Suggestions for headers

[stang77]

Yup! Monmouth County. I am going to do the install myself. It doesn't look that difficult.

Oh ok. I'm not trying to install headers myself. I'll find a shop to do it for me.

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[4V Mayhem]

Oh ok. I'm not trying to install headers myself. I'll find a shop to do it for me.

Yea I hear ya. On my Camaro I was completely 100% confident I could do it. On this car, I'm about 80% sure but Imma go for it. It doesn't look impossible. But I'll be doing it in a parking lot with hand tools, lol...on ramps. We'll see. One option you might wanna consider is JDM over in Freehold. Maybe Tune Time in Lakewood (if they do Ford stuff) and possibly ECS. ECS is in Brick I think. There is another shop I know about that is north of me about 30 min. I gotta find the name of them. So there are a few options. Let me know when and where you're gonna do it. Heck I'll even meet you there just to check it out. I'll give you a ride back home too if you aren't too far. Let me know man. Also, which headers are you looking at? I know a performance shop that is in NJ that gives out killer prices.

 

[venumous]

Yea I hear ya. On my Camaro I was completely 100% confident I could do it. On this car, I'm about 80% sure but Imma go for it. It doesn't look impossible. But I'll be doing it in a parking lot with hand tools, lol...on ramps. We'll see. One option you might wanna consider is JDM over in Freehold. Maybe Tune Time in Lakewood (if they do Ford stuff) and possibly ECS. ECS is in Brick I think. There is another shop I know about that is north of me about 30 min. I gotta find the name of them. So there are a few options. Let me know when and where you're gonna do it. Heck I'll even meet you there just to check it out. I'll give you a ride back home too if you aren't too far. Let me know man. Also, which headers are you looking at? I know a performance shop that is in NJ that gives out killer prices.

It's not awful (depending on your ability) but its certainly not a cake walk. I've done headers on an 03 Cobra and a 13 Boss and this was somewhere between the two in difficulty with the 13 Boss being the most difficult. The whole thing took me approximately 12 hours start to finish including putting the intake back on and messing around with the cat back to get it as straight as possible (still needs more work).

You'll want to have:

Gear wrenches
Stubby Gear wrenches
Solid wrenches and Stubby Solid wrenches if possible
Flat Head screwdriver (I used a long one a few times for different things)
3/8" ratchet swivels, enlarger and extensions (lots of them)
1/2" ratchet swivels, reducer and extensions
O2 socket or wrench
3/8" lithium ratchet (will accelerate process by hours potentially). I simply wouldn't do it without. I went and purchased and air ratchet halfway through.
Headlamp + light stick
Safety glasses (grime, dirt, rust)

Obvious
Jack and 2x4" for jacking motor
Ramps (used on rear) and jack stands (placed on Steeda jacking rails - another nice to have and highly recommended as it makes placing jack stands a breeze).

 

[stang77]

Yea I hear ya. On my Camaro I was completely 100% confident I could do it. On this car, I'm about 80% sure but Imma go for it. It doesn't look impossible. But I'll be doing it in a parking lot with hand tools, lol...on ramps. We'll see. One option you might wanna consider is JDM over in Freehold. Maybe Tune Time in Lakewood (if they do Ford stuff) and possibly ECS. ECS is in Brick I think. There is another shop I know about that is north of me about 30 min. I gotta find the name of them. So there are a few options. Let me know when and where you're gonna do it. Heck I'll even meet you there just to check it out. I'll give you a ride back home too if you aren't too far. Let me know man. Also, which headers are you looking at? I know a performance shop that is in NJ that gives out killer prices.

I may check out JDM. Right now I'm looking at BBK and Stainless Works. Definitely not trying to blow a hole in my wallet. Pypes and MBRP also look good as well. I'll let you know for sure when I go. I live in Franklin Park. Not far from Freehold at all.

 

[4V Mayhem]

It's not awful (depending on your ability) but its certainly not a cake walk. I've done headers on an 03 Cobra and a 13 Boss and this was somewhere between the two in difficulty with the 13 Boss being the most difficult. The whole thing took me approximately 12 hours start to finish including putting the intake back on and messing around with the cat back to get it as straight as possible (still needs more work).

You'll want to have:

Gear wrenches
Stubby Gear wrenches
Solid wrenches and Stubby Solid wrenches if possible
Flat Head screwdriver (I used a long one a few times for different things)
3/8" ratchet swivels, enlarger and extensions (lots of them)
1/2" ratchet swivels, reducer and extensions
O2 socket or wrench
3/8" lithium ratchet (will accelerate process by hours potentially). I simply wouldn't do it without. I went and purchased and air ratchet halfway through.
Headlamp + light stick
Safety glasses (grime, dirt, rust)

Obvious
Jack and 2x4" for jacking motor
Ramps (used on rear) and jack stands (placed on Steeda jacking rails - another nice to have and highly recommended as it makes placing jack stands a breeze).

Thanks for the info. Is it absolutely necessary to jack the engine up? I would like to avoid doing that if at all possible. I had a 03 GT so I know how difficult it would be to do headers on that car. It would be damn near impossible for me because my hands are soo big. But if you're saying the S550 is easier then I should be able to do it.

