Rejckt

iTrader: (2)

I have a 03 tl-s and the alternator seems to be in the way of the 1st nut on the front header. Is there any tool or other way to remove this damn nut. Should I remove the plug that's connected to the alternator? And how the hell do you get the nuts off the downpipe... that shit is ridiculously tight.

Rejckt

iTrader: (2)

And if someone were to tell me how they worked on the rear side, that'd be nice too. Seems impossible to remove all 8 nuts with basically no visiblity at all.

jjashaa

iTrader: (23)

for that one nut on the front. you get two combination wrenchs and you make it like this..

EXAMPLE HERE..
not an example of headers but you can get the idea..

would show you an example from my work.. lock them together to get in those unusual tight spaces and nuts that are pretty hard to get on. circle on open side.. so get the circle part on the nut and get the other circle part on the other wrench and lock it on the open side on the wrench thats on the header nut.. hopefully this helps..

for the rear, i layed belly flat on my COOLED intake manifold and felt for those nuts. its not impossible. its actually tedious trying to get those out by feeling where the nut is and so on.

jjashaa

iTrader: (23)

not a great example.. sorry. hold on.. i jus woke up...

bibledriver

I removed the intake butterfly servo and went over the top of mine for the back, but then I have a good reach. I think that is the easiest way, though. Stand on a stool or something to give you an extra couple inches to reach over the engine

Rejckt

iTrader: (2)

Okay so far I have removed
Front & rear heatshields, 02 sensors, and the 5 nuts on front heads

Now for the bolts on downpipe to cat, should i heat it up with a mapp gas? Read it on the forums. Those bolts are real tough, I have wd40 and can't go out to buy pb blaster (at work... working on the car)

for the 5 nuts on the rear heads, I'm thinking about doing it under. It's my first mod =P So bear with me. So any suggestions would be helpful.

jjashaa

iTrader: (23)

go from the top. and mapp gas? i jus used freeze-off but since you can't go out and buy some.. uh.. use a torque wrench.. and a lot of strength

Rejckt

iTrader: (2)

hehe I have a socket wrench...

jjashaa

iTrader: (23)

uh... shit?

well. jus use a lot of strength with your socket wrench. those things are a bitch to get off.. some freeze-off or pb blaster would seriously help.

i snapped or should i say split my 14mm socket in half cuz of a stupid bolt that wouldn't come off. after some freeze-off. came off like its been buttered.

Rejckt

iTrader: (2)

freeze-off / pbblaster avaliable at strauss auto?

jjashaa

iTrader: (23)

not sure. i live really close to an Autozone.. i get all my stuff from there. especially since my buddy works there

Rejckt

iTrader: (2)

Okay so, the only thing left to remove is the 3 nuts that connect to the cat from the dpipe. Does anyone know what size these nuts be?

01tl4tl

a trick on rusted-corroded and generally stuck bolts is to slightly tighten it if your having trouble. It breaks it free and then you can loosen.

Dont use torque wrenches as breaker bars- they are precision measuring devices
Use a tube/bar or whatever you can find and slip over the end of the ratchet, making the handle longer so you generate more force/torque/leverage

jjashaa

iTrader: (23)

that works too.. man. why do i never think of these when i try to help someone but always do it when i work on my car.

bibledriver

14mm nuts

bibledriver

if you want a hondacura tool kit, you need 10mm 12mm 14mm 17mm sizes to start. May run into 8mm and some other stuff, but the above will get you through a lot.

Rejckt

iTrader: (2)

yeah i have black pipes for breakers (plumber background) so with this many breaks I have done quite a bit. I put the new headers in, now gotta attach downpipe and try to remove the 3 nuts from the cataliac.

i took the cataliac off from the rear so i can get the entire downpipe out. now jsut trying to take the cataliac off the downpipe =P

Rejckt

iTrader: (2)

okay so, headers in, nothing to do but tighten... any advice on how to tighten the heads to downpipe bolts? two socket wrenches?

bibledriver

I think i got a couple of the front ones from the top and one from the bottem with ratchet extension and socket, and all of the rear from the bottom. Sorry, a bit late, you probably got it by now.

