Has anyone out there installed there headers on jackstands with minimal lift off the ground, if so , what procedures did you use, (Ex:from the bottom, from the top, especially the drivers side bolts removal and installation).

Any tips or advise would be greatly appreciated, Im trying to save the $600 they want to install the headers/cats/xpipe system, also am pretty handicapped with a overly repaired back

Thanx for the input

 

i did mine in about 5 hrs in my garage with my son who was 17 yrs old doing most the work. i put the car up on regular ol' ramps. had to use wood blocks and a floor jack to get it up there on the ramps. that took about 40 minutes or so itself. the rest of the job was pretty darn easy from under the car. take off the coils, valve covers, plugs, wires, air injection hoses while its sitting on the ground. then jack it up in the air and put the jack stands/ ramps under the car. then from under the car remove the exhaust bolts from flange and the remaining manifold bolts. the exhaust will go up thru the top when all apart pretty easy. depending on the kind of headers you purchased, depends on the clearence you need to install from under the car. i installed shortie headers. they went in like butter. some long tubes will do this from under the car also. mine went in from the top down. make sure you get some flange bolts because the ones on the car from the factory will not work for any header set up. when you see them you will understand what i mean. get some good grade stainless bolts about 3 inches long. you will need 6 bolts, 12 lock washers, and 6 nuts. get new doughnut gaskets also. might as well get new plugs and wires too. you will most likely ruin the old wires takeing them off. i did a new set of belts also while it was all apart. get valve cover gaskets too. that should be all you need. good luck and have fun with it. it aint that hard.


oh.... go to get a really good set of metric tools if you dont have them allready. sizes most used are 10mm-18mm both open end/ closed end wrenches and sockets. this is what makes the job not a pain...a good set of tools and all the stuff i mentioned. also get some high temp anti seize for the O2 sensors and the plugs.
have fun
ron

p.s. the mufflers and exhaust x pipe should be done way in the air. let the muffler shop do that stuff so it can be done right. and as far as the handi capped thing..... i have one of those handi crapper hang tags in my car also. being thru 7 back surgeries. the last one being one that installed 6 titanium lag bolts, two rods, and four carbon drywall anchors between l4/l5 -l5/s1 i understand what you mean by overly worked on back. but hey.... i said my 17 yr old son did most the work :}

oh ya, you asked about the driver side. when you remove the air injection hoses and vaccum lines to the brake booster it becomes much more clear how that side is actualy easier than the passenger side. sounds funny, but just wait and see how simple that driver side turns out. get some good high temp msd or other plug wires cause those headers will heat things up alot under that hood. if you have time to wait and can. send the headers out to get jet hotted. do a search on "jet hot" in google if you dont know what that is. it is great shat!!! more power, less heat, longer lasting headers, and all sorts of good looks for ever. costs around $200-$250 but well worth it. even on stainless ones. stainless gets all sorts of funny colors when sent thru the heat cycles. the colors....the colors...... and... mostly not in a good way. jet hot will cool the engine compartment by huge amounts. if you dont go that route you for sure have to at least get super high temp plug wires. socks for them are made but you can use the original metal ones the car came with and they work just as good and dont cost more than the wires in the first place.
ok i'm out
ron

 

http://www.cajundude.com/longtubes.htm

www.ls1howto.com also has header install write-ups for c5's