Exhaust install

[ARBOC]

I just got home from installing my BBK L/T headers and off road x pipe.
WHAT A PAIN IN THE ASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I spent 12 hours at work installing it. It took me about 2-3 hours to take off everything. I was thinking wow this is no sweat. Talk about putting my foot in my mouth. it took me a bit to get the passenger side in. I had to jack up one side of the engine. I then found out I should have taken off the starter....ARGHHHHHH.
After that the passenger side went in with out a hitch. On the driver side. The header took about 10 seconds to get into place. It took about an hour and a half to get everything lined up. the bolts wouldn't go in.
after I got them in I started with the x pipe. OMG the FU**in thing was out about 1.5 inches. I started get frustrated. I even called a shop to see if they could line everything up for me but the shop was closing in 30 minutes. I started to panic.
I took a 10 minute break and got my composer back. Then I started to loosen the header bolts. After it was loose everything lined up perfectly. I got the x pipe lined up with the headers, then on to the Magnaflow cat back system. driver side went in with ease. The pass. side wouldn't line up. It was either to close or even touching the drive shaft or else it was going to rub on the gas tank or the upper control arms. Well I finally got it together but on the way home I noticed a clunk when going over a bump, and I know its not the x-pipe but the pass. side cat back. GRRRRRR.
Ok, so back to tightening up the header bolts. Its real tight in there so I used a 1/4 inch ratchet as much as possible. The came the tedious task to using a wrench. Another 1/2 hour goes by. I also got the stage 8 locking bolts. Great idea,....until you have to install them. I dropped so many of them. I was under the car more picking the washers up than I was putting them on. Oh yeah. The pack of stage 8 bolts I got, there were only 12 bolts. I had to use 4 of the supplied BBK bolts. Talk about a kick to the nuts!!!. Remind me to get the other 4 stage 8s from the exhaust company on Monday, Bastids. So everything is tight. So now on to the EGR tube. What a PITA.
Anyhow I think it was all worth it in the end. My car sounds AWESOME. On the way home, I noticed the car hesitated at first when I hit the gas. then after that wow, what a difference. I'm thinking/hoping that its because the battery was unplugged for 12 hours. Any suggestions or helpful hints?
Oh yeah, I post pics of the Magnaflow tips tomorrow when threes light out. Other than that, I'm tired so I'm off to bed.

ARBOC

 

[fushnicken]

I put in BBK Long Tubes (Heat Treated) with BBK X-Pipe w/ CATs going back to a Flow Master Catback system. Been there and I feel your pain. Luckily, I had a friend help me with the project. He's a Chevy lover, but he knows his stuff and we get along enough of the time time, accept when it comes to car selection.

It took us a full day. We wound up doing the same thing. Removed passenger side engine mount and jacked up the motor via the trans, we took it one step further than you by dropping the starter out of the way.

Only one Caveat - We also installed Underdrives and aluminum race radiator and Accel ignition with it, but I had four hands.

If you think you had it bad, we had to do this and salvage the emissions crap which did nothing but get in our way. The X-pipe was off alignment for me as well. I applied foot pressure, holding the driver side floor. My buddy aligned and tightened up the collector bolts. BBK-to-BBK goes together, but it needs a little love and care with foot and force.

BBK left a little bit of weld slag in the O2 sensor pilot hole. I had to use my old O2 sensor and carefully thread out the slag, no problem though. Driver side wasn't bad. Dropped the steering arm out of the way and it went right in, but front bolt was a pain because the PS and A/C were in the way.

Getting everything to line up from the X-pipe to the tail tips was a science in and of itself. We wound up cranking down one of the clamps, when the passenger side tail pipe wasn't slid in all the way. We had to make a trip to Autozone for a tail pipe expander to open the pipe back up again.

You live and you learn. I could probably do the whole job in half the time now (maybe even 6-8 hours), because I know exactly what needs to be disconnected, moved and reconnected and I won't need to spend/waste time trying to thread the needle on the passenger side again.

In the end, I was very happy. The road to this end was a little painful, but my car sounds great and I have far better acceleration.

 

[ARBOC]

Here are the pics of the tail pipes. Please excuse the messy car.

 

[18mustangs]

I feel your pain, I didn't have the fitment issues, but the passenger side was a PIA to get in. The easiet path is to put the LTs on when you do the heads...more room to maneuver! As you said, the LTs sound great and give excellent power.
--Tim

 

[RIO5.0]

FWIW....Stg8 will come good on their error, contact em...I wanted some extra clips just to have and they sent em right out....freebie....
Give em a shout..
Those clips are a mother...wait til you have to get em off... actually once you done em a few times their pretty slick...first times a biotch though..they will test your patience for sure....
Set-up must sound sweet though....

Dear Andy,
Thank you for using Stage 8 Locking Fasteners.
I can send you a few FREE of charge...
To purchase a full bag of retainers and clips it is $15.00 which includes shipping and handling.
Give us a call to order, at 1-800-843-7836. Or emaill me you address and I'll drop a couple in the mail to you.
Thank you,

John Rubke
Stage 8 Fasteners, Inc.
64 Louise Street
San Rafael, CA 94901
415-485-5340 fax: 415-485-0552
www.stage8.com
www.stage8.net
www.groovelok.com
[email protected]

 

[cavscout371]

I feel your pain as well I had to put on headers I dont even think were for the car 1 3/4 with 3in collector plus I got an aode the hardest thing for me was lining up the last header bolt on the d/s I ended up having to use a jack on the collector flange of the header just to get it in there. I also learned when I welded up my own exhaust that I should have got offset inlet mufflers, oh well guess I'll just have to be real careful when going over bumps.

 

[final5-0]

What size are those tips?

Later
Grady

 

[ARBOC]

3.5 inches

 

[CManT1914]

That's why I don't plan on doing headers until I swap some heads. Just doing my h-pipe took 3 freaking hours! But it was worth it in the end, as I suppose headers are too.

 

[Swarzkopf]

Yes, swapping mid-pipes is a grand pain in the ass, let alone doing headers.

At least you could trash the old exhaust system...I kept the stock headers and had to drill out the factory, rusted totally the flange header to midpipe bolts.