Hey AV8ter and Rapid Transit! Thanks for all the tips and AV8ter special thanks to you for the picturesand your detailed help. I'm moving slowly forward on this project and really paying special attention to all your tips. I'm a 53 years young corporate tax auditor by trade but really enjoy working on my car and really don't trust anyone else to do the work! I'm good at following directions and have the patience to step back and wait for further instructions when something's not clear. Let me tell you where I am right now on this project.

1. The X pipe is in and I figured how to get the bolts to point up!
2. The pipes into the X pipe are in with O2 sensors installed.
3. The O2 sims are in.
4. The engine is ready: coil packs, valve covers, wires and plugs, air tubes, belt tensioner loosened / alternator moved, manifolds, dip stick, oil filter, ALL OUT!
5. Per advice received on the Forum I took the headers to a machine shop today and had the air tube threads "chaffed". Actually he ran a tap through and I'm glad he did. Bolts go through smoothly now. But he didn't have the tap or thread chaser for the O2 threads. He advised me to get a spark plug thread chaser 18mm. I called and finally found one at Autozone. This is my next step. After that I'm clear to install the headers but the consensus is the starter is going to have to be loosened so I will have to do that first. Again thanks to Av8ter for your details on this.

I'm hoping the brackets on the headers line up with the forward hanger. Can't imagine doing any type of shall we say "sporting" driving without this hook up. I read someone just ignored this anchor point and others forced it to reach and now find there brackets torn out from the header!

I got the torque specs for the header bolts into the head but the bolts over plugs 7 & 8? Can't imagine getting the torque wrench in there!

So that's where I stand! Can only work on it a couple hours in the evening.

Thanks to all! :D :flag

 

I posted some info above on a post where a guy made a web page about the FLP install (not Black Magic). Here are some things to get:

1) zip ties (small and large)

2) spark plugs (optional depending on mileage)

3) spark plug wire (ditto)

4) lock-tight

5) anit-seize

6) high temp-silicone (orange)

7) goodyear high-temp blue heater hose

8) spark plug boot heat sleeves

 

One other thing, while you have the exhaust off the car, take one of the pipes that will house your rear O2s and have a new bung welded in that will be closer to the front of the car - trust me, you'll be glad you did.

If you are not going to run cats and will be toggling the rear cats off with LS1 edit, get O2 bung plugs and remove the rear O2s and thier wires completely. You can put them in later when you put your cats up at smog time.

 

What i did with the forward bracket mount under the car was this:
First, take that bracket off of the bell housing under the car, then get both headers in and tighten them, when they are tightened, then the welded support mounts on the headers under the car will be in there permanent position. Reinstall the mount under the car on the bell housing only. Now is where you will probably see that the bolt holes will not line up. I took a hammer and hit the aft bottom of the mount to slightly bend it forward, it wont take much. After hitting it forward until the holes line up, now you will probably see the the bottom of the bracket is slightly angled upward to the front. Now i took the bracket back off the bell housing and then got a 1 1/4" pipe, (im sure any size close to that would work) laid it down on the ground and then put the 90 degree part of the bracket on it and then took a hammer and hit the 90 degree part of the bracket to open up the angle just a bit. it may take you a couple of times to do a trail and error fit. After i was done the bracket fit perfectly and didnt preload the mounts on the headers at all, which if not done im sure the load on the tangs on the headers would eventually crack. As for the torque on the header bolts, if you use a 1/4" ratchet, because of the size of the ratchet, most of the time it will prevent you from tightening things too much. You can put the ratchet on the other bolts you torqued and get a general idea of how much pressure to use and then just use that pressure on the others that you couldnt get too.


[Modified by Av8ter, 7:11 PM 12/2/2002]