 

[4V Mayhem]

I may check out JDM. Right now I'm looking at BBK and Stainless Works. Definitely not trying to blow a hole in my wallet. Pypes and MBRP also look good as well. I'll let you know for sure when I go. I live in Franklin Park. Not far from Freehold at all.

A good friend of mine went with Stainless Power and he said they worked great but he had a shop put them on. The only negative thing I heard about SP and SW is that there are issues with the AC line. ARH has a bracket that eliminates that problem and Kooks doesn't have any issue with it at all from what I've heard. Others have said they just removed the AC bracket and zip tied the line to keep it out of the way and line it with heat wrap. Not sure how I'll approach it. But looking at the prices, Kooks and ARH aren't too far off from MBRP so it might be beneficial to spring the extra money for those. Pypes and BBK are the least expensive but BBK uses chrome (horrible for headers) and ceramic (very heavy) for their headers. MBRP and Pypes use stainless steel. Lots of options out there to consider.

 

[15dib]

Bbk has stainless steel as well.

 

[venumous]

Thanks for the info. Is it absolutely necessary to jack the engine up? I would like to avoid doing that if at all possible. I had a 03 GT so I know how difficult it would be to do headers on that car. It would be damn near impossible for me because my hands are soo big. But if you're saying the S550 is easier then I should be able to do it.

Yes, you must take the motor mounts off to get the manifolds out and the headers in. It's not that big of a deal.

 

[Terminator2]

I would guess a full day at the very least. Shops around here are taking a good 8-10 hours as a 1-2 man job with a lift and power tools.

I did my 2013 in 4 hours with a lift, air tools and a helper and actually an hour of that was trying to seal the pypes mid pipe to my catback because they sent me the wrong connection size. From what I hear the 2015 and up are a little easier from people who have done headers on both. K member looks like it's less in the way and looks like more room on the drivers side to me.

 

[venumous]

I did my 2013 in 4 hours with a lifter, air tools and a helper and actually an hour of that was trying to seal the pypes mid pipe to my catback because they sent me the wrong connection size. From what I hear the 2015 and up are a little easier from people who have done headers on both. K member looks like it's less in the way and looks like more room on the drivers side to me.

That's quick.

550 is definitely faster and the difficulty switched from Drivers to Passenger side when compared to the S197. Drivers side is a breeze on the S550.

 

[Terminator2]

That's quick.

550 is definitely faster and the difficulty switched from Drivers to Passenger side when compared to the S197. Drivers side is a breeze on the S550.

Left all 16 studs in the heads which saves time and the air ratchet saved a lot of time as well.

 

[stang77]

A good friend of mine went with Stainless Power and he said they worked great but he had a shop put them on. The only negative thing I heard about SP and SW is that there are issues with the AC line. ARH has a bracket that eliminates that problem and Kooks doesn't have any issue with it at all from what I've heard. Others have said they just removed the AC bracket and zip tied the line to keep it out of the way and line it with heat wrap. Not sure how I'll approach it. But looking at the prices, Kooks and ARH aren't too far off from MBRP so it might be beneficial to spring the extra money for those. Pypes and BBK are the least expensive but BBK uses chrome (horrible for headers) and ceramic (very heavy) for their headers. MBRP and Pypes use stainless steel. Lots of options out there to consider.

All valid points. I'm not too concerned about the AC line. I'm sure that can be zip tied out of the way. From what I've read, SP and SW headers are both good options. I wasn't aware the BBK offered a stainless steel option. Kooks and ARH from what I've seen are kind of pricy. Lethal had a good discount on Kooks last week. Just didn't have the cash available to pull the trigger on them. Lot of good options out there indeed.

 

[JMan]

I went with the Stainless Power headers from Beefcake. I installed myself over the weekend. Started Saturday afternoon and finished Sunday night just before the time the neighbors start bitchin. AC line was not an issue, but I had to make a 3" connection to my MagnaFlow Comp catback. I welded in 3" V-Band clamps in place of the bottle neck. I'm very happy with the decision on these. Sound levels increased a lot, but not unbearable. Like all others have said, have the right tools, gear wrenches are 100% needed, and the Steeda jacking rails made life easier.

 

[beefcake]

I went with the Stainless Power headers from Beefcake. I installed myself over the weekend. Started Saturday afternoon and finished Sunday night just before the time the neighbors start bitchin. AC line was not an issue, but I had to make a 3" connection to my MagnaFlow Comp catback. I welded in 3" V-Band clamps in place of the bottle neck. I'm very happy with the decision on these. Sound levels increased a lot, but not unbearable. Like all others have said, have the right tools, gear wrenches are 100% needed, and the Steeda jacking rails made life easier.

very nice!!!

hard to beat for the $$

 

[stang77]

I went with the Stainless Power headers from Beefcake. I installed myself over the weekend. Started Saturday afternoon and finished Sunday night just before the time the neighbors start bitchin. AC line was not an issue, but I had to make a 3" connection to my MagnaFlow Comp catback. I welded in 3" V-Band clamps in place of the bottle neck. I'm very happy with the decision on these. Sound levels increased a lot, but not unbearable. Like all others have said, have the right tools, gear wrenches are 100% needed, and the Steeda jacking rails made life easier.

Are you using the factory gaskets or did you change them?

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