Installation of XS-Power headers and side pipes
11-13-2012, 12:57 PM
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Installation of XS-Power headers and side pipes
Hi all,
Just got the headers and side-pipes installed last night on my 73 big block, and here's a few pics and comments.
First, a buddy helped get these installed and hopefully he'll weigh in at some point because he's the experienced mechanical one.
I didn't take enough pics so if anyone wants to see pics - let me know and I'll take more.
Installing the headers:
I have Edelbrock aluminum heads, performer TBI. I just got the car about 2 months ago, so it's very new to me. The heads are bolted on with ARP bolts - apparently good bolds, but the heads on the bolts are fairly high. They interfered with the installation of the header flange, so we ground down all of the bolts:
Of course, they got pretty hot, so we had to cool them:
Turns out just grinding the bolts may not have been enough, so we also ground down edges on the header flanges. For ease, we just ground down all the bottoms of the flange near the head bolts:
I don't have any pics of the pounding of the headers - did a good bit of pounding to get the headers to line up and not hit parts of the motor or body. Not certain all the pounding was necessary but not convinced it will hurt much since they're really solid stainless pipes.
Here's a quick video of the headers installed without the pipes (with stock inserts). A note - at the end, my giddy response is not safe for work:
http://www.heistad.com/photos/corvet...0installed.mov
And here's a video of starting the car with the pipes installed:
http://www.heistad.com/photos/corvet...0installed.mov
A couple notes about the install: The pipes have 2 straps welded on, one at the rear and one about mid-way down the pipe. I chose to use only the most rear strap. I'll either grind down or bend back the middle strap - the choice to use only one strap: My buddy's 69 with XS-power pipes works fine with only the one strap. Also, the frame has a fairly easy-to-access hole to stick a bolt in for the rear strap but the middle strap bolt would be more difficult to install (and it was getting late last night).
Also, the right pipe bolts one quite easily and aligned well below the door when it opened, and also aligned straight from front to back. The left pipe and headers didn't line up quite as nicely - the collector seems to stick out a bit from the car so with the pipe installed it seems to be at an angle. I'll try to get a few pics of the final product to show this. Not convinced it can't be fixed, but the left pipe also installed fairly high and we had to beat down the strap to get the door to open (unlike the right pipe). This alignment and height also made it impossible to install the chrome body/frame accent below the door without modification. No problem on the right side, so again - it's only the left side that's out of whack.
One note - the welds on these suckers are really nice. And the flanges are very thick stainless - nice quality equipment.
So that's it for now.
Just got the headers and side-pipes installed last night on my 73 big block, and here's a few pics and comments.
First, a buddy helped get these installed and hopefully he'll weigh in at some point because he's the experienced mechanical one.
I didn't take enough pics so if anyone wants to see pics - let me know and I'll take more.
Installing the headers:
I have Edelbrock aluminum heads, performer TBI. I just got the car about 2 months ago, so it's very new to me. The heads are bolted on with ARP bolts - apparently good bolds, but the heads on the bolts are fairly high. They interfered with the installation of the header flange, so we ground down all of the bolts:
Of course, they got pretty hot, so we had to cool them:
Turns out just grinding the bolts may not have been enough, so we also ground down edges on the header flanges. For ease, we just ground down all the bottoms of the flange near the head bolts:
I don't have any pics of the pounding of the headers - did a good bit of pounding to get the headers to line up and not hit parts of the motor or body. Not certain all the pounding was necessary but not convinced it will hurt much since they're really solid stainless pipes.
Here's a quick video of the headers installed without the pipes (with stock inserts). A note - at the end, my giddy response is not safe for work:
http://www.heistad.com/photos/corvet...0installed.mov
And here's a video of starting the car with the pipes installed:
http://www.heistad.com/photos/corvet...0installed.mov
A couple notes about the install: The pipes have 2 straps welded on, one at the rear and one about mid-way down the pipe. I chose to use only the most rear strap. I'll either grind down or bend back the middle strap - the choice to use only one strap: My buddy's 69 with XS-power pipes works fine with only the one strap. Also, the frame has a fairly easy-to-access hole to stick a bolt in for the rear strap but the middle strap bolt would be more difficult to install (and it was getting late last night).
Also, the right pipe bolts one quite easily and aligned well below the door when it opened, and also aligned straight from front to back. The left pipe and headers didn't line up quite as nicely - the collector seems to stick out a bit from the car so with the pipe installed it seems to be at an angle. I'll try to get a few pics of the final product to show this. Not convinced it can't be fixed, but the left pipe also installed fairly high and we had to beat down the strap to get the door to open (unlike the right pipe). This alignment and height also made it impossible to install the chrome body/frame accent below the door without modification. No problem on the right side, so again - it's only the left side that's out of whack.
One note - the welds on these suckers are really nice. And the flanges are very thick stainless - nice quality equipment.
So that's it for now.
