Headers install
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Joined: Jul 2002
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Headers install
Hi everyone, i'm gonna receive my HotShot headers soon and i search a lot How-to install it. Can someone can post a How-to i will appreciate that.
I'm gonna install it in a garage with a lift and a mechanic guy who gonna help me.
How long for the install i have to expect????4-5 hours???
I'm gonna install it in a garage with a lift and a mechanic guy who gonna help me.
How long for the install i have to expect????4-5 hours???
Procedure for a 3.5L should be similar to a 3.0L one so here it goes.
- Disconnect the battery.
- Drain coolant, disconnect the hoses at the engine going from the radiator to the engine, disconnect the radiator fan harness, remove radiator from car ( this is not needed if U have the right tools to do it but gives U more room)
-lift vehicle in the air, disconnect the stock ypipe at the cat and remove the one exhaust hanger.
- remove the 02 sensors using a 22mm wrench
- remove the Ypipe from the stock manifolds/precats.
- put a pole jack (if using a lift) or a normal pneumatic jack ( if doing this on the floor in the garage) under the trans holding the engine up.
- remove the plastic splash shields from under the vehicle
- remove the front engine mount bolt 14mm and the rear engine mount bolt- one mount attached to the center beam (cross member) of the car.
- remove the cross member off the vehicle.
- remove the top exhaust shield on the front manifold, spray down the exhaust manifold bolts with WD40 or equivalent.
- remove the rear engine mount bracket off the block - this allows for room to get the rear manifold off the engine
- remove the rear exhaust manifold shield ( kind of a pain in the *** job).
- Remove the O2 sensor in the front manifold, and slowly loosen all the manifold bolts taking the manifold off the engine.
- Remove the rear manifold- make sure it was soaked in some WD40 also before attempting to remove those rusted out bolts.
- Reinstall everything in reverse order.
My car was a 01 Cali Emission 5spd, so it had no EGR and no 3.5L has EGR eighter. If tryin to install HS headers onto a federal emission car or any 4th gen... U need to have someone extend the EGR tube down somewhere into the HS header Ypipe in order to pass emissions. California Emissions cars will have 4 02 sensors- these have to be all removed in order to install headers.
It takes about 3 hours on a lift to do headers with the right tools and knowing what ur doing. Make sure to clean off the manifold-to-head matting surface on the head pretty good in order to get the gasket to seal right. Make sure to install the radiator and bleed its air out completly before starting the car and driving it away. Double check for any exhaust leaks before driving the car away. Enjoy. This is the best of my knowledge how I did headers on a Max.
- Disconnect the battery.
- Drain coolant, disconnect the hoses at the engine going from the radiator to the engine, disconnect the radiator fan harness, remove radiator from car ( this is not needed if U have the right tools to do it but gives U more room)
-lift vehicle in the air, disconnect the stock ypipe at the cat and remove the one exhaust hanger.
- remove the 02 sensors using a 22mm wrench
- remove the Ypipe from the stock manifolds/precats.
- put a pole jack (if using a lift) or a normal pneumatic jack ( if doing this on the floor in the garage) under the trans holding the engine up.
- remove the plastic splash shields from under the vehicle
- remove the front engine mount bolt 14mm and the rear engine mount bolt- one mount attached to the center beam (cross member) of the car.
- remove the cross member off the vehicle.
- remove the top exhaust shield on the front manifold, spray down the exhaust manifold bolts with WD40 or equivalent.
- remove the rear engine mount bracket off the block - this allows for room to get the rear manifold off the engine
- remove the rear exhaust manifold shield ( kind of a pain in the *** job).
- Remove the O2 sensor in the front manifold, and slowly loosen all the manifold bolts taking the manifold off the engine.
- Remove the rear manifold- make sure it was soaked in some WD40 also before attempting to remove those rusted out bolts.
- Reinstall everything in reverse order.
My car was a 01 Cali Emission 5spd, so it had no EGR and no 3.5L has EGR eighter. If tryin to install HS headers onto a federal emission car or any 4th gen... U need to have someone extend the EGR tube down somewhere into the HS header Ypipe in order to pass emissions. California Emissions cars will have 4 02 sensors- these have to be all removed in order to install headers.
It takes about 3 hours on a lift to do headers with the right tools and knowing what ur doing. Make sure to clean off the manifold-to-head matting surface on the head pretty good in order to get the gasket to seal right. Make sure to install the radiator and bleed its air out completly before starting the car and driving it away. Double check for any exhaust leaks before driving the car away. Enjoy. This is the best of my knowledge how I did headers on a Max.
If done right, taking your time with everything install will take more than 4-5 hours. Maybe around like 7-8 hours. And to answer your question about the nuts....not sure with the HS headers, my Cattman headers came with everything including new gaskets and all that stuff.
Originally Posted by BlackBIRDVQ
Procedure for a 3.5L should be similar to a 3.0L one so here it goes.
- Disconnect the battery.
- Drain coolant, disconnect the hoses at the engine going from the radiator to the engine, disconnect the radiator fan harness, remove radiator from car ( this is not needed if U have the right tools to do it but gives U more room)
-lift vehicle in the air, disconnect the stock ypipe at the cat and remove the one exhaust hanger.
- remove the 02 sensors using a 22mm wrench
- remove the Ypipe from the stock manifolds/precats.
