American Racing Headers
Thread Starter
Former Vendor
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 2,470
Likes: 2
From: Portland OR
St. Jude Donor '10-'11-'12
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Instructor
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 242
Likes: 0
From: Topeka Kansas
AR long tube install
I am putting a set of long tubes with non catted x pipe on today. Why don't you put some DIY info on here? The ones that come with the headers are very basic. I understand you have to be mechanically inclined in the first place but there may be people that want to learn on here. Some additional info would be great. Like how high do you have to get your car off the floor to install the headers as an example. Not complaining just offering a suggestion.
Thread Starter
Former Vendor
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 2,470
Likes: 2
From: Portland OR
St. Jude Donor '10-'11-'12
Good suggestion. I actually thought there was a guide on here already ? I'll search and see if there is and link it to the thread. If not I will come up with one. Thank you for your suggestion.
Instructor
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 242
Likes: 0
From: Topeka Kansas
I already did a search. Nothing. I will post how I did mine. I just haven't had time. It has been 30 years since I put a set of headers on a car. They sure make um so the fit a lot better now adays. In fact the American Racing headers and non cat pipes bolted right up to my Magna Flow mufflers like factory. I had to take a couple things more apart than I thought I would. But it really wasn't hard with a buddy helping me line up the bolts and gasket to bolt onto the block.
Instructor
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 242
Likes: 0
From: Topeka Kansas
DIY AR Header Install on my 1997 C5 6 speed car
1. Spray down your Exhaust pipe bolts with Penetrating oil the night before you start. Make sure you hit all 3 bolts at the bottom of the Manifold. I take a piece of clear motorcycle fuel line and tape it to a stiff wire. Then put the spray tube into the the fuel line and touch the end of the line with the wire on it where you want the penetrating oil to go. Keeps from making a big mess.
2. Disconnect the neg. battery terminal and Pull the designer covers off the fuel rails.
3. Remove the alternator and bracket
4. Pull the Spark Plug wires and remove the Spark Plugs. Use the right tools! Here is a hint. Use a 2 foot 3/8 extension with a swivel to get that hard to reach #7 Spark Plug. It will come right out. That extension is very useful all through the process.
5. Pull the Ignition Coil Packs.
6. Disconnect the Vaccum line into the Brake assist vaccum chamber. Remove the Air pump line and valve from the Drivers side. Then remove the air pump line to the manifold on the passenger side and the bolt that holds the dipstick in place connected to the manifold.
7. Jack your car up at least 20 inches off the floor. Use Good Jack Stands.
8. Make sure you have a good drop light or 2 to help you see under the car.
9. Unplug your O2 Sensors
10. Use a 3/8 drive air impact to remove the manifold to X pipe bolts.
11. Do the same for the rear X pipe bolts to the muffler sections.
12. Lay under the X pipe and remove the spring hanger bolts.
13. Remove the Front X pipe hanger bolts and lower the X Pipe gently to the floor so you don't damage the 02 sensors.
14. Look at how the O2 sensors were connected. The front O2s go to the same side they came off of. The rear O2 sensors connect to the opposite side of the motor that the pipe is on. Carefully remove the O2 sensors with an O2 wrench you can pick up at any parts store. Don't bang them around or get anything on them. Set them aside where you won't damage them.
15. Take the bolt out of the block on both sides where ground wires attach so you don't snag them while doing the install.
16.Remove the Drivers side Exhaust Manifold bolts from the rear. Leave one of the middle ones until you are ready to pull them off. Remove the last bolt and lift the Exhaust manifold up and out of the engine compartment.
17. Call one of your buddies to help you out. Start on the Drivers side. It is the easiest side and will give you confidence befor you tackle the passenger side. Take the Drivers side Long Tube header under the car and lift it up through the opening where the old exhaust and manifold used to be. Or get your buddy to lift it up. Stick 2 bolts through the header and hang the gasket on the bolts. Guide the bolts into position and start them. Then start the rest of the bolts. Hand tighten the bolts then get out your Torque wrench and alternate tightening all the bolts to 11 ft lbs. Once you have done this go back and retighten them to 18 ft lbs. Whamo Bamo you just mounted your drivers side header.
