Knowing they can be mounted using all original studs is very helpful, thanks for that. Im a little concerned that you had to trim your x-pipe, though. I want this to mate up to the OEM catback point. Do you think it would have been possible to slide the cats and/or midpipes further toward the collector so everything would line up with the OEM connection point?
I also installed mine using all OEM studs. I never ran into any problems using the studs & I simply preferred to use studs rather than bolts in the aluminum block. You will be able to use the stock cat back, it just may take some messing with. My connection pipes were actually bent, but TSP had fantastic customer service and actually sent out two new sets of connection pipes, then I simply sent back the un-used pipes and my original connection pipes. Once I had new connection pipes, it all went together perfectly.
Interesting, I plan on running these headers but also E85, so I was a little concerned - sounds like it's worth scoring them new if there's been some revisions. Did you get cat'ed or catless?
I got catless. I’d venture to guess the catted version has bungs for the rear o2 but they really don’t do any good without cats so I suppose they assume you don’t want to run them. Weight reduction I guess. Lol.
Are your rear o2s turned off in your tune? I know mine are and many tuners will turn them off without even asking. All the rear sensors do is monitor catalyst efficiency so they are useless once the cats are gone anyway. You wouldn’t want to run spacers/defaulters on the upstream o2, those actually have an important job to do and you don’t want to limit their signal.
Yes, spacers are only ever used on the rear. I unplugged my rear o2 from the connector completely. There is now just a plug with nothing plugged in on each side. They can easily be plugged back in if I ever need to.
Great stuff. I just ordered some the other day. I got the long system.Ok, finished up the install today. The passenger side is TIGHT. No getting around that. I removed the AC line stud and flipped the bracket upside down. No clearance issues there. My only complaint with the entire setup is the driver side header hangs down about 1/2” further than the passenger side. No real issues here...it just looks a little uneven when the rest of the exhaust is bolted up. I was able to tweak my catback so my tips still line up. But if you lay under the car and study it, you can tell it’s not quite symmetrical.
I drive the car about 30 miles. It is NASCAR loud and pulls strong. My Lund tune still adds timing and I see about 30* at redline on 93 octane. There is more STFT activity at part throttle than I’m used to seeing though. Maybe the car is still learning? How long should I give it before it has learned as much as it’s going to?