There have been some ppl that claim it took over 5 hours. Others have said its a pain but should be done in a couple of hours. How long did it take you or your shop to do it?

 

Took us about 4hrs



Certified Window Tint & Detailing Specialist
Clearshield ("Clearbra") Authorized Dealer
Madico Dealer
syu@machiii.net

 

Just a couple hours? I don't get the impression that shops that have done several can do it that fast. See for yourself what's involved.
http://www.350zforum.com/tech/NISMOR...neheaders.aspx


Least expensive I've every heard of a shop doing the install for is $345 and thats a independent shop of course.



"All that's necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing.”
Edmund Burke

G35 6mt

 

$345, that better be including the headers. My guy charges $100-$150 for the installation

Ivory Pearl / 6MT / Aero / Premium / Xenon Lights Everywhere / Mirror Tint / Injen CAI / Injen SES Exhaust / Tanabe Racing Springs / Ground Wire Kit / Apex'i S-AFC II

 

Next obvious question: who is your guy so we can make him our guy too.

 

These car's are not like inline 4's, $100-$150 is what someone charges to do a 4 cylinder car. Anyone that charges $100 to $150 they won't be in business long, do you realize what's involved?

Installation:
1. Before beginning the installation, check the trueness of the new header's flanges with a straight edge and feeler gauge. Everything needs to be very square to not leak. The Z33's exhaust manifold gaskets are triple ply metal, so they don't conform real well to irregularities like paper/metal combos or other pliable gasket materials. There shouldn't be more then a 0.3mm (0.012") variance (this is listed in the service manual for the OEM exhaust manifolds. The header flanges can probably be a little more out of true and be fine once installed).

2. Jack up car's front and put it on jack stands (there's a reason to not use ramps later on). Refer to the lifting TECH page for info on getting the car in the air safely. Spray a penetrating lubricant on the nuts holding the 3-way catalytic convertors to the exhaust manifolds and to the main exhaust pipe. Also spray the two nuts on the cats connecting them to the exhaust brace in the middle. I recommend using PB Blaster brand found at most car parts stores.

3. Disconnect the negative terminal on the battery (1 x 10mm nut). Make sure it cannot come back in contact with the terminal post on the battery

4. Remove the front underpan (14 x 10mm bolts, 1 round black push button type clip). The black clip is found in multiple places on the car, simply use something to pry the center out a little bit and the clip will release whatever it's holding

5. Drain the radiator/block. Remove the plug (1 x phillips plug) on the driver side of the radiator bottom to drain into a container. Open the radiator cap to increase flow. Also remove the air bleeder plug on the heater hose back by the battery (1 x phillips plug) . I made a huge mess when I removed the water pipe later on in the installation because I couldn't get enough of the coolant out. About that same time I found out there are 3 drain plugs on the block. There should be one on the passenger side of the block towards the back at the rearmost cylinder. Remove this to drain out more coolant to a lower level then the side water pipe. I just disconnected the water pipe above it and had coolant go everywhere into my drainpan, not the best way to get it done. Antifreeze is slick and makes things miserable when it's dripping onto you. I suggest getting a funnel to guide the fluid into the container without getting all over everything on that side of the engine. Hopefully this will empty the water pipe so it doesn't make a mess. After it finishes draining, screw the lower drain plug back in place and snug it down, replace the en brace. I used a crescent wrench on the large adjustment nuts. Loosen the 2 jamnuts gine block drain plug.

6. Remove the engine cover (2 x 10mm acorn nuts, 2 x 10mm bolts). Once the cover is off, replace the acorn nuts on the studs sticking out of the upper intake. It makes for 2 less things to stick one's self on.

7. Remove the intake assembly. Disconnect the mass airflow sensor plug and pull the wiring out of the metal tie and unclip it with needle nose pliers (arrows in 8.). Loosen the hose clamp on the throttle body (1 x 8mm hose clamp) (9.). Remove the bolts holding the piping and airbox in place (2 x 10mm bolts) (dots in 8. & 10.). Pull the large hose off the throttle body, disconnect the smaller PCV hose connecting to the bottom of the large hose (1 x squeeze clamp). Unclip the air duct going out of the front of the airbox and push it forward. Give the airbox assembly a good tug straight up to pop it out of it's retaining grommets on the bottom. Disconnect the ground strap going from the block to the fender with a black plug midway up the fender well .

8. Remove the exhaust cross brace (2 x 14mm bolts) (13.) (2 x 14mm wide shouldered nuts) (14.). The wide shoulder nuts are roughly the same as the other exhaust nuts, so it's easy to get them mixed up.

9. Remove the rear O2 sensors. Unplug the green and blue connectors in the bottom center of the transmission. Unclip both of them from their bracket and unclip the wires from the same bracket. With a proper O2 removal tool (16.), take out the rear O2 sensors and carefully set them aside.