18. Take a break drink a beer and pat yourself on the back for all the work you have done.
19. Now comes the passenger side. Remove the bottom of the bell housing (my car is a 6 speed). Remove the starter.
20. Find the bolt that holds the Dip Stick tube in and remove it. Then pull the dip stick tube.
21. Remove the Passenger side Exhaust Manifold.
22. If your cars air conditioner line is in the same place along the fender well that mine was I would advise you to have your freon bled off and remove the line. It will save you a lot of cussing and spitting and general being pissed off. If you don't want to do this I hope your line is in a different position than mine was. No matter how I tried I couldn't lift the header up from the bottom. If you don't have any luck doing this then the only other option is to do what I did.
23. Pull the valve cover from the passenger side for additional clearence and remove the bottom nuts from the motor mounts. Jack up the motor and snake the Long Tube Header in from the top. It kept getting stuck on that same Air conditioner line I couldn't get past from the bottom. Here is where I did something I rarely do. Instead of bleeding the freon I pried back on the line to get it as close to the fender well as possible then got my trusty rubber mallet and persuaded the header past the AC line. Ouch I can't believe I did it but I did. Fortunately it didn't damage the line.
24. Follow the same procedure as in step 17.
25. Now that the passenger side Header is installed you need to reinstall the oil dip stick tube and put the retainer bolt at the bottom back in.
26. You now realize that the top bracket for the dipstick tube was mounted to the old exhaust manifold and wonder what the heck you are going to do now. Easy I will get back to it later.
27. Put the valve cover back on the passenger side.
28. Reinstall all the Spark plugs. Remember that long extension with the swivel for old #7.
29. Reinstall all the Ignition Coil packs on both sides.
30. Reattach the Spark Plug wires to the drivers side.
31. Reinstall the Alternator.
32. If you are going to still use your air pump reinstall all the valve and tubes on both sides.
33. What about the Dip Stick Tube on the passenger side. Heck I don't know. Why didn't they tell me I would have to relocate how it is held in place??? Here is what I did. There is a tapped hole in the Block that isn't in use just above the passenger side header in the same place that the tube was mounted. I took a 4 inch long by 3/4 inch wide piece of aluminum 10 Ga sheet metal and drilled a hole for the bolt that would go into that unused tapped hole in the block. Bent the piece of aluminum at a right angle at the bolt then wrapped it around the Dip stick tube and pinched it tight. Walla a new piece of hard ware that works perfectly. I am sure there is a bracket pre made but I didn't get it with the headers. I will follow up with American Racing on that little detail this week.
34. Reinstall the Starter and the ground wire bolts to the block on both sides.
35. Reinstall the bottom of the bell housing.
36. Reinstall the spark plug wires on the passenger side.
37. At this point as I read in another forum you can reconect the neg battery cable, fire up the motor and giggle like a little girl. I skipped this step and went directly to work on the new exhaust pipes.
38. Reinstall the O2 sensors in your new X pipe of whatever configuration you chose. Be careful with them. Use a tiny bit of anti seize on the threads being careful not to touch the sensor end.
39. Put the X pipe on your stomach and crawl under the car with your buddy. Lift up the pipe and with your buddies help start the header collector flange bolts.
40. Start the X pipe to muffler pipe flange bolts.
41. Reinstall the spring hanger bolts and draw them up tight.
42. Look everything over to make sure you are straight and lined up front to rear.
43. Tighten up the Header Collector bolts.
44. Tighten up the X pipe to muffler pipe flang bolts.
45. Tighten up the slip joint clamps if you have this style of X pipe.
46. Recheck that everything looks good from front to rear.
47. Reconnect the O2 sensor wires. The front O2
Sensors have 12 inch adapter wires and connectors in the header kit as they are located about 12 inches further back than the original ones on the manifold.
48. Carefully tuck them back where they were along the tunnel to the firewall. At the fire wall I wasn't able to use the original mounting spots for all the O2 connectors because they were too close to the headers. The connectors will melt so you have to maintain clearance. I used wire ties to hold them up and out of the way. Just hook them around whatever you can find so you have clearance. I then got some header wrap and thermal tape to make double sure I didn't melt anything.
49. Take the car down carefully off the jack stands and put the beauty covers back on top of the Ignition coils, reconnect the neg. battery cable. Close the lid and fire it up. After the car starts you will get a message to turn the key back off and wait 10 seconds. Then start it up again.
