Man these things are sweet, packaged nicely. I'm doin 80 just lookin at 'em
last time i bought headers was in 1975, Hookers, what a PITA :cool:

 

Congrats! You will enjoy them! :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:

 

:cool: where are the pics :confused:

 

If you're installing them yourself at home without a lift, take a word of advice from someone who's installed them. Before you actually put them on the car, put the pieces with the flanges/quick-connect v-clamps (headers, cats/orp's, and mid-pipes) together and tighten them good before putting them on the car if you'll be doing them in the garage on jackstands or rhino ramps. Then disassmeble them and put them on the car.

This will help to form the clamps onto the flanges, as they actually change shape somewhat when they're tightened. It's much easier to do this off the car than on your back under it. They tighten a lot more than you'd think they would. I have at least half an inch of the clamp thread sticking out beyond the top of the nut on the clamps. It takes a lot of pressure to clamp them securely and prevent leaks. I retightened a couple of times with a few drives in between to make sure the heat had relaxed the metal and and allowed me to fully tighten them and achieve the best seal.

Also, make sure you rotate the clamps so that the screw/nut portion is not on on the bottom of the joint but towards the centerline of the car at an angle with the nut facing the floor. Otherwise, if your car is lowered like mine, that part of the clamp will be the lowest part of the car and could catch on a speedbump or such.

Enjoy! You will love those puppies! :yesnod: :cheers: :smash:

 

don't have the means for pix

yes i'm going to install myself...thanks for the clamp tip cause i'm low also
I'll post comments while/after i install if ever the weather breaks

i'm going to keep the stock cat back...can't see any benefit except sound..i've got A&A mod back there now and i've been asked what system i've got:lol:

 

Ken - I just installed FLP's on my 2001 coupe this weekend. Patches gives some good advice. I wish I would have prefit mine before started installing. Aligning the butt joints and V-clamps took some real patience. The catalytic convertor flanges were a little grody so I dressed them down with a flat file hoping for a better seal.

One other PITA was the AIR flange on the passenger side. The FLP flange is slanted about 15 degrees off vertical and the AIR tube flange is vertical. I used a torch to heat the AIR pipe (steel) near the flange and bent it so the flange had the same slope.

Care needs to be taken when torqueing the header bolts. There have been stories on the forum about broken header bolts. The service manual specifies a 2 pass sequence working from the center to the outer bolts, 11 lb-ft first pass and 18 lb-ft second pass. I bought a 250 lb-in torque wrench rather than use my 150 lb-ft wrench. Trying to use a high range torque wrench was why some of our members broke header bolts.

Black_Magic has posted some helpful pics and instructions at
http://www.stl-vettes.com/Headers/Header_Install.asp

The packaging was impressive and the workmansip excellent. My stock exhaust is louder and much more muscular sounding. I was planning on installing GHL's but may rethink now. The performance improvement is very noticible with the SOTP meter. A freeway on ramp WOT produced lots more tire squeeling. This car is starting to scare me a little bit. I don't think I will be looking for more power - sacreligious talk on this forum, I know. These headers are awesome and I am totally satisfied with the value and quality.

Here are a few pics:



Nice Packing




Unpacked the beautiful FLP's



Looking up the collector at the long tubes



Now this is what the inside of an x-pipe should look like



Looking into high flow cat



Carefully torque the header bolts



The jet hot coating is nice and really controls thermal radiation



Cats are on



X-pipe is next








[Modified by alc2001, 11:15 PM 11/13/2002]

 

Thanks for the review. FLP is installing my headers this Friday. I can't wait for my car to start to scare me :D

Ohh, and to get you back for last time....I have the GHL's and you don't, so my car is now better. :lol: :lol:


:cheers:
:seeya

 

Tom - You got me. I guess I'll have to go ahead with the GHL's. I will be interested in your feedback as to the quantity and quality of exhaust music that the GHL/FLP combo produces. I will be replacing plugs and wires with Taylor ThunderVolts, Taylor Koolsox and NGK iridiums. Hope that doesn't add any power. :jester

Alan :seeya

 

...... :cheers: Let us know........

 

Thanks Patches and alc2001 for the warnings. :cheers: Don't know what I can do about the 15 degree off-vertical flange problem. I dont' have torch to bend it like alc2001. Actually I haven't opened up the box yet to inspect, so hopefully mine's not that bad.

 

I just put mine on 2 weeks ago, and just bent the AIR tubes by hand, as they bend pretty easily. Patches has some good advice on the clamps. It says in the instructions to loosen the steering shaft, I didn't, and had no problems, but I endede up taking the alternator off to have more room to pull the manifold out the top. I did the same thing when I first got them. Just took them out and looked at them. They sure look nice. Wait til you feel the difference that they make. Definitely worth the price of admission!


[Modified by LuvmyC5, 12:54 PM 11/14/2002]

 

What instructions...I didn't get no stinkin instructions.
:cry

Thanks for all the tips :cheers:

 

thank you for the business! glad you are happy with the system!
sorry, no instructions are included with FLPs. now that i think about it, none of the manus include instructions for their headers. sorry about that.

Nate

 

Rob - I was able to bend the driver side short pipe by hand too. But the passenger side was unbendable without heating. After heating and cooling the elbow bend near the flange, it bent easily. Must have annealed it.
Alan

 

hey jawsski i just got my flp's in today to i installed the headers both sides. i had a real hard till with the drivers side one but i managed. i wish i had someone to hold the header for me but o well. cant wait till tomorrow to finish it up and take a crank :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:

 

Nate, Ok, don't fret for me ..I can figure it out :yesnod:

 

Figured I'd keep this thread alive instead of starting a new one...

Got my FLP's on today, and they rock!! :yesnod: FLP did the install at their shop, and everything looks to be done right. Thanks to the wonderful Chicago traffic :cuss , it took a while before I had the room to really get on it, but when I finally did, wholly shiznit, there's a bunch more power there for sure, I was grinning from ear to ear. :D
To answer your question Alan, I didn't notice things much louder than they were before with just the GHL's. At idle and cruise speeds, it sounds about the same, possibly a little louder...but now it does have quite a bit more bark when getting on it. Just starting it up in a parking lot, people really turn their heads, thats whats fun about it. The GHL's aren't super loud, but very deep and muscular sounding. My only slight disappointment is that the headers/x-pipe didn't reduce the popping on decelleration I was hoping for. I'd still recommend the GHL's though, it definitely sounds badazz.

And thanks again to Mitch and the guys at FLP for the install and keeping me company today.

:cheers:

Tom


[Modified by Y2Kvert4me, 2:46 AM 11/16/2002]

 

Tom - Glad your install went well. I was glad to hear that the FLP's didn't make the GHL's too loud. The stock mufflers are quite a bit louder with FLP's but the sound is slightly on the ratty side. Looks like I need to get the GHL's. Is there any end to this madness? :crazy: Thanks for the report.

Alan :seeya

 

can't wait for the install
great day for ducks here on east coast :mad

 

Get em' ON!!!