I wanna put some headers on my 94 next week. it looks kinda tight under the hood. do I gotta raise or lower the motor install headers thinking of gettin pacesetter long tubes? if so ima have to take it to the shop.

 

I am going to guess that the headers will have to be installed from underneath. I have not done this mod on a 4th gen but on a couple of other cars I have put headers on sometimes the easy way has been from under the car. I have done a 3rd gen Firebird and that was from the bottom.

Massey

 

Make sure you get either stainless steel or coated headers. If not they will rust out in about 3 years and the whole process will have to be repeated.

1. Take the steering linkage off.

2. Take the dipstick out.

It makes it a lot easier if you take those off.

3. You should only have to jack up the passenger side part of the engine. I had to jack both sides but I didn't have the car that high off the ground.

4. Replace your plug wires and spark plugs if they haven't been replaced recently.


Hope this helps !

 

I will type this again and hopefully craby will sticky it

Installing Pacesetter long tubes

*** please note, the opinions expressed in this write up are solely those of torque_is_good ( who, has spent decades learning things the hard way),and not the policy of this forum.

if at all possible in your state, get the headers without AIR and EGR as they are much easier to install

things to purchase prior to installation

tie wraps
O2 extensions : www.lsxtune.com has them at affordable prices
Can of liquid wrench or PB Blaster
heat sleeve, approximately 2 feet
new spark plugs
new spark plug wires- jegs 8.5mm yellow wires for about $30 work great
vacuum caps or a golf tee to plug up the egr vacumm until you can get a cap.
Y pipe- preferably an off road Y pipe
if removing the EGR and AIR, a set of block off plates from Ebay or Jegs/summit
most important: a set of Percys Seal-4-Good gaskets ($31 at summit and this is one of those things you learn over decades)

tools other than the usual suspects= a sawz-all and a block of wood

at least one hour before starting, but better the night before, spray the exhaust manifold bolts with PB Blaster or equivalent

jack up car

remove starter

if automatic tranny, remove flywheel cover

remove oil dipstick

disconnect steering linkage and toss away the plastic shield because it isn't going back on

using sawz all, cut off the old y pipe, don't mess with the bolts

remove exhaust manifolds

if you can, remove the AIR and EGR and install EGR block off. Until you can get the EGR tuned out by Solomon www.lt1pcmtuning.com , leave the egr solenoid connected so you don't get an SES light.

remove alternator

remove passenger side valve cover

take approx a 2 foot section of heat sleeve and put onto the ABS line on the front passenger side that runs right to the brake. When you see where the long tube headers run you will be glad you spent the $8 for the sleeve and took the precaution and installed it prior to the headers.

tighten your automatic transmission pan bolts because they came loose (it doesn't hurt to check)

disconnect plug wires from optispark and run new ones being sure to label them

remove the bolt from both sides of the engine mount

It's now time to install the headers and pat yourself on the back for having listened and purchased the Percys gaskets because it stinks doing the job twice or trying to kid yourself that tightening the header bolts will make your exhaust leak go away.


both sides can be installed from up top

the driver side is a piece of cake so hand tighten the screws and then install your spark plugs while the header still wiggles


go under the car, put a block of wood under the oil pan and raise the engine about 2 inches

from up top, feed the passenger side down. If you don't have the egr and AIR it's much easier. Just when you think that it won't go in, shove the engine toward the drivers side and the header will drop right in. Hand tighten the header bolts and install the new spark plugs.

you can now lower the engine but don't put the motor mount bolts in until you are sure you don't need to lift the engine again.

Re-install the oil dipstick and use a few tie wraps to attach your O2 cable to the dipstick

Make note of how close the passenger side header is to the ABS wires and smile because you already installed $8 worth of insurance

Slip on the Y pipe and then go back and tighten the headers

put it all back together but be prepared to have to replace your O2's in about a month because they will become fouled from the goo inside the new headers until it burns off. That will be when you contact Solomon and have him tune your car to delete EGR, tune it for 93 octane, maybe tune out the VATS or anything else and with new O2's, you'll get more power and better mpg.

 

Make sure you get PERCYS GASKETS !

They work great !

Thanks torque_is_good !

 

Any top end brand gasket is a must and make sure the gasket matches the size of the tubes or if you have to shave any off it is a dumb way to lose power. but anyway i did mine through the top well kinda you will have to remove quite a few things and disconnect(if possible) the y pipe from headers and you absolutely have to replace plugs and wires mainly cause your going to have to take the headers off in the future to. and if you choose to remove the cat(big power gain) make sur you cut on the inside of the flanges so you can still use them and avoid exhaust leaks.... Hope i helped

 

yea make sure you take the oil dipstick off i broke mine doing my headers! ugh