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Once it arrives, plan on sending it out to Jet Hot or Swaintech for ceramic coating. Also plan on getting these spark plug wire boot socks. https://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS/555/40302/10002/-1
Long term, plan on staying N/A. Basically a weekend street car that may or may not see some drag strip. Plan on getting a dyno tune following the install. Is there anything else i should consider doing at the same time or am missing for this install?
I'd recommend a started heat shield. I went with a DEi heat shield. Non-coated 1-7/8" AR Headers, and exteme summer heat were I live. So far no issues with the starter.
Any experience with this for the tunnel plate insulation? Or is upgrading to a thicker plate the better choice?
Think I may go with a heat shield for the starter instead of a wrap. Found this one but kinda expensive for what it is. Will keep looking. I'm also in the Houston area TwentySix. Did you get yours dyno tuned after the headers and if so where at? https://www.lingenfelter.com/product/L800010000.html
Any experience with this for the tunnel plate insulation? Or is upgrading to a thicker plate the better choice?
Think I may go with a heat shield for the starter instead of a wrap. Found this one but kinda expensive for what it is. Will keep looking. I'm also in the Houston area TwentySix. Did you get yours dyno tuned after the headers and if so where at? https://www.lingenfelter.com/product/L800010000.html
Yes..... tune was done by Jeff at BC Raceworks, but I think he is at Power Fab now.
LG 1 7/8 Super Pros/X pipe and hi-flow cats with Jet Hot coating (not on the X pipe or cats). Had minor adapters made to fit the LG X pipe to the OEM pipes. They sound great, btw. I went with the TPS 1/4" tunnel plate (unshielded), DEI spark lug socks and no starter shielding. Tunnel still gets hotter than I'd like and if I did it over, I'd shield the tunnel. I did put a little DEI adhesive-backed shielding under the console compartment and it may help a little. I'm not storing any Hershey bars in there though. The plugs and starter have been fine and I do think the header coating keeps engine compartment temps down some. I had it tuned by Browning Tuning in Moultrie GA and he tuned out the second set of O2 sensors as LG says you don't need them and I guess I don't as it has worked fine. The headers were installed a week or two before the BTR Stage 1 cam and I drove the car from install shop 2 hours to the tuner and had to stay on the gas (in neutral) at stops to keep it running. Made it there and all was ok.
I literally did none of these things. The only issue I had was my rear 02 clips hanging on the mid pipe in which I sleeved them.
I have driven the car extensively and beat the living **** out of it including dynoing it on a 96* ambient day and have never, not once had an issue with the starter or heat protruding into the cabin.
Headers came in and getting them coated now. Should be ready right after Christmas. Ended up ordering DEI tunnel and side shielding.
Most searches I browsed through say it's not really necessary for the LS3 but is there any benefit at all with a new air intake such as the Halltech? Or is it really just a waste even if I am getting tuned with the headers?
Headers came in and getting them coated now. Should be ready right after Christmas. Ended up ordering DEI tunnel and side shielding.
Most searches I browsed through say it's not really necessary for the LS3 but is there any benefit at all with a new air intake such as the Halltech? Or is it really just a waste even if I am getting tuned with the headers?
The Halltech is a nice intake. In particular, the beehive shield does make a big difference in preventing the engine from ingesting hot engine compartment air.
The stock intake is excellent but can also be improved by adding a Haltech behive shroud. Haltech sells an uncut shroud that you can cut and fit. They also sell a precut shroud that will fit the stock LS3 intake as well.
absolutely wrap your starter, or at least the wires to it. they will fail eventually from the heat, it only a matter of time. my tuner said spark plug socks are unnecessary but recommends good wires that allow you to adjust the angle of the boot, and taking care to position so they are not touching the headers.
If you get long tube headers, you will the O2 extender harnesses. Get a heat sheild, not a wrap for the starter. You need to reflect the radiant heat away from the starter. And get the spark plug socks too. That's all I can think of for now. I would have purchased the 1-3/4" dia. for street use, but to each his own...
I literally did none of these things. The only issue I had was my rear 02 clips hanging on the mid pipe in which I sleeved them.
I have driven the car extensively and beat the living **** out of it including dynoing it on a 96* ambient day and have never, not once had an issue with the starter or heat protruding into the cabin.
Just because you haven't had an issue doesn't make it safe, if you have leaks or other issues then the extra heat from the headers greatly increases the chance of a fire, which I've seen/heard of happening before on unwrapped headers.
Not to mention the extra heat will greatly wear out all rubber and plastic components in your engine bay, which increases the chance of electrical issues among other things.
I'm with PM on this one, Header related fires are typically because someone forgot to pin something up where it needed to be or got careless. I've been around a lot of LS motors and Vettes with headers... I have yet to see a fire from something that wasn't attributed to direct carelessness from the installer. I've ran all of my headers void wrap for many years and never had an issue. A starter heat shield isn't a terrible idea but more so for the longevity of the starter rather some sort of safety concern. If you're really worried about ambient heat get them Cerakoted. I saw a 30 degree drop at the primaries from doing it. That being said I ran them bare for years (constant abuse and 10s of 1000s of miles) without any issue, I just did it because I wanted pretty bronze headers that matched my valve covers.
Ended up getting the headers ceramic coated through a local shop by me. Got them installed and tuned the other week. Did the DEI tunnel plate insulation and the shop recommended changing the spark plug wires and not using the spark plug socks. So far running and sounding great 👍
You guys are killing me. On the fence about doing headers on stock base. Seemed expensive for the payoff. I would want to do it right like the previous posters.
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Anything else needed when doing headers?
