maybe ave to cut off/drill out the downpipe to cat bolts, or to take it somewhere to have it cut off.

Soak them with PB Blaster and hope it cuts through. Two guys will help this out, one to hold the exhaust still and the other to push on the wrench.



15.9 @ 86.7mph

Injen CAI, 55mm TB, P&P Intake, Crower Cams, Hooker Header, ERT/Catco Cat, GS-T Muffler, AFX UDP, Crane Ign Amp, S-AFC

Thanks for the feedback guys, this will be my weekend project.

Can I use a wrench to take the sensor off, or will I need some special tool for it?

Yeah took me about 3 hours and a torch to get those bolts off. I *think the o2 sensor is just a hex head, but im not sure.

#20 or 22 around there for the O2, just becareful and make sure you give the o2 wires some slack b4 removing it, can do so by following the wires and u will see a twisty tie. HElps take torq off the wires.

>Be prepared to struggle with and maybe ave to cut off/drill out the >downpipe to cat bolts, or to take it somewhere to have it cut off.

Yes, you might have to do this. Those bolts in paticular seem to cause problems for some reason.

Also be VERY careful with the O2 sensor when removing it, you don't want to strip the threads on the O2 sensor (which can happen, I did it :( ) then you will need another sensor and that's extra $$$ you don't want to spend if you don't have to.

I did the same thing, I got a file and made some new threads, then the damn thing threw a CEL. I would spend the few bucks and get a o2 sensor socket. I am going to this time around.

Well it looks like the good lord has blessed me in my endeavor. The bolts came out without a problem, although I had to spray them with a lot of liquid wrench. But with good news, there's also bad news, I am now getting a lot of "clunking" from the rear of the car when taking off in first and it sounds like something is hitting the pipes of the muffler in that general area, I figure the whole new header section may have shifted the exhaust system back or forward.

yea what ^they said the hardest part is the bolts from the down pipe to the cat took me two days to get that thing off, actually broke one of them, but i replaced them with stainless steal, just have everything there before you start especially if thats your only car

all i know is that was not an experience i wanna have again.. my few hour "bolt on" lasted through the night.. along with a few trips to the local autozone..

>I am now getting a lot of "clunking" from the rear of the car when >taking off in first and it sounds like something is hitting the >pipes of the muffler in that general area, I figure the whole new >header section may have shifted the exhaust system back or forward.

My header pulled the whole exhaust towards the front of the car. As the exhaust goes over the rear axle there is a large bolt that my exhaust was hitting on. I found that when the exhaust was cold it would hit on this bolt, but as it warmed up it quit doing it.

Come to think of it... if you have that Evo back on there it was the same exhaust! LOL. I will see next week if the stock exhaust pipes are any better. What I was going to do what get some of that exhaust wrap and wrap it around the section of pipe that was hitting the bolt. At least it would deaden the noise and prevent a hole from wearing in the pipe.

>Come to think of it... if you have that Evo back on there it
>was the same exhaust! LOL. I will see next week if the stock
>exhaust pipes are any better. What I was going to do what get
>some of that exhaust wrap and wrap it around the section of
>pipe that was hitting the bolt. At least it would deaden the
>noise and prevent a hole from wearing in the pipe.
>

LoL Jason, the Evo has been passed around like an ex girlfriend. Too bad my landlord has informed me that I need the take the thing off because of some complaining neighbors, so I'll be slappin on my GST for now. Man I am really surprised how much low end torqe was lost with the header, got feels like I took a step backward, but I did notice a slight pick-up once I made the engine scream on the highway, I don't know mabe you gotta give something to gain something. Well Im gonna go to a muffler shop to see if I can have this clunking fixed one way or another.

Interesting... is your header the 4-2-1 or a 4-1? When I had the 4-1 header on I noticed a gain on the low end and mid range, but didn't notice much on the top end. I guess thats what the 4-1 is suppose to do.

Hey though, if you decide to get rid of the Evo again let me know :P

I believe its a 4-2-1 header, damm! x( no wonder.

i think its the other way around...not +though,

4-2-1 is for low end and 4 into 1 is for top end, i have the HP 4 into 1 and i love it! pulls fuckin hard as shit all the way to 7k!:thumbsup

>4-2-1 is for low end and 4 into 1 is for top end, i have the
>HP 4 into 1 and i love it! pulls fuckin hard as shit all the
>way to 7k!:thumbsup

Ok, I remember a post about this a while ago. It was pretty much agreed that the 4-1 header will provide the best peak HP numbers, but the power was best around 3000-3500 rpms. I consider that low end, I dunno about the rest of you. Personally I think its hard to say what the gains are since they are so minimal in the first place.

Well whatever, I would like to see some actualy numbers some day. I am going back to a header on Wednesday, so I will try to pay closer attention to what I feel. All I remember with the 4-1 is that I felt no low end loss, and it actually felt like my car accelerated quicker in low/mid ranges.

>Well whatever, I would like to see some actualy numbers some
>day. I am going back to a header on Wednesday, so I will try
>to pay closer attention to what I feel. All I remember with
>the 4-1 is that I felt no low end loss, and it actually felt
>like my car accelerated quicker in low/mid ranges.

http://www.importtuner.com/tech/0202it_ppeclipse/

Theres a link to the dyno numbers of a Greddy 4-1 header, aem CAI, and Apexi exhaust.

"Examining the graph showed us of a shift in the powerband at exactly the midrange--from 3500rpm to 4500rpm. The rest of the powerband shifted up slightly over the efficient intake and exhaust numbers. At the same horsepower sweet spot there was a considerable increase in usable torque, with another gain at the higher rpm range."

Thats what was said about the 4-1 Header. On the website it doesnt show you a dyno graph of what the header did, but i have the issue with that article and there was a increase through out the entire powerband, even if it was minimal. The biggest increase was between 3500 and 4500. Hope this helps.