OK people. I just got headers for my 1975 fuel injected z. Well I took it to my mechanic and he told me not to put those headers on because it will mess up my air flow meeter. Is he right? or has he drank one to many beers. He said because I bought 6-2-1 headers, but i did not buy the smog fittings, it would cause problems for my car. Has any one out there have basicly a stock fuel injection set up but with MSA headers? Any problems?
What the **** is this?
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Von, he's high!
You have nothing to add but the EGR fitting. They will work fine. If you don't have an EGR fitting on your headers, he should be able to weld on a fitting and attach your EGR to that. You can even NOT DRILL OUT THE HOLE, and the EGR looks hooked up, it just doesn't circulate. Later you can drill a small hole to make it patt the Emissions Functional Check... Not that I've EVER done this to get my old 73 to pass....
More likely he doesn't want to deal with those gnarly headers with the inaccessible bolts and other hassles!
Man, Von, why don't YOU do some of this work. You keep paying this guy to do your work for you, and you'll never save the $$$ for that 5-speed and Diff I got sitting in back!
You have nothing to add but the EGR fitting. They will work fine. If you don't have an EGR fitting on your headers, he should be able to weld on a fitting and attach your EGR to that. You can even NOT DRILL OUT THE HOLE, and the EGR looks hooked up, it just doesn't circulate. Later you can drill a small hole to make it patt the Emissions Functional Check... Not that I've EVER done this to get my old 73 to pass....
More likely he doesn't want to deal with those gnarly headers with the inaccessible bolts and other hassles!
Man, Von, why don't YOU do some of this work. You keep paying this guy to do your work for you, and you'll never save the $$$ for that 5-speed and Diff I got sitting in back!
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Von,
I just added the 6-2-1 headers and a 2.5 inch MSA exhaust to my 76 the other day. Other than having, in my opinion, quality control problems with the pieces themselves, the car runs fine. My car had no EGR system on it at all so there was no question of anything extra to have to hook up.
Here is a run down on the problems I encountered with the installation:
The lower section of headers would not completely slide together with the upper half. If you tried to slip a pipe over its mate one at a time they fit fine but together at the same time and they would only slip maybe an inch together. I solved the problem by cutting off about an inch and a quarter from the top section downpipes and then using my mig to just weld up the lower to upper sections after I slipped them together.
The 2.5 inch kit was a pain from the get go. First, the bell ends had not been expanded far enough, but luckily I have an expander and a torch so it was easy enough to put in the expander, apply a bit of heat and it opened up for the sections to slip together. Then when I put the first two sections on the end of the header instead of the pipe being in that recess by the diff where the stock pipes sit these ended up midway between the recess and the drivers side wheel. I took and cut out a wedge of the 2.5 pipe near the header, pushed the pipe until it was in the recess and tacked it together. The rest of the installation went fine and I welded up all the seams.
More than likely your mechanic took one look at the FI plumbing and does not want to mess with it. It is really not that bad a job. My car runs great and sounds even better. Have fun.........
Charles
I just added the 6-2-1 headers and a 2.5 inch MSA exhaust to my 76 the other day. Other than having, in my opinion, quality control problems with the pieces themselves, the car runs fine. My car had no EGR system on it at all so there was no question of anything extra to have to hook up.
Here is a run down on the problems I encountered with the installation:
The lower section of headers would not completely slide together with the upper half. If you tried to slip a pipe over its mate one at a time they fit fine but together at the same time and they would only slip maybe an inch together. I solved the problem by cutting off about an inch and a quarter from the top section downpipes and then using my mig to just weld up the lower to upper sections after I slipped them together.
The 2.5 inch kit was a pain from the get go. First, the bell ends had not been expanded far enough, but luckily I have an expander and a torch so it was easy enough to put in the expander, apply a bit of heat and it opened up for the sections to slip together. Then when I put the first two sections on the end of the header instead of the pipe being in that recess by the diff where the stock pipes sit these ended up midway between the recess and the drivers side wheel. I took and cut out a wedge of the 2.5 pipe near the header, pushed the pipe until it was in the recess and tacked it together. The rest of the installation went fine and I welded up all the seams.
More than likely your mechanic took one look at the FI plumbing and does not want to mess with it. It is really not that bad a job. My car runs great and sounds even better. Have fun.........
Charles
Hi VonP.
Lots of sound suggestions and a possible woe of forthcoming problems ....well heres another: Headers are a waste of money and time. Put one on only if your stock exhaust mannifold is cracked or has leaks. The most serious problem with headers I have found ( yes,yes, all of my Z cars got headers...) is fitting a gasket that won't leak past 2000miles. The steel ringed ones from Fel-Pro have worked best for me. BTW, many will cringe when I mention this but I 'hockey-puck' each gasket to where it will meet the header at the exhaust ports and a tad also where the gasket meets the intake manifold bolt holes...not any near the injector hole please. Charles mentions a all too frequent problem with actually mounting the suckers past my concerns of gasket placement. BTW, with every Header I have done I have removed all existing lower studs and replaced 'em with new...thats after re-taping the holes. I hate tightning the ones holding both header and intake manifold only to have the old stud turn or break on me. A header tip: Use flat washers and new 12mm nuts. Don't use lock washers as lock washers will get hot and loose their strenght and actually turn, thereby also turning that 12mm nut which will create an exhaust leak at that port or simply that area of the header. And , of course, exhaust leaks will KILL valves. My 02 is for you to install your Header yourself and then take it to your Muffler guy to weld or U-clamp all the pipe fittings together from that point onward. Having the intake manifold and header done by yourself will insure NO LEAKS as you will be patience and not trying to beat a clock as a commercial wrench might be doing. Plus you'll know exactly what was necessary. Have fun. Goodluck. shane-
Lots of sound suggestions and a possible woe of forthcoming problems ....well heres another: Headers are a waste of money and time. Put one on only if your stock exhaust mannifold is cracked or has leaks. The most serious problem with headers I have found ( yes,yes, all of my Z cars got headers...) is fitting a gasket that won't leak past 2000miles. The steel ringed ones from Fel-Pro have worked best for me. BTW, many will cringe when I mention this but I 'hockey-puck' each gasket to where it will meet the header at the exhaust ports and a tad also where the gasket meets the intake manifold bolt holes...not any near the injector hole please. Charles mentions a all too frequent problem with actually mounting the suckers past my concerns of gasket placement. BTW, with every Header I have done I have removed all existing lower studs and replaced 'em with new...thats after re-taping the holes. I hate tightning the ones holding both header and intake manifold only to have the old stud turn or break on me. A header tip: Use flat washers and new 12mm nuts. Don't use lock washers as lock washers will get hot and loose their strenght and actually turn, thereby also turning that 12mm nut which will create an exhaust leak at that port or simply that area of the header. And , of course, exhaust leaks will KILL valves. My 02 is for you to install your Header yourself and then take it to your Muffler guy to weld or U-clamp all the pipe fittings together from that point onward. Having the intake manifold and header done by yourself will insure NO LEAKS as you will be patience and not trying to beat a clock as a commercial wrench might be doing. Plus you'll know exactly what was necessary. Have fun. Goodluck. shane-
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