hehe That's what I'm going for. I have all of these morons with crapstangs and junk cars like that around me with "exhausts". I'm fixing to make them all look like pansies

 

I'm pretty sure I'd remember having to intentionally bend a motor mount bracket, lol. Nope, didn't have to do it.

 

thats weird...maybe you worked from the top and bottom? cuz we worked completely from the bottom of the car

 

Yeah, we worked on the rear manifold from both top and bottom. Trust me, I remember because a certain unnamed person was afraid to get under the motor with the center member removed, so he was helping from top.

 

I worked 100% from the bottom. Had to tilt the engine sideways IBitsalreadysidewaysFWD.

Which means, it needed to be taken off mounts etc.

 

is there anyway the motor can fall out if the center member is removed?

 

No. Not if you leave the top mounts intact.

My motor was hanging by 1 motormount, I had to place a jack under it to keep it secured.

 

No, there are 4 motor mounts; front, rear, left, and right. The removal of the center member only requires front and rear be removed, so the motor will remain in place via the two side mounts. You will be able to rock it back and forth (its not something I'd do for fun though) to move it around to get to the manifolds if necessary.

Some people play it safe by putting a jack or jack stand under the tranny, but as long as the side mounts are secure, you don't really need to.

 

For my header install, didn't bend any motor mounts. I completely took off the front and rear motor mounts on the cross member. Unless you guys are talking about 3.5L.

 

We bent the mount brackets not the mounts themselves. 3.0 or 3.5, Maxboost and Blackbirdvq both have 3.0's and they had to bend their brackets.

Towards the middle of the write up.....http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=385360

 

my crossmember never came off on my install..all done with removing the IM

 

I never had to bend mine, and I put on Hotshot and Cattmans...

 

This write up should definitely be at the front of the page. This answered all my questions that i may have posted earlier about the tools and etc. Thanks.

 

hahaha thank Puppetmaster. Its on the first page. Its on Puppet's install tips then theres a link in there to Blackbird's write up, just wanted you to do your research so that YOU found it.
P.S. I heart tequila

 

There is a bracket that bolts up to the BACK side of the motor- it attaches to the block with 14mm bolts x 4. There is a 17mm bolt that goes through it AND the rear engine mount. In order to remove those 4 bolts you need to bend the RIBBED tab inside that bracket, use a large prybar to bend that and then get yourself a 14mm boxed end wrench to break those suckers loose. They should come out by hand if the engine doesn't have a million miles on it.

I always remove the cross member, it makes this job much easier than removing the intake manifold. You CAN reuse your stock exhaust manifold gaskets AT the head, they are metal- vs the cheap stuff that comes with your new headers that will eventually leak.

 

Cattmans gaskets are very nice. Metal.

 

That depends on what Generation the Cattmans are... Whoever supplied the headers (made them), supplied the gaskets.

 

If they were the first sets, there are no quality issues. Mine have been on for quite a while issue less.

 

Yeah, the first ones were supposed to be good, but the next batches were hit and miss I guess.

 

According to what I heard:

Gen 1 = best, proven HP
Gen 2 = less hp, quality issues?
Gen 3 = not proven yet.

 

i didn't get any gaskets with my 3rd gen headers, used OEM's

 

I called the stealership for prices on oem gaskets for my header install and he said i needed a plenum gasket as well. I dont know what the heck hes talking about. Let me get this strait. will the stock oem gaskets on my car be ok to reuse. He quoted around 70 dollars for new gaskets and that seems pretty high. Can someone tell me what gaskets i need to make sure i have the right ones. are the supplied gaskets in the hotshot kit any good?

 

Your stock gaskets will work. I and many others have used stock gaskets. As far as the plenum gasket, i dunno, i guess hes talking about the gaskets for the y pipe? but those should be provided, i know in my Cattmans they were. Call him back and figure out what plenum gasket hes talkin about cuz the gaskets for the manifolds def. arent plenum. Ya the gaskets provided by hotshot should be fine.

 

The plenum gasket is what goes between the intake manifold lower collector and the intake manifold; you only need this if you are taking off the lower collector (and we usually loosely use the term intake manifold or IM around here to describe it). That being said, I didn't replace the plenum gasket when I did that. The Cattman headers that I bought came with copper gaskets for the exhaust manifolds, but if yours didn't, new OEM exhaust manifold gaskets are good enough.

I've heard that the Hotshot gaskets suck, so I wouldn't use those.

 

where can i get good gaskets that will fit the hotshot headers? if i cant figure this out them im going to have to cancel the install.

 

Just use OEM gaskets or some high temp liquid gasket, available at any auto parts store.

 

The gaskets on there should be fine.

 

the ones im worried about are between the headers and the y pipe. My hotshot kit came with these 1/4 inch squishy gaskets. i want some metal ones.

 

has anyone had good luck with remflex gaskets.

 

I'm not sure, but I used the ones Hotshot provided... I feel like they're actually Remflex where it says "300% crush." They've been good so far.

 

I just installed my headers and id have to say that the install wasnt to bad. it took about 6.5 hours to complete. I did run into a problem with one rusted bolt. It was on the cat converter. i had to cut off the nut and bolt on each side and then drill it out. Other than that it wasnt bad. the headers did smoke a bit when i first started them up due to them being ceramic coated but it went away after they were cured. One thing i missed was the wot i had with just an intake and stock headers. Now that the headers are on, you loose some of the intake growl but gain a little tone in the cabin.
Im very impressed with the power gain, as i was able to hit third gear burning rubber with an auto from a dead stop.

 

mine came with the same, no problems....

 

Just got my ssautochrome headers. The y-pipe is well constructed and clean. The headers are fairly good, some bits from welding got stuck inside a couple vents and it could've been ground down better in spots (I'll take care of that though). As long as the fitment is good, that's $273 well spent.

 

Finally installed my HotShots today. They had been sitting in my garage for about a year, so I figured it was about time to install them. Everything went really smooth until I got to the cat bolts. One sheared off and the other one got rounded off because I was being stupid. So I had to drill them out and slap some new ones in. Started it up and sounded like everything was good. Haven't drove it yet cause it was pretty late when I got done. Total install time took me about 10 hours due to my stupidity, but eh, live and learn, right?

 

Has anyone had clearance issues with the front primary o2 sensor hitting??

I am about to put the new front header in and it is hitting but will still bolt up.
Will this be alright?

Thanks.

 

Not with the Gen I Cattmans.

HS's o2 bung is in one of the primaries, not the collector itself, so IMO, I would relocate that bung into the collector. With that said, you may need to extend the primary o2 wire to that sensor for that bung.

 

How necessary is it to relocate to the collectors? It makes more sense to have it at the collectors to me, but I do know that the stock manifolds have o2 bungs at the primaries. It probably makes a difference in a performance aspect?

 

I was wondering more based on clearance issues.

 

I relocated the front o2 sensor before installation. I knew and read about the clearance issues so I can't vouch. But many others have that issue. $50 to relocate and plug up the old bung at most shops.

 

What do you do just sand off the coating where the bung is going to go and weld it on there?

Where exactly should i get mine welded?