I searched around the forum before posting this, nothing came up that was instructions on the best way to install these. I bought the Y-pipe and the headers from www.custommaxima.com. Everything looks good. (i really only wanted the y pipe but for $200 bucks might as well have both) the Y pipe is easy i know i can handle that. The guy at custom max said that he has heard of people having to pull the motor to get to the backside headers. is there a write up for installing headers??? is it even worth it or should i just sell the headers and keep the y pipe?

Thanks

 

Read the how to on installing a y-pipe. The rear manifold is accessable, however it's not easy. The bolts are a real bytch and should really require an impact wrench with a long extension. Good luck.

 

i would leave sock headers theres no good reason to change em (no FI) but plenty of reasons not to.
its not worth the extra work/ potential problems also people report cracked aftermarket headers!

i may be wrong but i dont think its adds a noticable increase either.

 

Agreed, I used my stock VQ30 headers with my 3.5 and warpseed y-pipe.

 

You don't have to pull the motor to install the headers. Removing the upper intake manifold will give you more room to get to the rear header. If you want to get every last bit of horsepower from the engine then install the headers, otherwise just install the y pipe.

 

You sure there's room to drop the rear mani with only removing the UIM? I am not so sure.

Also, you're not going to get enough HP gain from doing headers on the VQ to notice really. Lot of work for very little pay off IMO.

 

Does removing the UIM alone give enough room to drop the rear manifold, I doubt it. Though it does make it easier to get the bolts on the top of the manifold. You can also drop the crossmember for more room underneath. I believe people on here have installed headers with the crossmember and without the crossmember.

 

If you don't have the proper tools, don't even try the headers.

 

I ve got the impact wrench and the universal joints and extensions and all that good stuff. I tried to just go with the Y pipe last night and the back side headers didnt line up..... ???? WTF!?!?!?!?! im not sure if it was becuase they came as a packege with the headers and only work with them or what but now im ticked.... I may just try and do the whole assembly this weekend.... :/

 

i had to remove the cross member and a motor mount so i could drop the engine down to access the rear header. its stuffed way up there and there is pretty much no room to put a wrench or socket. my headers didnt add a noticeable increase in power, but instead of staying dead even with another max that has a y-pipe, i just barely creep away.

and when you put the new headers back on, start the car. maxima shoots flames with open headers

i probly wont see a difference with them until i install my 00vi, then my engine will be complete.

and im pretty sure your exhaust will be a little louder, removing 2 cats deff increases some air flow. good luck

 

your y-pipe should bolt up perfect to the stock headers, even aftermarket ones for that matter. make sure you have the right ypipe.

 

I wonder if anyone has Dyno'd with / without headers (stock vs aftermarket). I'd say it would be hard to find if anyone has or not ... none the less, the VQ developes enough torque and low end hp to not need headers. It's a lot of work to get that rear, I'm gonna warn you. For the tiny itty bitty gain, is it really worth it? Also, if you're not running a cat (and you remove the pre-cats when you do the Y pipe) you will smell your exahust and I have to tell you it brings back the 350 sbc days / track days, but for a DD, it's not pleasent. lol

 

I had this same issue when I installed my y pipe, I think mine was off by either a 1/4" or 1/8" I stuck a crow bar in the rear bank and stood on it before the flex section while my dad hammered away at the front bank. No wonder why the previous owner never installed them

 

To each his own, I love that smell (leaking gaskets from rear mani to Y).

 

I have the cat in there still.... Throwing the code and all... But I'm also going to be doing the 00VI swap sometime very soon. Is it going to make more of a difference with the headers? I know the intake provides high RPM power but I didn't know if the headers wld be worth it then.

 

I'd install the headers since you are going 00vi soon.

 

You're sick .... and I love it!



It really is up to you if you think it's worth it or not. Personally, I think it's a ton of work for an ounce of performance. Best bang for the buck I can think of is : CAI, Y pipe, hi-flow exahust (some may argue this one but 'oh well') and maybe a PF TB (pathfinder throtle body - it's 72 mm IIRC, and our stock is 68 mm). Larger injectors never hurt either, along with a high pressure fuel pump. I just believe there are ways to get more performance for less work is all. However, you do have them and IF I had them, I'd be tempted too.

 

Well i reckon im gunna try and tackel it this weekend and put em on.... Hopefully it works out for me. I have attempted twice on the y pipe so far. The first time i didnt have the impact or breaker bar so i couldnt get the thing off.... the 2nd time it didnt line up and now i cant get ahold of custommaxima.com to find out if i have the right pipe. I just hope that the new headers will line up cause if not im getting be a little beyond angry. Im gunna get a lot of pics and try to do a write up on it.

 

I am willing to bet that the AF y-pipe only lines up to the headers. That stinks cuz i was thinkin bout buyin those ebay header/ypipe combos too. But that rear header is a pain. I even asked my mech about it and he was like, aw hells no! lol. The front is fine but the rear requires real work.

