PPE V8 Headers GS, LS, SC
01-19-11, 07:04 PM
#227
I'm only looking for GS400 owners because I had some time today to work on my car. I ran into a bit of problems, but I'm waiting on PPE's response.
Hint, never work on two different cars at once because if neither one of them are running, then you'll end up having to walk. lol. I should have finished up my other car before working on the GS. Damn impulse
Hint, never work on two different cars at once because if neither one of them are running, then you'll end up having to walk. lol. I should have finished up my other car before working on the GS. Damn impulse
01-19-11, 07:07 PM
#228
I'm only looking for GS400 owners because I had some time today to work on my car. I ran into a bit of problems, but I'm waiting on PPE's response.
Hint, never work on two different cars at once because if neither one of them are running, then you'll end up having to walk. lol. I should have finished up my other car before working on the GS. Damn impulse
Hint, never work on two different cars at once because if neither one of them are running, then you'll end up having to walk. lol. I should have finished up my other car before working on the GS. Damn impulse
01-19-11, 07:17 PM
#229
Yea I started actually last week. Spend maybe and hour or two doing the driver side until I found out PPE sent me the GS430 header instead. It didn't fit at all. I just got the GS400's headers yesterday and thought I could at least install it so I can drive my car again. Nope, that wasn't the case. There was interference on the driver side so now I don't have a damn car to drive around.
Here is a picture. It'll hit the engine before the head flange touches the cylinder head. I hope PPE's solution isn't to grind down that part of the engine. lol
Here is a picture. It'll hit the engine before the head flange touches the cylinder head. I hope PPE's solution isn't to grind down that part of the engine. lol
01-19-11, 07:21 PM
#230
Yea I started actually last week. Spend maybe and hour or two doing the driver side until I found out PPE sent me the GS430 header instead. It didn't fit at all. I just got the GS400's headers yesterday and thought I could at least install it so I can drive my car again. Nope, that wasn't the case. There was interference on the driver side so now I don't have a damn car to drive around.
Here is a picture. It'll hit the engine before the head flange touches the cylinder head. I hope PPE's solution isn't to grind down that part of the engine. lol
Here is a picture. It'll hit the engine before the head flange touches the cylinder head. I hope PPE's solution isn't to grind down that part of the engine. lol
1. That's very unfortunate. Hope PPE reimburses you if you need to rent a car or what not.
2. I wonder if this is just a situational condition with your set of headers or is with the whole batch of GS400's?
3. How hard was the install? As far as getting the old header out and new one in besides it hitting the engine?
01-19-11, 07:36 PM
#231
1. Well it's not their fault that I tried working on my car when I shouldn't have. lol. I have a habit of putting off one project to work on another.
2. I'm not sure what it is. I tried the GS430 headers and I ran into the same problem, but I didn't expect it to once PPE told me I had the wrong set. Hopefully it's isolated, but trust me, I've tried to do every damn thing to get the headers to fit but it's not budging. Passenger side went in with ease.
3. Install isn't hard...it's just time consuming and you have little room to work with. What they said about the heatshield is true. It's not easy at all, but if you pull the motor mounts off, it should definitely be much easier. If I sell the car and put back the OEM manifold, I don't plan on putting the shield back on. Not worth my time.
PPE's instruction said to remove the catalytic converter. One of the 3 bolts wouldn't budge so I ended up just leaving it on the manifold and removed the manifold and cat as one whole piece. I had more trouble with the passenger side and I ended up banging the crap out of it until it deformed enough to slide right out from the rear.
They didn't mention anything about the power steering rack, but I highly recommend that remove it from the subframe. You'll be able to tighten the bolt they supplied you with. A regular combination wrench barely fits in that area. It looks easy per PPE's instruction, but you'll be swearing like crazy.
Also not having a lift puts a toll on your neck/head/arm/hands/liver/dog/cat/etc. I suggest stopping periodically otherwise you're just going to get dizzy.
2. I'm not sure what it is. I tried the GS430 headers and I ran into the same problem, but I didn't expect it to once PPE told me I had the wrong set. Hopefully it's isolated, but trust me, I've tried to do every damn thing to get the headers to fit but it's not budging. Passenger side went in with ease.
3. Install isn't hard...it's just time consuming and you have little room to work with. What they said about the heatshield is true. It's not easy at all, but if you pull the motor mounts off, it should definitely be much easier. If I sell the car and put back the OEM manifold, I don't plan on putting the shield back on. Not worth my time.
PPE's instruction said to remove the catalytic converter. One of the 3 bolts wouldn't budge so I ended up just leaving it on the manifold and removed the manifold and cat as one whole piece. I had more trouble with the passenger side and I ended up banging the crap out of it until it deformed enough to slide right out from the rear.
They didn't mention anything about the power steering rack, but I highly recommend that remove it from the subframe. You'll be able to tighten the bolt they supplied you with. A regular combination wrench barely fits in that area. It looks easy per PPE's instruction, but you'll be swearing like crazy.
