Just wanted to share my activities of the day...

I purchased a set of lightly used LG Pro Tube Headers and a Corsa Sport exhaust from JKonkle. Great deal BTW even with a minor shippng mishap. Props to JK on his handling of this as well. I had the headers "cleaned" and coated locally by Accessories Plus in Belmont. I chose a matte black ceramic coating. Looks very stealth and came out GREAT!! I can't say enough about the coating!

I started around 9am with a buddy, bayarea9, showing up around 10 to lend a hand. I had the car up on stands, the plugwires off and the h-pipe out in the first hour. In trying to get the one piece over axle pipe and muffler out we had to disconnect the rear sway and jack the car higher. Huge PITA! Then we moved onto the cat pipes, taking the sparkplugs out and finally getting the stock manifolds off.

Once you figure out the trick of twisting in the headers, they go in really easy! We spent more time figuring out how/where to run the 02 extensions than getting the headers in! FWIW, I ended up drilling a 1/4" hole in the side heatshield to mount the 02 connectors and ziptied the wires to the heatshield and tunnel plate (2 more 1/4" holes drilled there to tie off to). I noticed the LGs have flange on each header that almost lines up with 2 holes in the transmission (I think?). I talked with Rick at Synergy and he said in spite of the obvious, no bolts actually go there. We used new gaskets and Stage8 locking bolts. Snugged them up and broke a Craftsman 3/16" hex bit in the process. Wifey went off to OSH to get a free warranty replacement We tried to install the catted X-pipe next, but it didn't seem to fit!! The collectors on headers seemed a little too close together for the X-pipe. We decided to call it a night and spray the the cats with WD40 in an effort to loosen them and maybe install the cats first then the X-pipe and hope the "play" there will be enough to make the whole system fit. (crossed fingers).

Tomorrow the first step is separating the cats from from the X-pipe. Then installing the X-pipe and Corsa Sports. Finally... fire her up and enjoy the new power and sound!! Tips are certainly welcome!

 

It was a great day off tinkering and working on a vette. What else can you ask for? More fun tomorrow and hopefully it wont take us to long to get it all bolted up and fired up. I cant wait to hear what its going to sound like.

 

First time installing LT's on the MN6 took me about 6 hours by myself on jackstands. I was very cautious every step of the way.

Second time on the A6 took less then 4hrs on jackstands, again by myself.

I agree, the longest part of the entire install is those damn 02 extensions/wires. I am **** about routing them to keep them clear of any heat.

The moment you fire it up the improvement in sound will give you an ear to ear grin.

 

Let's see, time-wise, getting her up on stands and yanking all the stock stuff (manifolds & exhaust) was about 2 hours. Routing 02s and drilling various holes including the big one for the rear 02s was about another hour and probably just over an hour to mount and tighten down the headers. Add in an extra 15-20 min for the Stage8 bolts and doing all the retaining clips. And maybe 30 min figuring out if a bolt/stud is supposed to go into that weird flange near the tunnel plate

I think if I did it again I could have just the headers done in about 4 hours start to finish

Still got my fingers crossed that everything lines up tomorrow and fits well

 

Good Luck. Tell us about the new sound and power

 

Be sure and get everything installed before tighteneing up all the bolts. I had some difficulty getting all the tubes together (Not much room for sliding them into each other). I found the best way is to install the headers, then start at the back and come forward with the install, bolting the cats to the header collectors last. Good luck. You're gonna love it. Remember, it will take a few miles for the computer to re-think everything.

 

Well we got it all installed today. Took about another 2 hours today to get the whole exhaust done and lined up. Pretty easy install for that.

Night and Day difference in sound. No more prius sounding vette for Openhelix. You will know when he is coming and it sounds pretty good up around 4-6k RPM.

Im sure he will chime in soon.

 

Yep,
After header install,
I think the first words out of my mouth were something like: "holy s@*t"!
Too bad it doesn't come from the factory sounding like that!

 

I am just waiting to pull trigger on these. But am torn between trying to locate a take off set and having them cleaned up and coated vs just buying new and having them coated. Considering what they go for new, you must have gotten a deal.

Also, after installing a set of KOOKS on my C5 a couple of years ago, I really have no desire to install another set of headers myself so I am thinking about the deal that ChuckCoW is running now.

Either way, I am going coated and with cats. But I was thinking the gray colored Jet hot. You say you like the black? Can you post a pic?

 

I'll grab some pictures tomorrow in the daylight. The garage lights are no good for pictures. Yeah the sound is AWESOME!!! I'll try to get some sound clips soon. It's NASTY!!! Even better than I imagined! ...and I had pretty high expectations to start with!

DSOM, it really wasn't all that hard. Although we took 2 days to do it, we both agreed we could do it in ~5 hours if we did it again. The last time I installed headers was on a 96 f-body around 1998. Now THOSE were hard. And I LOVE the black. It totally fits in with the natural colors in the engine bay.

Yesterday we closed up with the headers on but naked from the collectors back. I started this morning by separating the cats from the X-pipe and after screwing with it for about an hour James comes over and slid it in in about 10 minutes!! *sshole! The only snag was was finding some foil tape the tape the 02 connectors up to the tunnel plate and away from the cats. (crossed fingers) hoping for the best!! I'm planning to ask Rick @ Synergy to take a look at them and adjust if necessary when I go in for a tune later this month. Speaking of needing a tune I thought I had escaped the dreaded check engine light but after about an hour of driving it popped up! That was about the only downer of the day.

Getting the Corsa in was A LOT easier than getting the stock system out! Not even any lube on the rubbers... get yer mind out of the gutter!! Putting in the muffler hangers in the rubber hangers was easier than advertised.

My hands are sore and it's time to take a nice hot shower and down some advil! I'll deal with the check engine light tomorrow. Maybe stop by autozone and get them to pull the code for free and make sure it's just the 02 sensors and nothing more serious

Thanks again to all the people that posted great stuff and how-tos I read before I started the install! And thanks james for lending a hand, a wrench and some much needed sanity this morning!

I think it's time to go wake up the neighbors again!

 

You can say that again about the Advil. I remember well. Very well. It was about a week before I felt right again.

 

Openhelix,
I am curious how high you had to get the car up in the air for the header install? Did you have the jackstands all the way up?

I am waiting on a set of American Racing Headers to come in from Jet Hot, then I will be ready to do my install.

 

JL, Just on jackstands, not all the way up. maybe 2' off the ground tops? Be sure to use the proper jacking/jackstand locations as well.

I should add it would have been a lot easier on a lift!

 

Thanks Helix.

 

No problem... If you're not doing the exhaust too it would probably be easiest to drop the H-pipe first and then work your way forward toward the heads.

 

Congrats!!!!

Corsa Sports and LT Headers sound GREAT!

I only have Corsa Sports on my current 2007, but I know the sound of that combo very well from my 2006.

Enjoy,

Howard

 

It sounds so good it *almost* makes going to work in the morning worth it!

 

My favorite part of my day is the ride to and from work

Howard

 

My commute right now is ~10 min... Although sometimes I take the scenic route. Through the santa cruz mountains and it can take around 90min. Smilin' the whole way!

 

I moved my business from 1&1/2 miles from my home to 10.5 miles from my home, now I can enjoy my C6 everyday, weather permitting