PPl usually pony up the extra cash for a WS pipe cuz its KNOWN to fit.

 

Ya, i had been told many times that the Y pipe is very befecial for the max. custommaxima had the combo for $200. i originally figured i cld just sell the headers but it doesnt look like its that easy now... everything is in good condition and everything..... just doesnt fit stock parts...

 

Glad I read this, I was condidering buying the same set up and just using the Y. Now I know I will be saving up the extra cash for the WS stainless Y. However a how to, with pics would be awsome for future reference.

 

So I finally got ahold of custommaxima. The header Y pipe combo is designed to work together. He said u cld mod it to work but that wld be on me. I'm just gunna bite the bullet and do the header swap and try to get a good write up about for everyone. It will probably next weekend. My friends football jersey is being retired tonight which is taking priority. Hence the sig.

 

I got your "How To" buddy! LOL Here ya go ... from the "how to's".

http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generat...tall-pics.html

 

I think he is referring to the header write up I was talkin about.

 

well when i did my headers it took about a day it really wasnt that bad. one advantage of taking off the uim is you can clean that annoying egr tube. i really found a good benifit from that, its a smoother ride now. and its a tad faster. just letting you know that to me its not a terrible wast of time if you got the cash and nohow theres alot you could do all at once the headers is just a bonus. if you have (or plan on getting) a 00vi this would be a good tome to think about installing that too. if your rear valve cover is leaking you could replace that. if you want to service your manifold (clean it) this is a perfect time .just use your time wisely.

 

He may have been, but it wasn't mentioned in his post.

 

besides the major ypipe/header brands for maximas (cattman, WS, stillen, budget), the only other brand i found to fit well was SSAC. The other ones on ebay dont fit well, new holes had to be drilled out, lots of work. And it almost always leads to an exhaust leak. If the ypipe doesnt fit with the stock headers, then im willing to bet when u put the headers on also its not gonna fit properly either, but i hope im wrong. do the headers have studs in them or holes for bolts? either way, if you dont want them, ill buy them depending on how much u wanna sell them for...

but anyways, in the mean time, have fun with the header install. It took me 19 hours on my car the first time, basically the same amount of time on another 5th gen (we had to modify his). You have to take the intake manifold off. atleast the first time. One, you gotta get to the heat shield, the bolts in particular. Two, the egr pipe is wayyyyy easier to get to with the intake off. three, the top header bolts are easier to get to of course. The main problem imo is that damn heat shield. Once thats out the way its much easier. Theres a little black plate that u can access underneath the car that sits near the heat shield that u can remove to give it more room. theres literally no room to yank the heat shield out, so youll definitely be twisting the crap out of it to make it fit. And you dont need to remove the cross member either. just gotta maneuver it through thats all. have fun, and if you succeed pat yourself on the back. the next time u have to mess with the headers, itll be 100x easier. I can install headers in a couple hours now that the egr is deleted, the heat shield is gone, and the intake manifold comes off in 5 minutes.

 

Wow, Thats not real comforting... I enjoy working on my car and i got some good freinds who do also so i think as hard as its going to be we will all enjoy getting in there and takling the project. Just a little weary of it now. But i really appreciate everyones input and support with this... im sure ill be on here asking questions as the swap goes down!

 

Okay so the last several days I had come to the conclusion that the Y pipe was going to have to be used with the headers it came with. It took me and my dad 2 crow bars and a floor jack to twist the y pipe enough to fit the stiock headers. It finally worked. We got it on. I'm waiting for 00VI before I worry about the headers. If I have to take off the intake to get to the header, I might as well wait till I'm puttin on the new intake.

 

any exhaust leaks?

 

Installing headers arent so bad. I did it with minimal tools and a lot of swearing. Cattman and OBX V2 headers will make the most gains and sound the best. The ones you have will flow better OEM but may not be worth the install. If the motor was out I would use them, but once you take the UIM off for the VI swap, remove the rear valve cover and the top bolts are right there. I have Cattman so fitment was dead on other brands have had issues.

 

Any one on here have your stock y pipe rust away? Any one willing to sell me their stock y pipe?

I have hole in mine and just need a new one to replace it.

Any one?

Thanks

Nate

 

What about those who are running a 99 with cali spec emissions. The ones with the giant precats on the headers and two extra O2 sensors? I heard those can be quite restricting.

 

You can expect gains similar to that of a 5.5gen.

 

i saw the cali headers in vipervadim's header write up... not only do you have them precats but the exit pipe that goes to the y pipe is much much much smaller, its retarded lol

thats cause you bought it from custommaxima LOL them and ebay have fitment issues. what i do know is that out of all the shorty headers XS power headers had best fitment.

 

I used the y pipe from my set of XS power headers and still had to modify it to fit.

 

Removing the crossmember gives you plenty of room to do anything......I've done several headers and never had to pull an enegine to do it...