Ok, I have a descent amount of mechanical ability, but not a great selection of tools. Basic hand tools to be exact. I started at 8am and finished at 1pm with an hour break to get some food and a mid size 14mm for the front bolt on the drivers side manifold.

I am really suprised on how problem free this install was, due to all the posts about how hard it is said to be.. In my opinion the hardest thing was getting the water pipe off on the passenger side. I didn't have to remove anything but the manifold on the driver side (steering column, water pipe).

The overall sound of the car is awesome, i now have the t-pros headers, t-pros downpipes and the rest of the exhaust is stock. 1/2" mtrdyne spacer, pop charger, and z-tube. It's like the stock sound of my G on steroids.. I also have a y-pipe, but when the y-pipe is on, it doesn't sound as good, it has like a clatter to the exhaust note..

Just wanted to share this info with anyone wanting to do the headers themselves, but are afraid it will be to hard!!!!

 

congrats on your work man

 

thanx...

 

sound clip.......

 

What is the A/F Ratio. Are you running lean now?

 

adding the Y-pipe back in should give you some nice gains... the cats and the Y-pipe are the two biggest bottlenecks of the stock system. do you feel like you lost low end torque? i definitely did, but once i pass 3000 it feels great.

if you end up doing the Y-pipe and exhaust you may find that the test pipes make the exhaust note too raspy, which might be the sound you are describing. try using the stock cats with the Y-pipe and see if it goes away... if it does then the test pipes are to blame for the weird sound

do you find that you get a lot of like pops and "backfires" from the exhaust now?... with my headers, cats, y-pipe, and exhaust when i rev in neutral i get all kinds of pops from the exhaust

EDIT: i second the above... get your AFR checked... with headers, high flow cats, and a Y-pipe i was running pretty lean, like around 14.2.

 

I was told by my installer that it was a really tight space to work in, then he showed me how mangled his hands had gotten. Don't think I would have attempted this myself, so props to you for getting the job done.


I would say after adding my Pro-1 Headers and Test Pipe's I felt a power loss down low, but as you say beyond 3000k it really comes alive. Any suggestions on how to regain that low end torque back?

 

Im waiting on my wideband o2, so i can check it.. i really hope im still around 13.1 or so. But i do expect it to be a little off. I am about to get my hands on a greddy emanage w/ software and ignition harness.. I will make sure the a/f is right then.
Just curious if anyone has had a similar setup and went with an ecu reflash, did it make a huge difference, again the greddy eman. is within my grasp, im just not sure if having an ecu reflash would be the way to go.
thanx for all the input.. nate

 

Is it that lean where I can blow my engine?

 

over time it could cause some damage!!!

 

not sure what a dangerous AFR would be considered. (stock is in the 12's i believe). i always run 93 octane just to be safe, but as soon as i can get my hands on a UTEC i'm going to get it tuned and see if i can extract the power that i know my car should be making

the Greddy eManage, as well as the TurboXS UTEC, will both accomplish most of the things you get with a reflash (re-writing of the air fuel maps, ignition timing, etc). so, if you're going with eManage, i don't think you really need a reflash IMO

 

UTEC will be in this week,come down to the shop one day..

 

There are other means of correcting fuel needs instead of spending money on high dollar stand alones and/or piggy backs. All you'd really need is an aftermarket fuel pump and an adjustable fuel pressure regulator, maybe higher flowing injectors if you want to induldge yourself. One of the best Wide Band logging systems I found is the DynoJet Wide Band Commander, it's cheaper than more sophistacated software/hardware wide band systems. It's commonly used on superbikes in conjuction with the power commander, because bikes are super sensitive to air/fuel mixtures. I've seen them used on a few cars as well...so its versitile. So with those items, just setup your static fuel pressure regulator, data log from your Wide Band, and make fuel adjustments from there with just a twist of a screw give or take a psi or two.

 

That would be a little rich for NA, but hell who knows what the a/f's are set at with the stock ecu.. In my experience they have been in the 13's for n/a stock...

 

i too am conern, actually very concern, with the lean issue as i'm modded very similar(t-headers, ypipe, zmidpipe, kn filter w/ztube, 1/2" Md plenum spacer).....i was running blind when i installed a NOS 50hp dryshot.....after emptying one bottle, i stopped spraying cause i just didn't feel right without proper a/f tuning......and didn't want to blow motor......luckly, blackstone reports all are in normal ranges......

636racer,,,,,,can you point me to a good aftermarket fuel pump and an adj fuel pressure regulator you spoke of.? I'm gonna convert to the wet setup and have the nos "dry to wet" nitrous conversion kit on hand, however, it came with a very small fuel pump........thanks