50. Don't worry about the smoke when you first start it up. This is just inherent oil from the machining process when the headers and pipes were built.
51. Warm it up and enjoy that nice rumble as you rev it up. I did all of the above and the car never threw a code.
Hope this may help someone else out. It is really pretty easy to do. I had two little boys 3 and 4 years old helping Grandpa work on his race car so it took me a little longer than it should have but I loved every minute of it.
2. Disconnect the neg. battery terminal and Pull the designer covers off the fuel rails.
3. Remove the alternator and bracket
4. Pull the Spark Plug wires and remove the Spark Plugs. Use the right tools! Here is a hint. Use a 2 foot 3/8 extension with a swivel to get that hard to reach #7 Spark Plug. It will come right out. That extension is very useful all through the process.
5. Pull the Ignition Coil Packs.
6. Disconnect the Vaccum line into the Brake assist vaccum chamber. Remove the Air pump line and valve from the Drivers side. Then remove the air pump line to the manifold on the passenger side and the bolt that holds the dipstick in place connected to the manifold.
7. Jack your car up at least 20 inches off the floor. Use Good Jack Stands.
8. Make sure you have a good drop light or 2 to help you see under the car.
9. Unplug your O2 Sensors
10. Use a 3/8 drive air impact to remove the manifold to X pipe bolts.
11. Do the same for the rear X pipe bolts to the muffler sections.
12. Lay under the X pipe and remove the spring hanger bolts.
13. Remove the Front X pipe hanger bolts and lower the X Pipe gently to the floor so you don't damage the 02 sensors.
14. Look at how the O2 sensors were connected. The front O2s go to the same side they came off of. The rear O2 sensors connect to the opposite side of the motor that the pipe is on. Carefully remove the O2 sensors with an O2 wrench you can pick up at any parts store. Don't bang them around or get anything on them. Set them aside where you won't damage them.
15. Take the bolt out of the block on both sides where ground wires attach so you don't snag them while doing the install.
16.Remove the Drivers side Exhaust Manifold bolts from the rear. Leave one of the middle ones until you are ready to pull them off. Remove the last bolt and lift the Exhaust manifold up and out of the engine compartment.
17. Call one of your buddies to help you out. Start on the Drivers side. It is the easiest side and will give you confidence befor you tackle the passenger side. Take the Drivers side Long Tube header under the car and lift it up through the opening where the old exhaust and manifold used to be. Or get your buddy to lift it up. Stick 2 bolts through the header and hang the gasket on the bolts. Guide the bolts into position and start them. Then start the rest of the bolts. Hand tighten the bolts then get out your Torque wrench and alternate tightening all the bolts to 11 ft lbs. Once you have done this go back and retighten them to 18 ft lbs. Whamo Bamo you just mounted your drivers side header.
18. Take a break drink a beer and pat yourself on the back for all the work you have done.
19. Now comes the passenger side. Remove the bottom of the bell housing (my car is a 6 speed). Remove the starter.
20. Find the bolt that holds the Dip Stick tube in and remove it. Then pull the dip stick tube.
21. Remove the Passenger side Exhaust Manifold.
22. If your cars air conditioner line is in the same place along the fender well that mine was I would advise you to have your freon bled off and remove the line. It will save you a lot of cussing and spitting and general being pissed off. If you don't want to do this I hope your line is in a different position than mine was. No matter how I tried I couldn't lift the header up from the bottom. If you don't have any luck doing this then the only other option is to do what I did.
23. Pull the valve cover from the passenger side for additional clearence and remove the bottom nuts from the motor mounts. Jack up the motor and snake the Long Tube Header in from the top. It kept getting stuck on that same Air conditioner line I couldn't get past from the bottom. Here is where I did something I rarely do. Instead of bleeding the freon I pried back on the line to get it as close to the fender well as possible then got my trusty rubber mallet and persuaded the header past the AC line. Ouch I can't believe I did it but I did. Fortunately it didn't damage the line.
24. Follow the same procedure as in step 17.
25. Now that the passenger side Header is installed you need to reinstall the oil dip stick tube and put the retainer bolt at the bottom back in.