11-13-2012, 08:32 PM
#3
Race Director
Hi all,
Just got the headers and side-pipes installed last night on my 73 big block, and here's a few pics and comments.
Installing the headers:
The heads are bolted on with ARP bolts - apparently good bolds, but the heads on the bolts are fairly high. They interfered with the installation of the header flange, so we ground down all of the bolts:
Turns out just grinding the bolts may not have been enough, so we also ground down edges on the header flanges.
I don't have any pics of the pounding of the headers - did a good bit of pounding to get the headers to line up and not hit parts of the motor or body. Not certain all the pounding was necessary but not convinced it will hurt much since they're really solid stainless pipes.
Here's a quick video of the headers installed without the pipes
And here's a video of starting the car with the pipes installed:
One note - the welds on these suckers are really nice. And the flanges are very thick stainless - nice quality equipment.
Just got the headers and side-pipes installed last night on my 73 big block, and here's a few pics and comments.
Installing the headers:
The heads are bolted on with ARP bolts - apparently good bolds, but the heads on the bolts are fairly high. They interfered with the installation of the header flange, so we ground down all of the bolts:
Turns out just grinding the bolts may not have been enough, so we also ground down edges on the header flanges.
I don't have any pics of the pounding of the headers - did a good bit of pounding to get the headers to line up and not hit parts of the motor or body. Not certain all the pounding was necessary but not convinced it will hurt much since they're really solid stainless pipes.
Here's a quick video of the headers installed without the pipes
And here's a video of starting the car with the pipes installed:
One note - the welds on these suckers are really nice. And the flanges are very thick stainless - nice quality equipment.
Maybe it's me but when you have to use words like "grinding" and "pounding" during a header install I have to question the ease of instalation. Based on your picture that 1st tube on the L/S header had to be massaged quite a bit to get it installed. I'll be the 1st to agree that all of these Corvettes are a little different. They are 40+ years old, lots of wear and tear, accidents, fatigue what ever but is it expecting too much from these header manufacturers to build a product that installs with minimal effort and minor modification? Apparently it is. Based on your last comment "nice quality equipment" I would conclude you are satisfied. Maybe my expectations are too high?
Please don't take my comments as being critical or harsh towards you. I'm sincere when I say you are doing many of us a service when you review a product especially a popular one. I thank you again. Good luck with your Corvette and enjoy the ride.
By the way maybe it's my PC but those links are not working.
11-13-2012, 11:57 PM
#4
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Hah - yeah, I agree. Thoughts were running through my head yesterday and the day before about why isn't this MUCH easier?
But, like I said the head bolts (ARP) have pretty high heads on those bolts so that was definitely a problem not caused by the headers. Ultimately, I think we probably could have gotten away with just grinding down the head bolts and not having to grind the headers. But it's a real pain to get in and out from under the car to slip them up into the block and I think my buddy just decided to be safe since he had a grinder. Sure wish I had another vette or two and could just get a few more pipes to try out different angles.
And some of the mis-alignment I'm thinking is because we actually made too many pounds in the pipes and they might have caused the pipes on the left side of the car to bow out farther than they're supposed to. I wish we had all sorts of little bore cameras or something that could fit into tiny places and we could see what was actually hitting and what wasn't. That, or it woulda been great to fit these things on while doing a frame-off.
But you nailed it - I am very satisfied with these things! Great sound. I love the thickness and quality of the Stainless. And they've really held up on my buddy's 69 for 2+ years! Great stuff.
But, like I said the head bolts (ARP) have pretty high heads on those bolts so that was definitely a problem not caused by the headers. Ultimately, I think we probably could have gotten away with just grinding down the head bolts and not having to grind the headers. But it's a real pain to get in and out from under the car to slip them up into the block and I think my buddy just decided to be safe since he had a grinder. Sure wish I had another vette or two and could just get a few more pipes to try out different angles.
And some of the mis-alignment I'm thinking is because we actually made too many pounds in the pipes and they might have caused the pipes on the left side of the car to bow out farther than they're supposed to. I wish we had all sorts of little bore cameras or something that could fit into tiny places and we could see what was actually hitting and what wasn't. That, or it woulda been great to fit these things on while doing a frame-off.
But you nailed it - I am very satisfied with these things! Great sound. I love the thickness and quality of the Stainless. And they've really held up on my buddy's 69 for 2+ years! Great stuff.
11-14-2012, 06:40 AM
#5
Drifting
Like others have said, corvettes can be different especially being 30-40 years old. I guess I have been lucky on mine. The first set of used painted hooker headers I installed in my 76 big block had already been massaged here and there and they fit pretty quick. that was about 6 months ago. Well I ran into a set of chrome ones and installed them this past weekend. They were not massaged anywhere and I decided to install without massaging them and it took a little longer and a little more wiggling but they went in without any problems.
Last edited by scrappy76; 11-14-2012 at 06:46 AM. Reason: add