Just wanted to share this with you guys, it was kinda fustrating. I made an appointment with InterCrew Racing in Garland, TX to do my header install. Went to the shop this morning. wrote up the work order, handed over my keys, and was waiting for my ride home.

About 30 minutes later(still at the shop), the guy approaches me and asks me did I get all the parts. I said yes, and showed him the gasket kit and rewire kit, etc.

He then procedes to make excuses as to why I shouldn't install them. First he says, well, those gaskets that came with the headers are paper and they're going to leak. If they do then I'm going to charge you again to replace them.

Next he says well, these headers are not street legal, there should be a cat per header, these headers elliminate 2 cats and therefore is illegal, we could get in big trouble if we install these. If they found out we installed them we could be fined up to $20k.
"I don't think it's a good idea." He says.

He then goes and talks with someone else, comes back and says to me, "sorry, we could get in alot of trouble if we install these headers. It wouldn't be good for business."
Although they have headers without cats hangin' all over the damn place.

Another excuse he had was, "if we install them, you couldn't drive out, you would have to tow the car off the lot because they're not street legal."

Basically a bunch of BS. Total waste of a morning.

They popped the hood, took a look at how much trouble it was going to be and basically chickened out if you asked me.

 

WTF! Man I was looking forward to this too. I was hoping I could find a shop in DFW area. Well man, I have a buddy who was gonna do mine. He just moved to Dallas so I could ask him for ya if you want.

PS: Il take em off your hands if you dont wanna mess with em

 

Yep...thats why I plan on taking mine to a buddy's shop to get put on. No drama...just pay n play.
Anyway just try another shop.

 

That guy is such a waste of time. He was probably beaten up by
other kids when he was in school.

 

Technically, everything he said was true.

The gaskets from Hotshot are known to suck. Ask any one of the 5th Gen guys with Hotshots who've had to replace their gaskets.

And yeah, it is federal law that they can be fined for illegal tampering of emissions equipment and that your car is not street legal with those headers on.

You need to find a shop or hookup willing to take more chances and the effort to install em. Get in touch with some local .Orgers and see if they can help you.

 

Yeah it sounds like they probably thought it was goint to be a piece of cake, maybe like a damn honda LOL. It was quite a bit of work on my 5.5gen im sure it might be a little more work or about the same on your 6th gen......... anyways good luck man, According to the dyno on another 6th gen im sure its worth the wait.

 

I just called another shop(PM me if you want the name, *hint* the shop made cover of Modified Mag) and they said they would do the install. I explained to them what happened and they said they would do it illegal or not because they don't do emissions testing. They sent me a quote about a week ago and they still have it. I wanted to try InterCrew because they were WAY cheaper than their competitor.

Anyway, I have an appointment with the other shop next Tuesday.

Glude, go ahead and ask your buddy how much would he charge for header and Greddy cat-back install.

 

Yep,
Looks like all they deal with are 4 bangers whether Nissans or Hondas. A real shop would have tackled the job. Disappointing because they seem like a bunch of cool dudes. They may in fact lack formal training.

 

 

They were wrong about one thing, the gaskets that come with these headers are not paper, they seem to be metal sandwiched by paper, but not normal paper, some other type of material.

 

Like I said this shop had "illegal" headers all over the place on display. They quoted me $250 for the install and they couldn't make good on that price. Bottom line.

 

Well, I guess I was trying to say that Hotshot has a rep for crappy gaskets that cause leaks later, so it didn't surprise me that they recommended not using em.

 

LOL, I posted the same response in your other thread basically stating the same thing, If they quoted you $250. they don't know what there doing!!!

 

But the guy said himself that it would be an all day job, may have to keep it overnight. So I assumed he knew what was involved. I guess when he popped the hood and saw that big a$$ engine he was like, "oh he!! no." Wasted my time though.

 

all you got to do, is suspend the engine and move it foward, unbolt the headers and put the new ones in basicly of course not including all the little minor details involved

 

Is there some type of sealant we could use or is that ill-advised?

