Well I want to first off say thanks for the Gen III header install doc here on the VCA. I picked up this set from the guys at M&M here on the board and got them installed this last week. All in all I'm very happy with the construction, price, performance, and fit and finish of the headers. The customer service I experienced was exceptional and install was a breeze as far as header installs go.
I went ahead and took a few pics during the install, nothing to detailed as we already had an install document on the site but thought I would comment on the things that worked well and or things I did differently.
First a few things I did before getting started. The M&M turnouts are 3 inch and my Corsa has the 2 1/2 inch inlets so I needed to get a reducer made at a local exhaust shop. Super cheap and quick. I went ahead and threw the catback in my Jeep along with both turnouts to make sure the fit was as tight as possible. I would later weld the reducer to the turnouts once cut to length but for adjustment purposes need these to be movable.
Next per our install doc here I went ahead and ordered new Mopar exhaust manifold gaskets just incase my stockers separated upon removal (which they did.) These are cheap anyways roughly 36$.
Next I went ahead and called up Summit and ordered new ARP hardware (not necessary, but recommended) along with some copper gaskets for the collectors. These are also not mandatory but they don't cost much and do the job well.
Once everything came in, I went to work. I ended up doing the install alone which is doable, but I took my time over the coarse of a week to get everything done right. First things first, got the side sills removed and the catback off.
Next I removed the windshield cowling, airbox, and the cabin airfilter plastic housing at the base of the passenger side windshield cowl.
Here I kind of skip ahead in the pictures so i'll give a quick breakdown. Removed the wires, valve covers, loosened the coolant overflow and secured it out of the way. Removed and marked the throttle cable position, removed the break booster line and folded out of the way. Basically try and create as much clearance as you need to remove the old exhaust manifolds and install the new headers. I secured the fusebox heat-shield back with a long piece of blue painters tape secured to the fender (I know it looks hillbilly, but it works great.) From here, protect your rocker arms and cylinder heads from damage as you remove the stock manifolds and install the new headers. I didn't take any pics but I used tape and rags which worked fine. Here it is all torn down.
From here I inserted a couple of set screws into the head to hold the new gasket in place and to hang the new headers on (more detail on that in the original install doc.) Use antisieze, and the proper torque specs and procedure when installing the new headers. At this point everything was left loose for adjustment purposes.
Drivers side went in easier than the passenger side. On both sides I needed to remove the motor mount bolts and slightly raise the motor to get the headers past the frame rails. Really easy to do. Here's the passenger side with the valve covers back on.
At this point I went ahead and torqued everything to the head and started working down stream, first with the collectors and the rear O2's. I grabbed a couple O2 block offs from the exhaust shop I used and used some loctite to secure them in the collector as they can come loose.
Next I rigged up the rear O2's via a trick from Andres (345's Spinnin, Thanks Buddy for your help). I secured the rear O2's up and out of the way and used spark plug anti-fowlers to insulate them to not only protect them, but also to allow them to properly heat making the system "ready" so it wouldn't throw any codes, and still pass emissions. The rear O2's read plenty of oxygen in the outside air so the system thinks everything is great. So far so good, it works great! You have to drill out a significant portion out of the end to get them to accept the O2 but it works.
After bolting up the collectors I moved on to the turnout pipes. These are supplied basically to cut to length for the customer. As with all things measure twice and cut once, or in my case do this a million times because your afraid to remove to much lol. I would simply mark the turnout where I wanted the cut, mark it, then mask it and cut it with a sawzall. The sawzall worked well even with the jet hot coating being so hard. After each cut I would de-burr it with the grinder or dremel and test fit.
After that get everything tightened up with the supplied hardware and your done! I took the time to really insulate and or wrap anything that I thought might possibly get to hot with reflective heat tape. I also ordered a set of Koolsox (same as the ACRX wire boot covers minus the word "Viper") through Koolmat.com.
Here's the finished install!
I put a few heat cycles on everything and went over all of the fasteners again. I also decided to move the passenger side O2 wire back and away from the rear passenger side primary just to be safe, there's plenty of room to tap the frame rail and install a nice hoseclamp out of the way.
