OK so I got in my summit headers today. First impression is wow.....packaged very poorly and got the mess beat out of them during shipping. OK so now looking at it how in the heck am I gonna get these things in here. I had the car up on jack stands and the motor lifted as high as I can get it with a lift. Definitely can not get them in from the top. Passenger side looks doable from the bottom......driver side looks like a freaking nightmare. Is there a truck or something. I can't seem to fathom any way shape or form the driver side is going in without cutting them into a hundred pieces.
And on a side note in case the headers don't work out will stock maverick manifold work with a z bar setup? Thanks
The summit headers. Forget the part number. There are one of the sets of headers listed here on the forums.
Long tube headers are never easy. One side often goes in better from underneath, with the engine jacked up about 3". The car will have to be pretty high on jackstands, as well. Here are the instructions on my website on how I used to install Hooker long tubes. Might have a step or two that may help you. 1)Remove air cleaner assembly 2)Remove the shock tower braces 3)Pull spark plug wires 4)Remove spark plugs (may not be needed but sure gives you some extra clearance) 5)Remove both exhaust manifolds, I found it easiest to remove the driver's side from the top and the passengers side from the bottom. 6)Make sure old gaskets are removed 7)I had the car jacked up about 18-24" and on jack stands 8)on the drivers side, under the car, unbolt the power steering assist ram 9)I had to disconnect my neutral safety switch from the trans and steering column 10)You should now be able to slide the drivers side header in from underneath the car 11)The way i made sure everything was lined up was i put the rear most bolt through the gasket and threaded it in a couple threads, then do the same for the front most bolt, this way you can check all of your clearances before tightening everything down. 12)The passenger side was a little more tricky for me. 13)Unbolt the two bolts going through the frame holding the steering bar on, on the passengers side. (again, this may not be necessary but it gave me much more clearance.) 14)Unbolt the 4 engine mount bolts, 2 on each side of the engine. 15)Using about 3 pieces of 2x4(i used 3 pieces of 2x8 for more stability), use a floor jack to jack the engine up, making sure to watch the fan shroud. I had to jack mine up about 6 inches. 16)Begin to wiggle the passenger side header into place. 17)About halfway through this, you will need to lower the engine back down slowly until you get the perfect alignment. 18)Use the same procedure for the passenger side as you did the drivers for bolting the header to the head. 19)Reconnect everything you disconnected and you should be done.
Did you do the passenger side from the bottom or top? Looks like the passenger side would be the easiest side to do, maybe I'm wrong. Looks like I could unbolt the starter and have a whole lot of room. I had the car jacked up about 2 foot and an engine lift on the engine lifting it up as high as it would go ( trans bellhousing to the top of the firewall opening ).
I was able to get the passenger side in from the top. Keep in mind, mine were Hooker brand, and the shape may be a little different than yours. I remember that you need to get various protrusions to fall into some of the grooves on the headers and slide and twist as you go in. Most likely won't just stab in on the first try, and will take lots of wiggling and re-approach and retry.
With my Falcon I used a long 2x4 to pry the engine over to one side to get the header in place...the pry it to the other side for the other header. Both sides came up from underneath. Once the headers were between the engine and shock towers then I centered engine back where it goes and let the engine back down on the frame mounts. Threading the z-bar though the tubes was the hard part.
I imagine that's gonna be the hardest part for me as well. Did u have to remove your oil filter? When I lift the engine is looks like the oil filter is going to prevent me from moving the motor over any towards the driver side.
I have run Blackjack and Hooker headers on my car. Passenger side was always easy drivers side went in from the bottom with the engine lifted a few inches. Never had to pry the engine to either side. Ran a 4 speed with a factory z-bar with the Blackjack headers.
At this point I'm starting to wonder if just pulling the motor is going to be a heck of a lot easier? I don't have any coolant in the motor or radiator yet. All I would really have to do disconnect a few wiring connections, remove the radiator, unbolt the trans and pull it out. Of course I only want to pull the motor if it is like a million times easier installing the headers that way lol. I've already got everything for the trans in place so I don't want to have to pull the trans back out and I absolutely hate trying to join a motor and trans in the car.
At this point, when I was a young-un, I continued with the fight to fit the long tube headers. At this point a few months back...I got a set of shorty headers. I have better things to do than spend several hours on my back in the cold trying to get headers on.
