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...lost. tried to install headers on my 3.4 and it turned out to be the biggest pain in the ***. my friend and i started pretty early hoping to get done before dark, but that didn't happen. we were able to remove the old manifolds (which wasn't easy reaching certain bolts), but we can't get the new headers bolted back up. we had extra help later in the day and night and we thought they could do add the extra help we needed to finish. i woke up this morning and started working on the car again, but there was no way we were going to get this done today and i had a lot of things to get done. i ended up calling AAA and had my car towed to a shop that will finish it tomorrow.
a couple of problems we ran into: on the driver side header, the top bolt closest to the front end of the car won't thread. i tried to use the new header bolts and the old manifold bolts and they weren't catching. i don't remember if that used a different bolt than the others. it also had trouble pushing flush against the block right there. the header was hitting something that needed to be grinded down.
on the passenger side: the middle bolt on the bottom physically won't go in. the bolts are dirrectly above/below the headers instead of in between like the 3.8 headers. the middle header turns straight down and the bolts were too long to put in straight.
also the bottom bolt closest to the front end is almost impossible to reach. the a/c compressor is in the way and the plate that all the pullies are bolted to don't allow you to get up in there.
i went to the dealer and ordered ls1 bolts, but these were a 13mm instead of a 10mm like everyone said. the dealer said they had 2 different bolts when they pulled it up on the comp, one was about $1.25 per bolt and the other about $5.50 per bolt. i wasn't about to order at least 12 bolts at that price so i got the cheaper ones.
if anyone is wanting to install headers on their 3.4 i wish you best of luck. if you already installed them on your 3.4 i hate you. [img]tongue.gif[/img] after i get my car back tomorrow (hopefully) i'll let you know how it sounds w/ the rumbler. videos will be coming soon... :D
a couple of problems we ran into: on the driver side header, the top bolt closest to the front end of the car won't thread. i tried to use the new header bolts and the old manifold bolts and they weren't catching. i don't remember if that used a different bolt than the others. it also had trouble pushing flush against the block right there. the header was hitting something that needed to be grinded down.
on the passenger side: the middle bolt on the bottom physically won't go in. the bolts are dirrectly above/below the headers instead of in between like the 3.8 headers. the middle header turns straight down and the bolts were too long to put in straight.
also the bottom bolt closest to the front end is almost impossible to reach. the a/c compressor is in the way and the plate that all the pullies are bolted to don't allow you to get up in there.
i went to the dealer and ordered ls1 bolts, but these were a 13mm instead of a 10mm like everyone said. the dealer said they had 2 different bolts when they pulled it up on the comp, one was about $1.25 per bolt and the other about $5.50 per bolt. i wasn't about to order at least 12 bolts at that price so i got the cheaper ones.
if anyone is wanting to install headers on their 3.4 i wish you best of luck. if you already installed them on your 3.4 i hate you. [img]tongue.gif[/img] after i get my car back tomorrow (hopefully) i'll let you know how it sounds w/ the rumbler. videos will be coming soon... :D
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