Gettin ready to install my SLP LT headers w/ the y-pipe this weekend, and a rumor popped up on another website about needing SLP's cat's to use the y-pipe! Anybody know if this is true or not, will the stocks fit, or am I gonna have to go with an off-road or SLP's cats? 'Preciate the help!

 

The stock ones will not bolt up to the headers without some serious fabrication. Get some o2 sims and a off road pipe, and be done with it. I suggest getting a custom Y done up.

Those headers are a pain in the a$$ to install BTW. Good luck.

 

Why a custom Y-pipe? What's wrong with the one SLP is sending me? The off-roads won't be hard, I got a guy does good work with a torch.

 

Well, they finally got here!! Man, are they a sight to behold! I almost wanna hang 'em up on the wall so's I can stare at 'em all day! Inspected the headers, Y-pipe and install kit for any blems, bad welds, etc... all check out fine. If anyone has any experience with these headers/ y-pipe install, hit me up with some advice!! No, I don't have the SLP cats. Was told by SLP that I wouldn't need them, the stock cats would "bolt up fine".. Apparently, the word on this BB is that ain't true. So, what about straight off-roads in place of the cats? C'mon fellas (and ladies ), dole out some of that "experience" and "expertise"!

 

I tried to get a "Header install guide" post going over at LS1tech but it never took off, here's the link to what I had started http://www.ls1tech.com/ubb/cgi-bin/u...=003600#000000 . A few other things to add to that are follow the directions and don't get ahead of yourself. One mistake that some guys have made is to tighten the header bolts before they install the y-pipe, if you do that the y-pipe won't go on and you'll have to loosen the header bolts so it will. Shaving the bock can also be of some help sometimes, shaving the block means cutting ( Sawsall ) what I call casting ears off the engine block. For some reason I'm having triuble posting pictures on this forum so I'll e-mail a picture, the picture will be of the right side ( passenger side ) but there's also a casting ear on the left side. Take your time and good luck.

Al

 

Here's a few more things that worked for us. The o2 sensors may be hard to remove, we used PB Blaster ( at AutoZone ) to help loosen them up. If you get and oil on the ends of the o2's you'll need to spray them with an elecrtical cleaner ( AutoZone, do not touch the ends of the o2's when installing or you may get an ses light. We removed the oil filter to help give us a little more clearence when installing the drivers side, don't forget to re-install the filter once the headers in place. Make sure you use anti-seize on the header bolts and not Lok-Tite, a small amount of anti-seize on the top three threads of the o2's might be a good idea. While you're waiting to install the headers this weekend it might be nice if you painted the y-pipe with silver hight temp paint. One thing that I've found that works nicely when installing exhaust systems is a little anti-seize on the slip joints. I have one more suggestion but I would like to know if you'll be using a drive-on type hoist first.

 

DarkAge, thanks for the reply and the assist. No, I'll be using a 4-point hoist at my local auto shop. What I need to know for sure is, will my stock cats work with the headers/ y-pipe? Got the pic too.

 

The factory cats will not "bolt up" to that 3 - inch Y. You're better off getting off-roads until you get the Random Tech cats that are supposed to come with that kit.

 

Camaro00_ss, I can't answer your question about the cats because we installed ORP's on my friends SS. If you go with ORP's you'll need shimms, hopefully someone who has tried to install there stock cats can help. I'm not sure by what you mean when you say " 4 point hoist ", is that a four post hoist? I'll send you another e-mail showing my hoist, let me know if that's the kind.

 

Nope, that ain't it (nice cruiser BTW). The lifts we use are two extending arms from two hydraulic columns on either side of the vehicle. The lifting arms are placed under the frame joints ("jack points") and then the whole car is lifted up that way. Frees up alot of room underneath, cuz there isn't any of the hoist mechanisms in the way. It was called a four-point hoist when I first learned to use it, dunno the real name for it. Anyhoo, I talked with my guy at the muffler shop, and he's got some Random Tech cat's in stock, gonna let me have 'em for $75 apiece. He'll weld up the Y-pipe for free, but I gotta put on the headers!!

MekkaDon, I didn't get the exhaust kit, just the LT's and the y-pipe. It was an exchange for the 10-spoke chrome wheels I won at SLP days at LVMS in October. Woulda been nice to get the cats too tho..

 

I've always known those as two post hoist but the name really doesn't matter. When pushing the tranny over to help with the install it can be a pain to hold for any length of time, what we did was use a steel bar between the tranny and tranny tunnel and hooked a come-along to the bar and on the other end we hooked it to the hoist ramp. I wish I had a picture to explain it better but that's the best I can do, one more thing, if it were me I'd use clamps instead of having the cats welded to the y-pipe and headers. Thanks for the compliment about my car.

 

did I say weld?? D-OH!! I meant clamp... yea, I plan to use the clamps that came with the kit.

 

Your in luck Camaro00_ss. I have the race pipes for the SLP LT setup. If you want them let me know, but you will need to buy simms. The header install took my friend and I only 6.5 hours to install everything. Keep in mind that we had no experience on this installation. The only tough part was getting the passenger side header to the head... its a tight squeeze but when its up there it is perfect. If your going to use the cats from your friend, they have to be 3" slip fit cats that are 12" long.

 

35th, that's exactly the info I am looking for!! thanks dude, BTW, I'll take those race pipes off you hands too
6.5 hours, with no experience? What was the secret? And what other problems did you encounter? Hit me back, please!!

 

The 6.5 hours was with lunch too. The other "hard parts" were actually getting the stock y-pipe out. We had to heat up the bolts to get them off. And lenghtening the driver side wires and raping them in the silicone tubing took us a little more time. The trick is to slide everything together before you tighten anything down. Oh and also I removed my starter to help with the passengerside header clearance, which made a big difference.