Here is something that may keep you guys interested for the moment. My Comptech headers currently on the car are from a CLS automatic transmission car!! My XS headers cracked very badly. The auto version does not have the bend to clear the rear engine mount. Check out these pics of what I did to make it work. Honestly, I removed way more material than I needed to. The thickest part of the mount is on the other side and this equates to such a small amount of material removed. I have been running it like this for about a month now. I spray painted where I ground down the mount with 2000degree header paint so it wont rust. It wasn’t too hard. I did have to relocate the O2 sensor so it did not hit the bottom of the transmission housing. The top of the 02 where the wires come out was touching the bottom of the trans housing so I capped off the o2 bung and welded another on where it would clear the trans. Jim


Before




After

 

Here are the cracked XS power headers. I had them on the car for two years before they cracked.

 

how many miles on that xs header before it cracked?

 

~35,000 miles. Mostly HWY.

 

Got at least 10mm clearance? I would suspect you're going to have the same issue the 6MT has with the front subframe - I'd grind some more off...

 

id say cracking weld s and additional clearnace would all be resolved by a motor mount resolution ...

 

What issue? This bad boy is on my car and has been for a month. This has been a done deal for some time now. There is about 5-10mm of clearance. About the exact same about as there is with the Comptech headers designed to clear the rear mount.

 

The cracked header from XS Power that is shown is from the front bank. The rear bank was not cracked at all. There is plenty of clearance on the front header.

I will take a pic of the finished install in a bit.

 

ur not following what im saying ... the headers cracked because of excessive motor movement ... if there is a clearance issue it too is probablly a result of too much motor movement

 

I See... I blame the horrible welds, horrible original fitment, and possibly the movement broke the camel's back. The front flang was warped from the factory on the XS headers when I got them new from excessive welding temps caused by shitty welding. the warpped header cracked jsut like I thought it would. When comparing the welds on the CT part Vs. the XS part you can see where the welder didn’t even get penetration in some parts of the weld. I know this for sure because I am now welding. The cracks originated from the poor welds. All my mounts are solid now and movement is not an issue for me. Clearance is perfect all around.

 

Good - hope they work out for you. It's such a PITA finding good 6M headers...now you can run the autos.

 

Are the XS headers repairable or are they scrap once they've cracked?

on the Comptech auto alternative fit.

 

phee posted on the other forum that you can run AT rear mount instead... but the 6MT mount is much better IMO

 

i would try with obx in my 6 speed i think i can make them fit... how long took to uninstall tranny mount ?

 

do you guys think i can make the DC headers fit without cuting and welding the rear header ?? like OP did

 

The only thing he did to the headers themselves was relocate the O2 bung.