Also not having a lift puts a toll on your neck/head/arm/hands/liver/dog/cat/etc. I suggest stopping periodically otherwise you're just going to get dizzy.
01-19-11, 08:00 PM
#232
Thanks for all those pointers! I'm guna try to do this install myself, and i'm definitely NOT looking forward to it. For removing the engine mounts to get to the headers easier you have to lift the engine a few inches right? Can you do this with just a regular car jack? I bought a bunch of racheting wrenches to try and make things easier in the cramped working conditions. BTW what are the chances that you break off a stud or bolt in the engine block?
01-19-11, 08:12 PM
#233
Place a 2x4 or something over the jack and lift up using the oil pan as the jacking point.
Spray penetrating oil on before you do anything because you're going to need every bit of help you can get. Those self-locking nuts are no joke and if you strip any one of them, you are going to have a hell of a time fixing it.
Forgot to mention one more thing.. the 2nd top nut to front of the car on the driver side...yea it's a beast. Regular sockets are too short, and deep sockets are way too long to get that one nut off. Of all nuts to strip, DO NOT STRIP THIS ONE and I mean it. It's hard enough taking it off as it is. You'll find that a ratchet will not fit at all.
The stud comes off rather easily (you'll need to do this for one of the stud on the driver side). It's the nuts that won't budge.
You know I might just install the OEM manifold back on and drive as is. I believe Jbrady originally wanted just the passenger side header made (years ago) since it was the more evil of the two manifolds.
Spray penetrating oil on before you do anything because you're going to need every bit of help you can get. Those self-locking nuts are no joke and if you strip any one of them, you are going to have a hell of a time fixing it.
Forgot to mention one more thing.. the 2nd top nut to front of the car on the driver side...yea it's a beast. Regular sockets are too short, and deep sockets are way too long to get that one nut off. Of all nuts to strip, DO NOT STRIP THIS ONE and I mean it. It's hard enough taking it off as it is. You'll find that a ratchet will not fit at all.
The stud comes off rather easily (you'll need to do this for one of the stud on the driver side). It's the nuts that won't budge.
You know I might just install the OEM manifold back on and drive as is. I believe Jbrady originally wanted just the passenger side header made (years ago) since it was the more evil of the two manifolds.
01-19-11, 08:29 PM
#234
Thanks for the help! I've got a new can of PB blaster that i'm going to soak all the nut's and bolt's with. So basically you just need lots of wrenches, regular sockets, some deep sockets, patience and some time to pull this install off? haha
I'm guessing it's going to be pretty self explanatory when i get under there and get to work. Did you end up taking off the AC compressor like in the instructions PPE sent?
I'm guessing it's going to be pretty self explanatory when i get under there and get to work. Did you end up taking off the AC compressor like in the instructions PPE sent?
01-19-11, 09:18 PM
#239
Yes that's the driver side. I don't want to grind it down because there is about 1/4" space between the cylinder head and the header flange. That's quite a bit of grinding just to make it fit. PPE didn't mention anything about the issue I'm having so either they did grind it but didn't tell me, or they made the headers slightly different for production run. Who knows, but it's my last resort. Scratch that, I'll return/sell the headers before I grind it.
01-19-11, 10:03 PM
#240
Rookie
iTrader: (10)
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: fl
Posts: 69
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Place a 2x4 or something over the jack and lift up using the oil pan as the jacking point.
Spray penetrating oil on before you do anything because you're going to need every bit of help you can get. Those self-locking nuts are no joke and if you strip any one of them, you are going to have a hell of a time fixing it.
Forgot to mention one more thing.. the 2nd top nut to front of the car on the driver side...yea it's a beast. Regular sockets are too short, and deep sockets are way too long to get that one nut off. Of all nuts to strip, DO NOT STRIP THIS ONE and I mean it. It's hard enough taking it off as it is. You'll find that a ratchet will not fit at all.
The stud comes off rather easily (you'll need to do this for one of the stud on the driver side). It's the nuts that won't budge.
You know I might just install the OEM manifold back on and drive as is. I believe Jbrady originally wanted just the passenger side header made (years ago) since it was the more evil of the two manifolds.
Spray penetrating oil on before you do anything because you're going to need every bit of help you can get. Those self-locking nuts are no joke and if you strip any one of them, you are going to have a hell of a time fixing it.
Forgot to mention one more thing.. the 2nd top nut to front of the car on the driver side...yea it's a beast. Regular sockets are too short, and deep sockets are way too long to get that one nut off. Of all nuts to strip, DO NOT STRIP THIS ONE and I mean it. It's hard enough taking it off as it is. You'll find that a ratchet will not fit at all.
The stud comes off rather easily (you'll need to do this for one of the stud on the driver side). It's the nuts that won't budge.
You know I might just install the OEM manifold back on and drive as is. I believe Jbrady originally wanted just the passenger side header made (years ago) since it was the more evil of the two manifolds.