Andy Wheeler
I went ahead and took a few pics during the install, nothing to detailed as we already had an install document on the site but thought I would comment on the things that worked well and or things I did differently.
First a few things I did before getting started. The M&M turnouts are 3 inch and my Corsa has the 2 1/2 inch inlets so I needed to get a reducer made at a local exhaust shop. Super cheap and quick. I went ahead and threw the catback in my Jeep along with both turnouts to make sure the fit was as tight as possible. I would later weld the reducer to the turnouts once cut to length but for adjustment purposes need these to be movable.
You must be registered for see images attach
Next per our install doc here I went ahead and ordered new Mopar exhaust manifold gaskets just incase my stockers separated upon removal (which they did.) These are cheap anyways roughly 36$.
You must be registered for see images attach
Next I went ahead and called up Summit and ordered new ARP hardware (not necessary, but recommended) along with some copper gaskets for the collectors. These are also not mandatory but they don't cost much and do the job well.
You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach
Once everything came in, I went to work. I ended up doing the install alone which is doable, but I took my time over the coarse of a week to get everything done right. First things first, got the side sills removed and the catback off.
You must be registered for see images attach
Next I removed the windshield cowling, airbox, and the cabin airfilter plastic housing at the base of the passenger side windshield cowl.
You must be registered for see images attach
Here I kind of skip ahead in the pictures so i'll give a quick breakdown. Removed the wires, valve covers, loosened the coolant overflow and secured it out of the way. Removed and marked the throttle cable position, removed the break booster line and folded out of the way. Basically try and create as much clearance as you need to remove the old exhaust manifolds and install the new headers. I secured the fusebox heat-shield back with a long piece of blue painters tape secured to the fender (I know it looks hillbilly, but it works great.) From here, protect your rocker arms and cylinder heads from damage as you remove the stock manifolds and install the new headers. I didn't take any pics but I used tape and rags which worked fine. Here it is all torn down.
You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach
From here I inserted a couple of set screws into the head to hold the new gasket in place and to hang the new headers on (more detail on that in the original install doc.) Use antisieze, and the proper torque specs and procedure when installing the new headers. At this point everything was left loose for adjustment purposes.
You must be registered for see images attach
Drivers side went in easier than the passenger side. On both sides I needed to remove the motor mount bolts and slightly raise the motor to get the headers past the frame rails. Really easy to do. Here's the passenger side with the valve covers back on.
You must be registered for see images attach
At this point I went ahead and torqued everything to the head and started working down stream, first with the collectors and the rear O2's. I grabbed a couple O2 block offs from the exhaust shop I used and used some loctite to secure them in the collector as they can come loose.
You must be registered for see images attach
Next I rigged up the rear O2's via a trick from Andres (345's Spinnin, Thanks Buddy for your help). I secured the rear O2's up and out of the way and used spark plug anti-fowlers to insulate them to not only protect them, but also to allow them to properly heat making the system "ready" so it wouldn't throw any codes, and still pass emissions. The rear O2's read plenty of oxygen in the outside air so the system thinks everything is great. So far so good, it works great! You have to drill out a significant portion out of the end to get them to accept the O2 but it works.
You must be registered for see images attach
After bolting up the collectors I moved on to the turnout pipes. These are supplied basically to cut to length for the customer. As with all things measure twice and cut once, or in my case do this a million times because your afraid to remove to much lol. I would simply mark the turnout where I wanted the cut, mark it, then mask it and cut it with a sawzall. The sawzall worked well even with the jet hot coating being so hard. After each cut I would de-burr it with the grinder or dremel and test fit.
You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach
After that get everything tightened up with the supplied hardware and your done! I took the time to really insulate and or wrap anything that I thought might possibly get to hot with reflective heat tape. I also ordered a set of Koolsox (same as the ACRX wire boot covers minus the word "Viper") through Koolmat.com.
Here's the finished install!
You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach
I put a few heat cycles on everything and went over all of the fasteners again. I also decided to move the passenger side O2 wire back and away from the rear passenger side primary just to be safe, there's plenty of room to tap the frame rail and install a nice hoseclamp out of the way.
Andy Wheeler
