I want to put true duals on my camaro with some long tubes. I was curious as to which headers are the best lbs. for lbs. and not too hard on the wallet.

Also, how hard is it to remove and insall the O2 sensors. Are the air injection lines going into the stock manifolds going to pose an issue?

 

Are you in an area where you have to stay emissions legal? If you're on a little bit of a budget I would recommend Dynatech headers (note that you have to buy the collector separate), they're a little higher quality than Pacesetter. Kooks are probably considered the "best" but they also come with a price tag. Also, consider that true duals will cut down on your ground clearance considerably and unless you're ready to spend some big money you need to dump them before the axle.

 

No, im in florida so there are no emissions laws. i don't have a cat on the car now. If i stuck with a single pipe like i have now, are headers worth the money or trouble?

 

LTs are worth it

I too am in FL and the car no longer has AIR and i should have deleted the EGR as well and bought LTs without them. The neck for EGR is a pain in the butt and fights with the transmission dipstick (if you have an auto)

If you are a 95 LT1 or older, then get LT's without AIR and EGR and they go in a lot eaiser

Pacesetter armor coated are OK but be sure to get some Percys seal 4 good gaskets. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise and don't be cheap, spend the $30. LSXtune has inexpensive O2 extensions and get some heat sleeve for the ABS cable on the passenger side as it runs right along one of the pipes and the sleeve ($15) is cheap insurance. Tie wrap the starter and O2 cable on passenger side to the oil dipstick. plug wires are no problem as you can use the stock looms. I have jegs 8.5mm wires running

Put the car on stands in the front, unbolt both motor mounts jack the engine and push it over to a side and both the passenger and drivers side drop in from the top.

With LT's, spark plug changes will go from "what were the GM engineers thinking" to "hey, I did all 8 in less than 30 minutes, piece of cake"

 

wow thanks for the info. but do you really need to hoist the engine up to remove the old manifolds? And my car is a 94 with the auto trans. any recommendations on safely removing the old headers? they've been sitting on the engine for it's whole life and i'd like to avoid damaging anything around the block, or breaking bolts and such...are the usual suspects like PB oil and wd40 the best lubricants to use around those parts? and how should i go about cutting the old exhaust to make room for the LTs? And if I were to remove the AIR and EGR where do the lines and the air pump go? Is ther some bypass or soemthing?

 

First, set your mind to the fact that you will be without your ride for a couple days.

Next, since you are in FL, get LTs without AIR and EGR

Buy a couple new O2 sensors to put in after a couple weeks of running with the old ones.

get percys seal 4 good gaskets. I can't stress that enough.
get the o2 extensions
get the heat sleeve

get an egr block plate to put on your intake manifold. You'll be doing it be feel because you can't see back there.

PB blaster is your friend and soak those manifold bolts the night before

get a 14 mm deep socket for getting the manifold bolts

if you don't have one, borrow a sawz all

you'll be putting on a new Y pipe to mate up to your cat back so don't even bother trying to unbolt the factory y-pipe. Cut it off so you can get to the manifold bolts

take off your starter

you'll need to disconnect the sensor on the left side of the block

resolve yourself to the fact that

you will remove the steering linkage
you will need to put a jack ( i used a bottle jack) and a block of wood under the oil pan and unbolt both motor mounts in order to install the LT's

seriously, it makes life a lot easier to undo the mounts (the bolt going through them) and remove your passenger valve cover and drop the headers in from the top. Just jack the engine up about an inch, shove the motor over to the driver side a little and the passenger side drops in

this is where you'll love the percys. You won't want to have to mess with the bolts again and again because the Mr gaskets or pacesetter gaskets leak. Oh, I dimpled my headers in a couple spots so I could get a wrench in easier. If you've never done that, ask someone.

Is it easy, heck no. Is it worth it, absolutely.

You may as well throw in some new plugs and wires while you are there.

 

^x2

I have Kooks headers, I didn't have to remove the valve covers and I was able to get both headers in from the bottom without removing any steering linkage either. It could be different for different brands of headers, but that was my personal experience. I personally used a belt sander to modify a wrench to get all my bolts installed, but whatever works for you is what you should do. I also run Mr. Gasket premium line gaskets and have had no issues with them.