Rejckt

iTrader: (2)

Okay so, everything is in and in place. Now i have 1 problem and a question.
1) Are the headers suppose to sound like a turbo/intake??? Whenever I rev it, I can hear it "sucking" air. I don't know if this is a problem or if it's just like that.

2) As most of you have... the check engine light came on! Probably the o2 sensor off the catalyiac or the downpipe ( i had to remove the catalyiac to remove those rusty bolts ) So, would there be any other reason other than the o2 sensor being messed up for the lights to go on?

btw thank you all for your advice

01tl4tl

Guys with headers can explain about spacers for the O2 sensor and such
I would pull and wait a minute then replace- fuse 12 in the passenger footwell, to reset the ECU
it marked CLOCK
Also in 100-500 miles MAX- go back in and double check ALL the bolts- exhaust especially like to loosen a bit with the heat changes
Should be fine after that- but do the initial recheck of them for safety and no carbon monoxide leaking in the cabin---you are getting sleeepy very very sleeeepy

bibledriver

sucking sound? Not for me. What kind of headers? the only sound that should change is it should sound a bit better from the pipes in the rear. Is there any chance you are now being overly sensitive to something you never listened for before? Reason I ask is because exhaust leaks don't make sucking sounds. did you unplug any vacuum lines on top of the engine while trying to get to the rear header?

jjashaa

iTrader: (23)

for your o2 sensor, i haven't used a defouler or extension. you don't need one. i didn't need one. i wouldn't kno why your check engine light would go on but i'd get it checked.

about the sucking noise, i don't kno. wouldn't get a sucking noise from headers.

oVerBoost

make sure you didn't accidentally rip part of the O2 sensor wires. i did that when i first installed my headers. check engine light went away after i addressed the problem.

Rejckt

iTrader: (2)

Umm, I'm not being overly sensitive at all. My friend and I are going WTF? When rev'd up and released, during the release you hear this noise... it sounds cool and the strange part is that cold air gets sucked in from the exhaust I had my friend put his hand over the exhaust... rev'd and he felt cold air sucking back in after releasing hot air. We switched places, and I confirmed it

Well the check engine light came on because YES I did rip a sensor wire =[ (had it diagnosed at autozone... but I just ordered one at pepboys so that should be a quick fix.

After installing it, I noticed that my exhaust pipes shake a lot more causing my license plate to vibrate insanely causing an irrating rattling noise. Easy fix... Silicone =P

I have comptech headers w/ tanabe cat and OMG the gains are ridiculous, Easily noticable, Now when I floor it... my tires just keep spinning. They were a bit pricy, but it made the catback sound MUCH better than before. Def a good upgrade.

Ken240sx

Oh the beauty of RWD, I vow to never have a fwd project car...too much bs with clearances.

bibledriver

Must be the combo. I have Comptech headers and have not different sound (other than a bit crisper if listening to exhaust). I love them too. I will be installing a high flow cat soon, so looking forward to that to hear the not change.

cold air sucked back hmm. strange

fsttyms1

Oh please. I have twice the working room and ease working on my FWD TL than i do my RWD Expedition.

Ken240sx

hmm, the 240 isn't a big car at all yet it can still comfortably fit a 350, 427, etc with room to spare and still plenty of room to work on it.

I prefer a longitudinal engine because there is tons of space on the sides of the engine that you need it. When using electric fans I can stand in between the front of the engine(side with the pulley's) and the radiator....Try doing that with a fwd. Just to get to the pulleys efficiently you hav eto jack the car up, take off the wheel and fender liner. Even then it still sucks. Not to mention the fact that EVERYTHING is easily accessible and not cramped by a tranny or small engine bay. Since the tranny sits mostly under the car and only about 1/4 in the engine bay it leave much room. There is really nothing on the back of the engine where it attaches to the tranny.

Sorry I just don't see the advantage in the cramped engine bay of a fwd car.

I love me some TL, but you won't see me turning it into anything more than just a bolt-on affair. The TL would have been an outstanding platform if it were rwd. It's a great platform as a ff, but fr would have rocked my socks off.