Hey there vetteheads, this forum has been a great help to me, so I figured I would contribute back with a quick little summary of my installation and impressions!

I'd found a good deal on the texas speed headers with x pipe so I snatched them up! Upon receiving them, the drivers side had already been dented to clear the steering rack, although once installed it didnt look necessary. Anyway, on to the install...

I started with the drivers side as that is the more problematic side. For that side all I did was remove the alternator, coil packs, spark plugs, move the steering shaft, and moved the ground strap as far back as possible. With these removed, the headers dropped about halfway in place. From here I used a pry bar to shift the engine towards the passenger side. The headers slipped right into place. No loosening motor mounts or actually jacking the engine up. If you do it this way, use slow but steady force, dont go jerking it all around.

On to the passengers side.. with the dipstick and coil packs out of the way, the passenger side was able to be dropped in from the top as well. Just a little bit of twisting and pushing was enough to get it to drop in place. Nice and easy!.

Once I got to the x pipe, it was all very straight forward. I have borla straight pipes and had them aligned perfectly before, so I was a tad worried about them being crooked. With the headers and x pipe in place, i slid the last part of the x pipe (about 1.5 foot with a flange for the axle back) as far towards the front of the car as possible. I then installed the 2 bolts that hold the x pipe with the weird spring nuts. From there I slid the extensions back towards the axle back, rotated them so they would be aligned and tightened them up! I started at the rear and worked my way forward tightening all the clamps and headers bolts.

With everything buttoned up, she fired right up! She sounds mean! Seems to have lost a hair of torque down low, but makes up for it in the mid range. I am waiting to hear back about a retune.

I know this isnt the best write up out there, but hopefully it can help someone. Quick summary, both headers were installed from the top, and the alignment of your exhaust tips shouldn't move much (at all maybe) with this method.

Feel free to ask any questions!

 

Thanks for the great write up. Not sure how I missed it at first. Was the great deal here on the forum, or somewhere else?

 

Thank you! I should report (now that this thread has some attention lol) that I do have a bit of an exhaust rattle on cold starts, and very light throttle. I believe it's the x pipe on the passenger side, towards the back of it. I had the same rattle with the 2.5" borla x pipe though, so could be motor mounts going.

I found them on Ebay, came from michigan from a wrecked black 04. I wasnt sure if I was gonna go tsp or not, as I've read of fitment issues, but the fact that these were used made me feel much better

 

I may be mistaken, but are you certain the headers go in from the top??? My Kooks LTs go in from the BOTTOM! I believe most do. You may want to look into this before tackling the other side. I would think nowadays that removing motor mounts so you can pry an engine into a more favorable position just to install longtube headers would be considered unnecessary! But hey, like I said, I may be wrong. Good luck with the install.......

 

They definitely went in from the top. What I'm assuming is that if I had fresh motor mounts that maybe I wouldn't have had to pry, and maybe said mount is the cause of my rattle. I didnt have access to a lift, and did the install without a helper. I'm sure if I had a helper, I would've went from the bottom

 

The new version of kooks go in from the bottom so easily.

 

I have had my TSP headers in and out several times, always from the top. I dont know if you took the valve covers off but it makes it easier.

 

Nope, I didnt touch either of the valve covers