Olivia Snyder
Member
After dealing with the exhaust manifold leak for as long as I could stand it, I finally found some Pypes shorty headers for the 05-10 Mustang GT that only needed two of the pipes (one for the steering shaft and one for the passenger side strut tower) slightly modified to fit. We were going to photograph and document the whole process to create a project, but after two solid days of test fitting and redoing, we kind of forgot. There are some installed pics in my library.
We ended up using a torch to heat the section of pipe that wouldn't clear and then using a hammer and who knows what else to flatten it out some...test fit and repeat. They aren't pretty but hey, nobody can see them. lol. Obviously, if we had the correct equipment and tools we would have cut the pipes and re-routed them, but we didn't. And although this wasn't perfectly ideal, it still flows a heck of a lot better than the stock manifold. Once the headers were installed, the collector didn't meet up with the factory y-pipe so we had a local exhaust shop take care of that. We also ended up having to have the header flange surfaced after we were done because we didn't bolt the header down to a flat surface during the heating and banging process and it became warped. oops! The hardware it came with was all grade 5 and after breaking one of the bolts off in the head (the one thing I was trying to avoid in the first place) we upgraded it all to grade 8.
All in all, they're freakin' awesome. Power delivery seems more even, smooth, and consistent, and it feels like mid-range torque was increased. I've had them on since August 2015 (13,000 miles) and love them. I don't think the gains we got from this would be worth it if this all cost $700-$800, but I only have about $375 in them and think they're worth every penny.
I'm just now getting around to posting because we've been chasing down what we thought was an exhaust leak since Nov/Dec and I wasn't sure the headers were really going to work since there was a ridiculous in cab noise that couldn't be drowned out with the radio turned up at 85mph. After we knew all leaks were fixed, the noise was still there and just as loud. Turns out the noise was actually stuck lash adjusters - all of them. I know it's a noisy motor so the clackety clack had become a "normal" idle noise over time. It was only when put in gear and given it a little gas (1200-1500 rpm) with foot on brake could we really track it down. The noise was at any rpm but keeping them low with my foot on the brake kept me from running over my significant other. lol. So if you think your noises have gotten worse over time, might wanna check those. All rocker arms and last adjusters replaced and she hasn't run this good, this smooth, or this quiet since I got her.
We ended up using a torch to heat the section of pipe that wouldn't clear and then using a hammer and who knows what else to flatten it out some...test fit and repeat. They aren't pretty but hey, nobody can see them. lol. Obviously, if we had the correct equipment and tools we would have cut the pipes and re-routed them, but we didn't. And although this wasn't perfectly ideal, it still flows a heck of a lot better than the stock manifold. Once the headers were installed, the collector didn't meet up with the factory y-pipe so we had a local exhaust shop take care of that. We also ended up having to have the header flange surfaced after we were done because we didn't bolt the header down to a flat surface during the heating and banging process and it became warped. oops! The hardware it came with was all grade 5 and after breaking one of the bolts off in the head (the one thing I was trying to avoid in the first place) we upgraded it all to grade 8.
All in all, they're freakin' awesome. Power delivery seems more even, smooth, and consistent, and it feels like mid-range torque was increased. I've had them on since August 2015 (13,000 miles) and love them. I don't think the gains we got from this would be worth it if this all cost $700-$800, but I only have about $375 in them and think they're worth every penny.
I'm just now getting around to posting because we've been chasing down what we thought was an exhaust leak since Nov/Dec and I wasn't sure the headers were really going to work since there was a ridiculous in cab noise that couldn't be drowned out with the radio turned up at 85mph. After we knew all leaks were fixed, the noise was still there and just as loud. Turns out the noise was actually stuck lash adjusters - all of them. I know it's a noisy motor so the clackety clack had become a "normal" idle noise over time. It was only when put in gear and given it a little gas (1200-1500 rpm) with foot on brake could we really track it down. The noise was at any rpm but keeping them low with my foot on the brake kept me from running over my significant other. lol. So if you think your noises have gotten worse over time, might wanna check those. All rocker arms and last adjusters replaced and she hasn't run this good, this smooth, or this quiet since I got her.
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