Ok, I am starting the project on Wed- Nov. 27th. However, this is my daily driver and I would like to accomplish the task fairly quickly, without too many problems. I know that this has come up a ton of times. But, could anyone give me a link to an article or post........for detailed instructions on installing headers & y-pipe. Thanks in advance!

By the way: Going on is Flowtech Ceramic Coated headers & Y-Pipe. Mr. Gasket Copper header and collector gaskets. SS bolts, nuts, and loc-nuts, and prolly gonna use some loctite.

P.S. I have AC, but no AIR or smog pump.

 

What kind of instructions came with the headers?

 

No instructions.

I just know from browsing the boards before......that many people know some shortcuts and hints to make it easier. Like different suggestions for each side.

 

I pulled the car up on ramps first to take off the y pipe, , after you've removed all smog, I had no AC on.

 

You will have to remove the ac compressor and cut the bracket to fit over the header tube, but you don't have to bleed the ac system or anything. Just unbolt the compressor and set it somewhere out if the way, like on top of the air filter lid. I had to jack up my engine about a foot or so to get enough clearence on the sides to get them in. If you have to do that, don't forget to remove the distributir cap, or you may crush it on the firewall.

 

scratch what demon said, i JUST got done doing my header intallation on my 92 rs maybe 4 days ago, so all this is fresh in my memory.... ok first of all you DONT have to take the a/c off at all, OR disconnect the steering shaft. --i know 100 people told me to do it but to hell with that, i didnt see a reason and i did it without doing it-- anyways, ...you will have to remove the valve covers. start off by putting your car on ramps, use the parking brake, and put somthing onder the rear tires so you wont get crushed by your car sliding odd of some freak accident of the sort. anyways. the day before starting the project, spray the HELL out of EVERY bolt you are going to touch with a whole damn can of liquid wrench or wd-40, any one you prefer, and let it soak, makes for ALOT easier job. you will need Vise grips, alot of various sockets, open ended wrenches, and patience. now would be a good time to buy new plugs, and high temp wires and change your oil if you need to lol, i mean youll be under there as it is, and all the plugs and wires come out/off so itll be a snap
after the day passes and the next comes, and you are ready to start, undo the negative battery cabke then proceed to taking the Y pipe off, ....take the bolts off the catalytic converter, then loosen the U clamp in the front of the cat, then loosen the U joint to the lil pipe on the side of the cat, then the two bolts holdin the cat to the bottom of the car. itll be on a lil flexible leather looking harness. then move on to the 2bolts on the pass side, then do the 2 on the drivers side. At which this point SUPPORT the pipes or they will smack you in the face <as mine did to me> after all this is complete you should work on the drivers side manifold, it isnt too bad to get off at all. take off all your wires and label them <i didnt and had to figure out how to wire them back up after i found out by various back fires and stupidity, cussing, and being pissed> start by removing the altenator bracket, then get the bolt under that, then work your way back until they are all off, manifold will fall off, and youll be happy. take the valve cover off <the 4 bolts along the top, and in the center>take the plugs out.heres the 1st trcky part, getting the hew header in without disconnecting the steering shaft. i found the easiest way to do this was to drop the front of the header in first, ...below the 2 metal tubes behind the altenator and kinda swing the back/bttom of the header down and under the engine. just have patiance , itll work and go in, and youll be happy in the long run that you didnt disconnect the steering shaft. after this is done, start putting the bolts into the header. this isnt a real easy task seeing as how you have 4 tubes to work around, ...my best suggestion is , use a few socket extensions and a flexible extension <not sure what its called but its a one inch extension that swivles kinda>.put the vavle covers back on.passenger side
start y removing the smog tubes and all that crap.remove the plug wires. remove the a/c bracket and start unbolting the filter/recircultor or whatever. take the two bolts out of the top, and itll come off <has two hoses running to it, and is connected to a metal S shaped black tube going right under the a/c condenser. after you remove that smog recirculator or whatever, remove the black tube it was connected to <the metal one> itll be 2 small bolts. after that, start taking the manifold bolts off. the two back bolts are going to be a bitch. i used vise grips and inched it out. after you get the manifold off, take the oil dip stick out, ..itll take some aggression but itll come out. just dont bend it TOO badly, and definatly dont bend it in half. now take the valve cover off, and start trying to get the header to fit in, ..itll take a lil while but itll go in, ....just be patiant once again. best way to avoid that back bolt problem when getting the new header on is to install the back bolt first <assuming your headers have a C shaped bolt hole insteak of an actual hole, if not, itll take 15 minutes longer to get the bolt in, no biggie>get that sucker installed, and put the dip stick back in <this was my BIGGEST damn problem. i had to use a file and round the end of it out like a pencil> after al that is said and done, out the valve covers back on , smog crap, AIR tubes on both sides and whatever else i left out ....youll prolly need to get a lil lnger new tube for the pass side as did i. but thats no biggie. now
you move onto the y pipe, and all of that is pretty much self explainitory, the new crapgoes on like the old came off. i tried to assemble the whole y pipe set up before i put it under the car, didnt work, so just do it piece by piece, drivers side, then to the pass side, then connect the cat conv. then the lil tube, the bolt it to the tube leading to the muffler. NOTE if you dont have emissions controls in your state, Gutting your cat is a good FREE and easy power adding modification you can do, just grab a crow bar, and a hammer and knock all the crap on the inside out....
anyways i hope these instructions help. and if you get hung up on anything just let me know. i MIgHT have lef out some not so cruicial need to know stuff due to me being up for 3 days completing that project, and may not remember EVERY step i took, ...so in any case, if i left naything out that you cant figure out on your own, email me at Aspiredtwo@hotmail.com

 

Thanks for your help SlowMaro........your instructions are definitely gonna help!

 

not a problem , just take the whole project slowly