26. You now realize that the top bracket for the dipstick tube was mounted to the old exhaust manifold and wonder what the heck you are going to do now. Easy I will get back to it later.
27. Put the valve cover back on the passenger side.
28. Reinstall all the Spark plugs. Remember that long extension with the swivel for old #7.
29. Reinstall all the Ignition Coil packs on both sides.
30. Reattach the Spark Plug wires to the drivers side.
31. Reinstall the Alternator.
32. If you are going to still use your air pump reinstall all the valve and tubes on both sides.
33. What about the Dip Stick Tube on the passenger side. Heck I don't know. Why didn't they tell me I would have to relocate how it is held in place??? Here is what I did. There is a tapped hole in the Block that isn't in use just above the passenger side header in the same place that the tube was mounted. I took a 4 inch long by 3/4 inch wide piece of aluminum 10 Ga sheet metal and drilled a hole for the bolt that would go into that unused tapped hole in the block. Bent the piece of aluminum at a right angle at the bolt then wrapped it around the Dip stick tube and pinched it tight. Walla a new piece of hard ware that works perfectly. I am sure there is a bracket pre made but I didn't get it with the headers. I will follow up with American Racing on that little detail this week.
34. Reinstall the Starter and the ground wire bolts to the block on both sides.
35. Reinstall the bottom of the bell housing.
36. Reinstall the spark plug wires on the passenger side.
37. At this point as I read in another forum you can reconect the neg battery cable, fire up the motor and giggle like a little girl. I skipped this step and went directly to work on the new exhaust pipes.
38. Reinstall the O2 sensors in your new X pipe of whatever configuration you chose. Be careful with them. Use a tiny bit of anti seize on the threads being careful not to touch the sensor end.
39. Put the X pipe on your stomach and crawl under the car with your buddy. Lift up the pipe and with your buddies help start the header collector flange bolts.
40. Start the X pipe to muffler pipe flange bolts.
41. Reinstall the spring hanger bolts and draw them up tight.
42. Look everything over to make sure you are straight and lined up front to rear.
43. Tighten up the Header Collector bolts.
44. Tighten up the X pipe to muffler pipe flang bolts.
45. Tighten up the slip joint clamps if you have this style of X pipe.
46. Recheck that everything looks good from front to rear.
47. Reconnect the O2 sensor wires. The front O2
Sensors have 12 inch adapter wires and connectors in the header kit as they are located about 12 inches further back than the original ones on the manifold.
48. Carefully tuck them back where they were along the tunnel to the firewall. At the fire wall I wasn't able to use the original mounting spots for all the O2 connectors because they were too close to the headers. The connectors will melt so you have to maintain clearance. I used wire ties to hold them up and out of the way. Just hook them around whatever you can find so you have clearance. I then got some header wrap and thermal tape to make double sure I didn't melt anything.
49. Take the car down carefully off the jack stands and put the beauty covers back on top of the Ignition coils, reconnect the neg. battery cable. Close the lid and fire it up. After the car starts you will get a message to turn the key back off and wait 10 seconds. Then start it up again.
50. Don't worry about the smoke when you first start it up. This is just inherent oil from the machining process when the headers and pipes were built.
51. Warm it up and enjoy that nice rumble as you rev it up. I did all of the above and the car never threw a code.
Hope this may help someone else out. It is really pretty easy to do. I had two little boys 3 and 4 years old helping Grandpa work on his race car so it took me a little longer than it should have but I loved every minute of it.
Instructor
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 242
Likes: 0
From: Topeka Kansas
I am an old guy. I don't know what ttt stands for. Please translate. I took my nephew to the races this year and then took him from Iowa to Nebraska to drive his Micro. He is 14 the whole time he was texting. A couple times I saw his texts and responses. I was begining to think he was working for the CIA. I had no idea what all tha acronyms stood for.
Thread Starter
Former Vendor
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 2,470
Likes: 2
From: Portland OR
St. Jude Donor '10-'11-'12
It means To The Top. Its just a quick way of bumping the thread to the top of the thread list so it can be seen easier.
I'm not a fan of texting either...LOL it took me a long time to learn the acronyms I've learned too...hahahaha
I'm not a fan of texting either...LOL it took me a long time to learn the acronyms I've learned too...hahahaha