Observations on American Racing header self install.
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 16,795
Likes: 62
From: Lake Havasu City, AZ
Observations on American Racing header self install.
I was really impressed with the quality, fit and detail of the header package from AR. Everything that was needed was provided. Nick you make a great product. I know I made the right choice. 
A club member C5 Hobo
offered to help and let me use his 4 post Bendpak lift. That made things a lot easier on these old bones than laying on a creeper under a Vette on jack stands.
The self install was straightforward but for two rookies took longer that expected. Most of that was because we hit a few unexpected snags.
1. It looked like we could drop the old exhaust manifold out the bottom. We wasted a couple hours playing with that before we decided to pull it out the top.
2. We discovered the wiring loom had contacted the stock exhaust manifold embrittling about 2 feet of the loom and melting the insulation off the low oil level sensor. We had about a 3 hour delay while we tackled that repair.
3. We had (caused ?) some bad threads on the rear driver exhaust manifold bolt hole. We lost a day sourcing a Snap-on tool "tap socket" to allow us to use a stubby flex head 3/8 ratchet to chase the thread with an M8x 1.25 tap in very tight quarters.
4. Once everything was assembled the car would not start. We had a number of DIC messages. low fuel ( gas guage reading empty, while phsically full, low power, check engine, buzzing in fuse box, service traction control, ABS light, Active handling light). We eventually traced the problem to a short, black ground wire that got hung up behind the block while we had disconnected the starter wires, the O2 sensors and both driver and passenger grounds from the block and were pushing the wiring loom out of the way to get the AR headers in from below. Once the ground was re-established everything ran perfect.
Although C5 Hobo and I were the "pit crew" on this install we could not have done this without the Forum. Our "spotters" included the CF search function; Patches, highpockets and Autobot on the sensor id; SLO C5 and Patches on the tap size; father & son vett on the tip to use a Snap-on tool tap socket; Bob K, ccajun4real, vettenuts, Steve@EnglandGreen on the no-start. Special kudos to our "electrical engineer" Bill Curlee who was on the phone, walking us through the no-start diagnosis
This Forum rocks!
A club member C5 Hobo
offered to help and let me use his 4 post Bendpak lift. That made things a lot easier on these old bones than laying on a creeper under a Vette on jack stands.The self install was straightforward but for two rookies took longer that expected. Most of that was because we hit a few unexpected snags.
1. It looked like we could drop the old exhaust manifold out the bottom. We wasted a couple hours playing with that before we decided to pull it out the top.
2. We discovered the wiring loom had contacted the stock exhaust manifold embrittling about 2 feet of the loom and melting the insulation off the low oil level sensor. We had about a 3 hour delay while we tackled that repair.
3. We had (caused ?) some bad threads on the rear driver exhaust manifold bolt hole. We lost a day sourcing a Snap-on tool "tap socket" to allow us to use a stubby flex head 3/8 ratchet to chase the thread with an M8x 1.25 tap in very tight quarters.
4. Once everything was assembled the car would not start. We had a number of DIC messages. low fuel ( gas guage reading empty, while phsically full, low power, check engine, buzzing in fuse box, service traction control, ABS light, Active handling light). We eventually traced the problem to a short, black ground wire that got hung up behind the block while we had disconnected the starter wires, the O2 sensors and both driver and passenger grounds from the block and were pushing the wiring loom out of the way to get the AR headers in from below. Once the ground was re-established everything ran perfect.
Although C5 Hobo and I were the "pit crew" on this install we could not have done this without the Forum. Our "spotters" included the CF search function; Patches, highpockets and Autobot on the sensor id; SLO C5 and Patches on the tap size; father & son vett on the tip to use a Snap-on tool tap socket; Bob K, ccajun4real, vettenuts, Steve@EnglandGreen on the no-start. Special kudos to our "electrical engineer" Bill Curlee who was on the phone, walking us through the no-start diagnosis
This Forum rocks!
Le Mans Master
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 9,369
Likes: 4
From: Zephyrhills, Florida
St. Jude Donor '06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13
Now that is a great story of how this forum is immeasurably helpful to us members. We have a wonderful resource here from guys who actually have turned the wrenches
Safety Car
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 4,387
Likes: 691
From: Boise ID
Real life observations! I’m leaning towards the AR headers myself and would be installing myself. Congratulations and thank you!