10. Remove the 3-way catalytic convertors. Disconnect the rear first (4 x 14mm nuts). I use a 14mm deep socket. It puts the head of the tool right where the shielding weld grooves are. Remove the backward facing nuts first on the manifold to cat flange (2 x 14mm nuts). To get to the manifold to cat flange nuts that are pointing forward, I use a 2' long 3/8" drive extension with a swivel and the socket on the very end going in from the top of the engine bay (4 x 14mm nuts). Pull the main exhaust back from the cat and then pull the cat off the manifold. Be careful, the cat does have some weight to it and dropping it is not good for the ceramic matrix inside it.

11. Remove the front O2 sensors. Unplug the green to green connector on the driver side under where the large intake hose was. Unclip the connector with a flat blade screwdriver and remove it from the bracket. Trace the wire back toward the sensor. There is a clip on the back of the engine (upper arrow in. Use a straight blade screwdriver to pry the clip out of the bracket hole. Unplug the green to gray connector (this is how it was on this car) on the opposite side as the driver's connector . Unclip it the same way from the bracket. Trace the wire back to it's secondary clip and unclip it. Both wires need to be free because they need to twist to unscrew the sensors themselves. Remove both sensors using the proper O2 removal tool. Carefully set them aside.

12. Disconnect the U-joint. Remove the lower bolt from the joint, loosen the top one (2 x 12mm bolts). Note exactly where the paint markings are on and around the steering rack shaft in relation to the U-joint. If needed, add more. There's a blue plastic indexer on the steering rack shaft that should point to the split in the bottom of the U-joint. This isn't always 100% accurate, and is why I recommend painting/scribing new ones. Back the U-joint off the steering rack shaft and tighten the top bolt to hold the U-joint on the steering shaft. Let the steering column hang loose. DO NOT turn the steering wheel, there's a spiral cable that can be harmed if the wheel is turned too far. Hopefully the key is in the off position and the column will lock before turning too far.

13. Disconnect the wiring on the passenger side of the engine. Unbolt the ground wire on the front passenger corner of the engine (1 x 10mm bolt). Trace it back to a bracket that has 3 wires clipped to it. Unclip the front two wires, and unbolt the bracket that holds the battery cable in place (1 x 10mm bolt) .

14. Disconnect the hoses on the passenger side of the engine to allow access to the water pipe. Remove the vacuum line from the upper intake to the battery box (2 x squeeze clamps). Disconnect the large rubber heater hose coming off the water pipe and the smaller bypass hose coming up diagonally behind it (2 x squeeze clamp). Remove the front water heater hose (1 x squeeze clamp). Remove the upper radiator hose (2 x squeeze clamps). Disconnect the hose going down to the fluid to fluid oil cooler (1 x squeeze clamp).

15. Remove the water pipe. There is a bolt at the rear of the water pipe that holds it to the water outlet, it's underneath the water pipe facing forward. It really can't be seen easily from above. I don't think the rear bolt can be reached from the bottom when the exhaust manifolds are in place. I used a 12mm socket on a 9" extension, then a swivel, then another 9" extension, then the handle to get to it (30.) (1 x 12mm bolt) (left arrow in 31.). Unbolt the front of the water pipe from the engine (1 x 12mm bolt) (right arrow in 31.). Pull the water pipe straight forward from the water outlet. It might need to be wiggled a little side to side to come loose.

17. Disconnect the heat shields from the exhaust manifolds (8 x 10mm bolts) The shields won't come out until the manifolds are coming out, they will have to be moved around in the engine bay to allow access to the manifold nuts in the next step. Spray all the exhaust studs with penetrating lubricant and let them sit for 10 minutes or so for the lubricant to work itself in.

18. Remove the manifolds and heat shields (12 x 14mm nuts). The most problematic nuts are the front one on either side. I think on the JDM cars they are easier to remove because the alternator and AC compressor are on opposite sides. I used the 14mm mid length socket on a swivel on a 3" extension from the top to get around the AC compressor fittings on the driver side. On the passenger side front nut, unclip the oil cooler hose from the bracket right by the nut and bend the hose over. I used the 14mm mid length socket with a swivel with a piece of hose on the swivel to keep it straight enough to get on the nut from the top (my swivel is loose). The rear nut on the driver side can be gotten at from below with a socket wrench. The rear nut on the passenger side required a 14mm box end wrench for me to remove it from below. The rest should be straight forward using the 14mm mid length socket on the 3" extension and working from the top. Some of the nuts will pull the studs out as well, just remove whatever comes out. Pull the manifolds out from below with the loose heat shields. Also, I twisted the squeeze clamp on the heater hose right in the middle a little bit to keep it from scraping off the back of my hand while wrenching on the manifold nuts on the driver side.

