Alright as promised here are some updates with the cheapy shorty headers. Installed them over the weekend and it was a breeze and by breeze I mean a friggin hurricane. The headers arrived great, well packaged and no damages. The header wrap I bought was garbage but because of time constraints had to use it. The headers actually fit great but I pulled a couple boo boos. First off had two busted studs deep inside the heads one on the upper rear passenger side and one upper front drivers side. Without a welder or a set of easy outs here is what I did. Started with a very small drill bit, pb blaster and a lot of patience and started drilling. Once in a quarter inch I changed to the next size bit and went only an eighth inch in then next size but and only a 16th inch effectively tapering the hole. I then ( and this is the geneous part) took a small torx bit and tapped it into the hole then I took my quarter inch drive ratchet and appropriate size socket and backed the studs right out easy breezy. Can you say redneck easyout?
Installing the headers I boo booed by damaging one of my Remflex gaskets which really pissed me off something furious. So I had the brainy idea that I would chisel the old gaskets off of the heat shield and use the cheap gaskets that came with the headers along with the heat shields because I liked the idea of having the extra protection from the heat even though they are wrapped. Well got everything in and tightened up, started it up and exhaust leaks everywhere! So off come the headers and out come the heat shields because I discovered that because of the bends in the headers they won't allow the shields to lay flat. Once I took them out it was all ok. Here are a couple pointers that will really help out if you do this. IF you decide to wrap your headers like I did be advised that there are a couple of studs that you are going to fight your ass off getting in because the clearance is so tight to begin with that once you add the thickness of the wrap you can't get the studs in. There is one on each side like that so get yourself a spare cheap 10mm wrench and grind the open end down to about half thickness and if possible put about a 20 degree bend on the wrench about an inch down. You'll thank me for this. Next when you get to the drivers side don't think you are going to work around the steering shaft. Just take it apart and zip tie it up out of the way. Also remove both the knock sensors. You'll need the room to get a wrench in there and if you don't have a set of racheting wrenches, or at least a 10mm get some they are worth their weight in gold. Also I wouldn't mess with the stage 8 locking header studs, #1 because I am reading online that the locking tabs will actually vibrate against the headers and the knock sensors will pick up that noise and think it's spark knock. The stud kit I bought from Mr Gasket actually saved me a lot of hassle because they come with a special tool for installing the difficult studs plus they are grade 8 stainless steel with teeth on the stud heads to bite into the headers so they won't loosen not to mention they are half the price of stage 8's.
The oil dipstick wasn't much of a hassle so not sure what everyone complains about that for? Then again I didn't remove mine just bent it while it was still in.
One other thing I noticed was made me feel real good. I started looking at JBA headers and YouTube videos installing them ( boosted Motorsports) and I noticed that the ones I just bought are EXACTLY the same as the JBA except for the price $219 and the little company tag that is welded on. EXACTLY the same. Was shocked and would advise anyone thinking about buying some to do so quickly before JBA realizes that their patterns have been stolen and sues this company! Lol
Going to try to attach some pictures. Hope this helps you all out. Any more help I can be just email me.
