I need to look again now. The set for the 98-99s don't have provisions for EGR or AIR, which are the ones I bought. I don't remember them kicking out like that on the driver's side, but I wasn't paying attention to it too closely either.

Either way, it looks like a pretty good option for you.

 

Mine are the 98-2000 I might want to try the 01-02 ones. I can always send these back.

Problem is most of the other headers come with the AIR tubes already attached.

 

The kick out does not bother me to much as Ican always cut a pie shape out of the tube and weld it back together so it points closer to the holes in the crossmember.

My main concern was ground clearance and fit around the Steeroids.

 

Looking good Gordon. Those new headers look like they fit the bill nicely

 

I bought a set of 01-02 F body LS headers. The driver side kicks out the same if not a little more. The passenger side tube is a little longer. The ydo sit a little lower than the other ones and the AIR tubes I was just going to cut off. These will be going back. The other ones fit better and tighter to the floor. I will just have to cut and weld where needed. Oh well it was worth a try. Only cost me shipping.

 

Sounds like you have done the leg work in finding the best solution to the header problem, Sorry you had to be the one to solve the problem in finding the best setup.

I will be trying a set of A body headers, They look like they will work, if not, it was worth a try for just shipping cost. I will then run the F body.


I hope you get to enjoy this LS soon, it is worth all the efforts once you get it out on the streets, it puts a huge grin on you face each time you take it out.


Riggs

 

Let me know how the A body headers fit.

 

I will, it will be a few weeks before I get to fit them.

Riggs

 

Gordon,

If those are mild steel (not SS) headers you should be able to get some movement by bolting them up tight and using a long lever in the collector to tweak them down and inward some. You may not get all of it out of the driver's side, but the passenger side does not look that far off.

Stainless works has produced quite a few conversion headers for the LS resto mod guys, do they not have a pair that bolts in? Thier stuff is usually really good as far as fit.

Also, I will not make it up this weekend. We will have to find a weekend for you to come down here. I'm putting together a date for a bunch of local'ish C2 guys to bring thier rides over and check out the 65 LS7 coupe project, be a good time for ya to come down

R/
Jeff

 

Was thinking of taking a baseball bat and tryingto tweak them down some when bolted up. Shove it in the collector and pull.

As far as I know Stainless works does not produce any for the C3 LS swaps. I have checked all over and the only ones were the ones I bought and they were a disaster.

Let me know when you guys get together and I will try and make the trip down. Probably not in the C3 but should have my new truck by then.

 

No, Stainless Works does not make C3 LS headers. There was some plans for them to start producing them, but it seams that they have lost interest in doing so.
I was taking with Jason from Stainless Works about this, they showed interest in using my car as a template, we were working out the details of the delivery of my car to them, but haven't heard back from them in a while, since then I have pulled the LS out of the car and am now rebuilding it, should be done in a few weeks. I doubt that they are still interested in using my car as a template.




Riggs

 

Gordon, Any updates on the swap? Did you cut and fit the headers yet?


Riggs

 

Yes I am still here. Just took a few days off for the 4th and am back now. I have the headers on the car but they will need a little work. I have to get my welder buddy over to see if he can work on these. Other than that it has been to hot to do anything and now I get home after being gone for 5 days and the central AC in the house is not working.

 

Thank you for all the work you have done, initially I bought a 75 with LT1 and
T56 out of 93 Camaro, all arrived on 2 trucks, can you say abandoned project. Well after taking body off and stripping all down to frame, am now the owner of a ProMod LS3 that a local owner used for a year before now putting a Warhawk custom engine in his C5. Talking a lot with Street and Performance here in AR however your information and pics are invaluable. I too am going with Vintage Air, Rack and pinion, and most of what you have done.

Am I correct in seeing that the coils are on the lower splash shields are are they higher? Also interested on header and where you are there as well as any suspension mods upgrades on your car. Basically I am starting from scratch.

Once again thanks to you and all those contributing.

MJ

 

Gordon,

I am at the firing stage in the process. I'll have to check my lines, but I am pretty sure from the pump to the regulator they are correct. May MAJOR concern now is that all my fittings at my regulator leak ( just the latest since putting fluid in; like you I had PS leaks). I think it might be my flare on the tubing. I thought I had the correct fittings, but which did you use?





Thanks,

 

I will have to go back and look at the pictures to see if mine are like yours. I do remember going through a bunch of fittings and finding the correct ones took some time. Some of the guys had problems with them popping off but the newer fittings which I have are of the locking type. I have had mine running for about 15 minutes with no fuel leaks. I would see exactly where they are comng from. I do not have the part numbers for the fittings at the moment, but I could dig them up.

 

Has anyone tried Stainless Headers Mfg. out of ND? Looks like they have stainless headers for C3's with LS conversions. I am in the planning stages of doing a swap and I came across this company.

 

Never heard of stainless headers mfg. I did talk to stainless works at the Columbus Oh Good Guys car show about them following up on offering a set of LS headers for the C3 LS swap, they said maybe this fall/winter they would look into building them. It doesn't sound promising from them, I really didnt see much enthusiasm from them about it while I was discussing it with them. I did get their attention when I said the Kooks f-body stainless headers worked real well, but could stand to fit tighter to the body for better ground clearance, maybe they will look into reworking their F-body headers to fit better on the C3 LS swaps, who knows. It doesn't seam to be real important for any of the manufactures to produce a set of really nice headers just for the C3 LSX swaps.

Riggs

 

Just reading up on my swap to figure out where I am in this project. Time to get back to this project. I need to assess where I am at and get this back going. Hopefully by next spring I will be driving!

 

Gordon, have you decided what you are doing for your intake yet? I have been pondering on this for the past few days, even though I am no where near that step on mine yet.

My conundrum is what to do with the MAF sensor as it needs to be however many inches from the throttle body. Ideally, I wanted to do what I have seen on one of the threads and just do a straight pipe off the throttle body with the MAF in a very short run and a wide C6 Z06 filter on the end just above the radiator. Then build a fiberglass heatshield that sealed to the hood, assuming I could get enough room under a flat C3 hood. I know there is a photo of a black C3 with this set up BUT all the good tuners around here say that they can't really tune the car properly as the MAF readings are all wacky (non-technical term.)

As we can't go over the core support without major cutting, which I certainly don't plan to do, that leaves doing a 90 degree elbow. There are a few ways to go about this. Some I see have the MAF right in the middle of the 90 which should also not be ideal due to the turbulent air and would make tuning the car more difficult, resulting in a compromise in driveability (as seen in a photo a few up from this post.) The ideal solution is to do an elbow (probably rubber) with 6-10" of straight pipe and the MAF in the center and the filter at the end. I say ideal because it gets the MAF in the proper location but this is going to create some really high IATs which will certainly not help horsepower! I think I am stuck with one problem or the other so will probably choose higher intake temps over bad MAF flow. I am curious if a 2010 Camaro intake tube will work. Spectra makes a tube with the 90 degree bend and MAF location in a polished pipe that I think would look good. I'm thinking that it will be too long but could then be cut down to work in our confined space.... The filter will still be in the direct line of heat from the radiator but I don't see a better, clean solution.

Anyway, sorry for the ramble but was curious as to what you have decided and as you said you have it running and wanted to see if you could post a few photos of what you are using and any problems you may have encountered.

Thanks!

Eric