19. Check the exhaust gaskets for proper orientation. In between 2 cylinders is a wider section of the gasket with a small hole stamped in it. Facing whichever side of the block, the wide part should go to the right with the hole facing up. I think everything is indexed in such a way where that is the only way it will fit if all the studs are in the heads. Any of the studs that came out with the nuts should be broken loose from each other and the studs need to be driven into the head. The front two cylinders have the same diagonal pattern, the rear cylinder is opposite diagonal. Look at the OEM exhaust manifolds to see what goes where. The middles have 4 possible holes, but only 2 will have traces of having been bolted down. Torque studs to 10-12 ft-lbs. each.

20. Install the headers. Take a close look at the welds that are close to the holes for the studs and make sure there is clearance for the shoulders on the nuts. The rearmost nut on the driver side needed a smaller washer under it to clear the radius of the weld properly once the header was in place. I might recommend cutting off the star part on the end of the 3rd stud from the front on the driver side. Once the header is in place, a box end wrench will not fit over the stud if it's full length. With the exhaust gaskets hanging on the studs, carefully position the header over the gasket and onto the studs. Put a little anti-seize compound on the inside of each nut. Start each nut a couple of turns, then snug them down. Torque to 21-23 ft-lbs. After torquing all 6, retorque #1 and #2 in the middle of each side. (12 x 14mm nuts) (38. & 39.). I was able to get to all of the nuts with a 3" extension and the 14mm mid length socket except the lower middle nut on either side or the rear most nuts. I used a box end wrench on those. Torque as many of the nuts as possible. Some nuts are basically impossible to get a torque wrench onto while the engine is in the chassis.

21. Install the water pipe. Reclip the oil cooler hose to it's bracket by the front passenger exhaust header nut. Replace the large O-ring on the back end of the water pipe if the car has 30k+ miles on it or is over 3 years old. Carefully re-seat the water pipe into the water outlet. The lower bolt can be reached from below with a wrench. Torque to 16-20 ft-lbs (1 x 12mm bolt) Connect the water pipe to the engine (1 x 12mm bolt). Torque to 18-23 ft-lbs.

22. Connect the hoses to the water pipe. Connect the small water bypass hose to the diagonal outlet (1 x squeeze clamp) . Connect the large heater hose to the large outlet (1 x squeeze clamp). Connect the hose going down to the fluid to fluid oil cooler (1 x squeeze clamp). Install the upper radiator hose (2 x squeeze clamps) . Connect the front heater hose (1 x squeeze clamp). Install the vacuum line from the upper intake to the battery box (2 x squeeze clamps).

23. Connect the wiring on the driver side of the engine. Bolt the battery cable bracket back to the bracket on the water pipe (1 x 10 mm bolt). Torque to 56-73 inch-lbs. Clip both wires back to the water pipe bracket. Connect the ground to the engine (1 x 10 mm bolt).

24. Install the front O2 sensors. On this car they were both green plugs, I put them back in the same places. Not sure what the significance of the colors are, since worse case it looks like both on the driver side are green, the front on the passenger side would be grey and the rear on the passenger side would be blue going by the connectors. Put a small amount of anti-seize compound on the sensor threads and finger tighten them. Torque both to 30-36 ft-lbs using the proper O2 tool. Run the wires up the backside of the engine to the middle clips and clip them. Then clip the plugs into the proper brackets. Reconnect each sensor plug.

25. Connect the U-joint. This is where putting the car on stands instead of ramps pays off. On this car, things lined up in such a way where the U-joint couldn't be put back in place because of interference with the header's shape. I struggled with it because I was using ramps and couldn't turn the wheels. With stands, the wheels can be slightly turned where the U-joint will slip back down on the steering rack shaft without clearance problems. Loosen the top bolt (1 x 12mm bolt) and slide the U-joint back onto the correct splines using the markings made earlier, the factory paint dots and the blue plastic indexing ring on the steering rack shaft (24.). Again, DO NOT turn the steering wheel any further then required to re-align the parts. Insert the lower bolt (1 x 12mm bolt) and torque to 18-21 ft-lbs.

26. Install the 3-way catalytic convertors. The headers come with 2 nut and bolt combos to replace the missing studs on the exhaust manifolds. Those should go on the top inside holes. Put the triangular metal gaskets on the fronts of the cats and put cat studs up into the headers. Start 2 nuts on each side (4 x 14mm nuts). Get the studs from the main exhaust pipe into the backs of the cats to hold them in place and start nuts on all four studs (4 x 14mm nuts). Use the 24" extension and swivel to tighten the forward facing studs. The tops on both sides are the same. The bottoms are more difficult because of the shape of the headers interferes again. I probably could have torqued both of them from below. I ended up making a complex extension mess with 2 swivels and a couple extensions. Not optimal, but it was functional. The included nut bolt combos were torqued from below (2 x 17mm nuts and bolts). Torque to 45-48 ft-lbs. Torque the cat to main exhaust nuts to 34-44 ft-lbs.