- put a pole jack (if using a lift) or a normal pneumatic jack ( if doing this on the floor in the garage) under the trans holding the engine up.
- remove the plastic splash shields from under the vehicle
- remove the front engine mount bolt 14mm and the rear engine mount bolt- one mount attached to the center beam (cross member) of the car.
- remove the cross member off the vehicle.
- remove the top exhaust shield on the front manifold, spray down the exhaust manifold bolts with WD40 or equivalent.
- remove the rear engine mount bracket off the block - this allows for room to get the rear manifold off the engine
- remove the rear exhaust manifold shield ( kind of a pain in the *** job).
- Remove the O2 sensor in the front manifold, and slowly loosen all the manifold bolts taking the manifold off the engine.
- Remove the rear manifold- make sure it was soaked in some WD40 also before attempting to remove those rusted out bolts.
- Reinstall everything in reverse order.
My car was a 01 Cali Emission 5spd, so it had no EGR and no 3.5L has EGR eighter. If tryin to install HS headers onto a federal emission car or any 4th gen... U need to have someone extend the EGR tube down somewhere into the HS header Ypipe in order to pass emissions. California Emissions cars will have 4 02 sensors- these have to be all removed in order to install headers.
It takes about 3 hours on a lift to do headers with the right tools and knowing what ur doing. Make sure to clean off the manifold-to-head matting surface on the head pretty good in order to get the gasket to seal right. Make sure to install the radiator and bleed its air out completly before starting the car and driving it away. Double check for any exhaust leaks before driving the car away. Enjoy. This is the best of my knowledge how I did headers on a Max.
- Disconnect the battery.
- Drain coolant, disconnect the hoses at the engine going from the radiator to the engine, disconnect the radiator fan harness, remove radiator from car ( this is not needed if U have the right tools to do it but gives U more room)
-lift vehicle in the air, disconnect the stock ypipe at the cat and remove the one exhaust hanger.
- remove the 02 sensors using a 22mm wrench
- remove the Ypipe from the stock manifolds/precats.
- put a pole jack (if using a lift) or a normal pneumatic jack ( if doing this on the floor in the garage) under the trans holding the engine up.
- remove the plastic splash shields from under the vehicle
- remove the front engine mount bolt 14mm and the rear engine mount bolt- one mount attached to the center beam (cross member) of the car.
- remove the cross member off the vehicle.
- remove the top exhaust shield on the front manifold, spray down the exhaust manifold bolts with WD40 or equivalent.
- remove the rear engine mount bracket off the block - this allows for room to get the rear manifold off the engine
- remove the rear exhaust manifold shield ( kind of a pain in the *** job).
- Remove the O2 sensor in the front manifold, and slowly loosen all the manifold bolts taking the manifold off the engine.
- Remove the rear manifold- make sure it was soaked in some WD40 also before attempting to remove those rusted out bolts.
- Reinstall everything in reverse order.
My car was a 01 Cali Emission 5spd, so it had no EGR and no 3.5L has EGR eighter. If tryin to install HS headers onto a federal emission car or any 4th gen... U need to have someone extend the EGR tube down somewhere into the HS header Ypipe in order to pass emissions. California Emissions cars will have 4 02 sensors- these have to be all removed in order to install headers.
It takes about 3 hours on a lift to do headers with the right tools and knowing what ur doing. Make sure to clean off the manifold-to-head matting surface on the head pretty good in order to get the gasket to seal right. Make sure to install the radiator and bleed its air out completly before starting the car and driving it away. Double check for any exhaust leaks before driving the car away. Enjoy. This is the best of my knowledge how I did headers on a Max.
kratz74- cattman Ypipe took me whole whoppn 10 min with lifting the car into the air to install. It was on my car since I had 3K miles on it- meaning in the 1st month of ownership.
Trance Artur - I'm not 100% sure if 00 Cali spec has EGR or not- but if U look under the hood of your car right below the throttle body should be a EGR valve, I can't find any pics of a Maxima one but I know Cali spec 01s where like the 02-03s and share ALOT of diff parts with the 3.5L unlike even the 00s. I have just the 2 upstream sensors hooked up- they do the A/F feedback reading, the downstream 02s only monitor cat efficiency and don't do anything else in terms of reliability. If your car has EGR then U need to eighter take the car to the muffler shop and have the pipe extended for it to work properly, as the HS headers don't have the bung for EGR on em. Cattman headers do have EGR fittings on em. If U leave the EGR disconnected U will have a check engine light coming on probably every 2 days or so for EGR.
Trance Artur - I'm not 100% sure if 00 Cali spec has EGR or not- but if U look under the hood of your car right below the throttle body should be a EGR valve, I can't find any pics of a Maxima one but I know Cali spec 01s where like the 02-03s and share ALOT of diff parts with the 3.5L unlike even the 00s. I have just the 2 upstream sensors hooked up- they do the A/F feedback reading, the downstream 02s only monitor cat efficiency and don't do anything else in terms of reliability. If your car has EGR then U need to eighter take the car to the muffler shop and have the pipe extended for it to work properly, as the HS headers don't have the bung for EGR on em. Cattman headers do have EGR fittings on em. If U leave the EGR disconnected U will have a check engine light coming on probably every 2 days or so for EGR.
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