Taking a little longer than I anticipated, but I have everything out of the car now, and will install everything tomorrow (LG Street Series).

I do have a few questions, though:

First, the rear driver's side O2 sensor seems to be stuck in the stock pipes. I broke it free, got it a turn or two, and now it's not budging. I'm concerned that it's cross threaded. I'm even using a breaker bar on it. So... not sure what to do about it. I hit it with some WD40, and I'll let it sit overnight and give it a whack again tomorrow. Not too happy about that. The car is only 2 yrs old, with just over 5K on it; all other bolts came off pretty easily. I know it won't be covered under warranty, even though it was installed wrong, so I'm assuming I'll be out of pocket for another one if needed. Any idea on cost?

Second: there's been an incident. Something, uh, fell off of the car while I was working on getting the pass. side exhaust collector out. I have no clue what it is or where it goes. Any help? It's plastic, and about 8" long from tip to tip. Here's a pic:


Third: I noticed that the 4 bolts that stick out real far that the plastic engine covers attach to seem to have a lot of spider web looking cracks coming off of them; is this normal? I took some pics, but it was hard to see the cracks due to the flash filling them in. This one illustrates it pretty well; it's the one right near the oil cap. Again, this is like this on all 4 of them:


Well, that's where I'm at for now. I hope I can get that damn O2 sensor out without mangling it. Wish me luck.

 

the cracks, are casting flaws, they are normal.
the O2 sensor could have been cross threaded, you might have to buy a new one.

 

stainless on stainless with no never sieze on the threads can gaul and distroy the treads. That would explain the two turns and now nothing.

 

Try working the O2 sensor in and out, turn it back in and then back it out going a little more out each time,Wd 40 isn't much of a lubricant see if you have something with a little more oil content to help it along.

 

I tried that when it first got snagged, but it seemed to have the opposite effect (budging less and less). I'll give it another try tomorrow. Figures that I finally get rolling and then hit this as a snag.

Good to know those are just casting flaws. Thanks.

No ideas on that plastic piece? I haven't tried fitting it in anywhere to see where it could've fallen from yet, but it's in there somewhere.

 

Ah yes the mystery plastic piece... been there done that. IIRC that piece is slotted & goes over frame (pass. side), near the firewall where the frame dips down, covers some wires ??, I think not a critical piece
Have fun

 

Thanks. I figured it gets wedged in there somewhere; it looks like it slips over or clips into something. Looking at it, it's definitely not critical, so if I can't figure out where it goes, then I've just added a little lightness

 

in the past, I've soaked things with PBBLaster and it's worked well. there are some shop soakers that apparently work better, but I can't get them.

 

http://www.gmhightechperformance.com.../photo_11.html

 

That is too funny. I found this piece sitting in my engine bay while cleaning it the other day. I set it aside till I could ask somebody on the forum where it went. I had headers the installed about 3 months ago, so its been lurking loose under the hood since then.

Thanks,
Jeff

 

Thanks for asking! You helped me out too!
Jeff

Good luck with the install. The headers made a HUGE difference in performance and sound. Did you go with cats or no cats? Mine is a daily driver so I went with hi-flo cats.

 

Same piece, Jeff?

I went with high flow cats, just to be safe. We have emissions every year here in PA, though my Vette is usually exempt, since it sees less than 5K per year.

 

Yep, same plastic piece that you didn't know where it came from and the cats are great unless you don't mind the smell of unburnt fuel sticking to your clothes.

 

Nah; I get enough of that from my crotch rocket

 

Yep, that same thing was floating around in my engine compartment.
It now resides on my workbench until I get around to figuring out where it goes!

 

That plastic piece is quite the varmint.

 

Just to let you know, those cats are a joke and will not come close to passing emissions if you have to. I had my car with headers and cats smogged here in CA after I moved here, and I don't know how much of the bad stuff the cats remove, but it's not much. I ended up having to put my stock system back on.

 

I would assume that CA is the strictest of all emissions tests with all the tree hugging going on there. So far I'm safe in Fla. except for the oil soon to be washing ashore. Thanks BP!

Jeff

 

I think the o2 sensor is $50 or $60 depending on if it's pre or post cat. I had the same thing happen to on my post cat drivers side. I hit it with some heat and was able to get it out, but there's no way it will thread into the new bung.

With regards to the cats and emissions, I get the monthly email from Onstar telling me that my emissions system needs to be serviced by the dealer immediately. I chuckle and delete it.

No check engine light though!

 

I looked and looked and can't find it's home. It will now reside on my workbench too!
Jeff