27. Install the rear O2 sensors. As with the front, apply a small amount of anti-seize to the threads. Make sure the correct color plug is going in the correct side. Finger tighten them and then torque them to 30-36 ft-lbs using the proper O2 tool. Connect the colored plugs to the matching plug, clip the plug into the bracket and clip the wire into the bracket.

28. Install the exhaust cross brace. Make sure the wide shouldered nuts are going back onto the 3-way catalytic convertors (2 x 14mm wide shouldered nuts) (2 x 14mm bolts). Get both bolts and both nuts (14.) threaded before torquing them all to 19-23 ft-lbs.

29. Install the intake assembly. Reconnect the ground strap from the engine block to the fender well. Set the intake assembly in the correct position. Look from the center of the car under the box to see the retaining grommets. Push the assembly back into place (8.). Push the air duct back into the front of the airbox and set the black clip. Connect the smaller PCV hose to the bottom of the main intake hose (1 x squeeze clamp). Connect the main intake hose to the throttle body. Make sure the triangle indexing hole on the clamp is lined up properly on the main intake hose (1 x 8mm hose clamp) (9.). Bolt down the main intake hose and airbox (2 x 10 mm bolts) (dots in 10. & 8.). Torque to 45-57 inch-lbs. Connect the mass airflow sensor and clip the wire back to it's bracket.

30. Install the engine cover (2 x 10mm acorn nuts, 2 x 10mm bolts). Torque to 45-57 inch-lbs.

31. Install the front underpan (14 x 10mm bolts, 1 round black push button clip).

32. Connect the negative terminal on the battery (1 x 10mm nut). If there is a ground web installed, make sure it's lead is connected to the negative terminal.

33. Make sure the parking brake is pulled and the car is in park/neutral. Start the car and listen for exhaust leaks. DO NOT let the car run more then a minute or two without coolant, it could cause damage to the engine from overheating. If exhaust leaks are found, fix them now, otherwise fill the radiator with the proper mixture of antifreeze and distilled water until it comes out the air bleeder hole on the heater hose back by the battery. Start the car and again turn on the AC to max cold. Let the car idle until it comes up to temperature. Replace the air bleed plug on the rear heater hose. Continue letting the car run while adding coolant as required for 15 minutes. If too much air is left in the system, the engine will overheat. Also make sure the overflow reservoir is filled between the MIN and MAX indicators.



"All that's necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing.”
Edmund Burke

G35 6mt

 

Gsedan35 is right.........$125-$150 is the cost for a regular header install......... Hondas & Toyotas. If a shop is willing to do this job for $150, then it's likely they have not tried installing it on the 350Zs / G35s. With two guys on the car, it took us a little over 4 hrs to do the job and charged $390. We've been doing this for 10yrs and I have to say, it was a tough job compared to doing a typical Honda install.



Certified Window Tint & Detailing Specialist
Clearshield & Madico Window Film Dealer
syu@machiii.net

 

My guy...thats funny saying that...he's my friend. But its 150 to install. We're in Orlando, Florida at Racing Zone.

Ivory Pearl / 6MT / Aero / Premium / Xenon Lights Everywhere / Mirror Tint / Injen CAI / Injen SES Exhaust / Tanabe Racing Springs / Ground Wire Kit / Apex'i S-AFC II

 

When/if I do it, I'll be coming to see you guys Josh. I love working on my car but it's worth $150 to not do those 33 steps.

Russ

Black 6MT Coupe
Jax, FL
PS2 and Headrest Monitors Thread

 

No problem, I def won't attempt all that. I got confused just reading the first sentence of each step.

Ivory Pearl / 6MT / Aero / Premium / Xenon Lights Everywhere / Mirror Tint / Injen CAI / Injen SES Exhaust / Tanabe Racing Springs / Ground Wire Kit / Apex'i S-AFC II

 

Took about 8-10 hours for the 350z I did. Had some troubles with header bolts and some other little issues. Took a lot of time to be careful too

Took 4-5 hours for my G35 the next day. Other small issues like building a spacer/washer for a header weld, etc.

I think I could do another in about 4 hours now, but any faster would be tough due to all the steps involved...

 

it took my mechanic around 8hrs to do mine (with ZERO fitment issues) - it was worth the $425 spent though - I attempted this myself and after about two hours of pure frustration, I knew there was no way I was going to do it on my own...

 

Anyone know what the book time is on the job? You know, how much Nissan would charge for a Nismo header install, regardless of how long it takes them to do the job.

 

There is no "book time" for aftermarket headers. This is about a 7 labor hour job.

 

Wow, $150 is a steal. If I were in FL I would pay him to do it rather than do it myself. I charge $400 to do it at my shop. Takes about 5hrs.