 

Liquid gasket per our FSM specs should work fine.

 

I kind of agree, that everything they said was true. it is illegal to remove cats. I also agree that they probably chickened out.

Im wondering how hard it would be to remove the engine from the motor mounts, raise the motor/trans, remove manifolds and install headers, and then drop the motor?

 

you'd have to unplug every piece connected on the engine wiring harness and possibly unbolt the tranny and all to suspend the whole thing. Or you can get creative and pull it out with tranny attached but the axles still have to come out

Its only the rear manifold that is hard due to the space

 

wow deus, if I was removing the engine like that, I would just take it out and put in cams and pistons while I'm at it lol...

but I would think thats a harder job, you prob need to take the hood off, and the front facia like the radiator ect ect, f- that just for headers.

 

Wow, this post makes it seem so much easier...

 

He may have wanted to keep it overnight (because he thought they could do it in 2-4 hrs), I still think when he realized the magnitute of the job, he would have been only charging you about $20 bucks an hour labor and this is a highly recommended two person job!!!

 

I think realistically you should be paying somewhere around $500 in labor for a shop to do headers - thats 10 hours @ $50 per hour. Make sure u get a quote AFTER they see the car.

 

Just some info, I asked a .org sponsor to give me a price on the headers. This is what he replied with....

Part#:NS3018 is $607 shipped

Check out http://www.hotshot.com/product_hotshotheader.htm to make sure that is the part number you want. If not let me know and I can price the other.

 

Where is ur sponsor shipping from? Since Hotshot is 20 min from me, it is easy for me to pick up.

 

VA, id still say 100+ cheaper outweighs the ease of pickup.

 

Absolutely. Is that a definite price?

 

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=408102&page=7
Last post on the page.

 

Only reason I was asking was cuz of sales tax, since Hotshot is in Cali and so am I.

 

For 250$ install, I'd buy 2 sets and spot him an extra 100$ to watch them do it twice!!

 

Did you install yours yourself? If so, how was it?

 

Based on his multiply Emails, PM's and phone calls to me, he had just as much fun as I did...



A B!TCH...

And he did it himself with help, Congrats dude!!!

 

haha, well at least he pulled it off. I could probably do it with the time, tools, and space. But I have none of them...lol. I just hope my friend doesnt end up regretting the 200 quote. So Chad, was there a total install time that it took you?

 

I have a single car garage. I guess with the $697 that my local shop wants to charge me I could go out and purchase some air tools, long extensions, and high lift jack and try it myself but.....NAH!

 

$250 install... they were smoking something good!! the next 6th gen header install I will most likely "experiment" with dropping the subframe(if possible) looks much easier that way

 

guess you have to find the right shop. When I was getting a rusted out portion of my exhaust replaced at a shop, they offered to remove the main cat and replace it with a resonator. They said it would be illegal if the cops caught me, or if I went to a smog testing place for emissions, but were still willing to do it for the same price as their original quote. my headers though are still a bish to get out and replace, even for an old car like mine

 

[QUOTE=Glude]

Have you be able to connect Hotshots?

Corey, chernmax and myself have been trying. I was to have this installed on my way back from Florida

 

My mechanic has quoted me $300 labor for the header install. True he's hookin me up though. He said he would definately drop the subframe, suspend the engine and some other ish. After my install goes good, I'll see if he will give the same price to dc org members.
I emailed Hotshots again about buying a set of headers and they emailed me back saying "yes, buy them, you still can" etc. So It looks like Im getting them Tuesday

 

Looking back at the pics posted, why didn't y'all remove the IM and access the rear bank from the top? With the IM out of the way, there is more room to get in there.

 

don't really have to...on the 6th gen once the wiper cowl is removed you have plenty access room from the top...the issue is not topside clearence though, its the rear manifold heat sheilds on the bottom side that are wedged in between the firewall/subframe/motor that are a pain...they have to be removed before the precat can be dropped past the subframe. than lining up the EGR pipe is the biggest pain, with minimal room to manuver once again due to the lack of room from underneath.