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Just installed some DC headers! I got welds put on the header before install, so that I wouldn't have any problems with them breaking. See the pics below.
The install took me about 2 1/2 - 3 hours.
10 minutes into the install I sliced my thumb open from a bad weld on the bar for the floor jack I was using.
It was pretty deep but I put a band-aid on it and kept right on going though.
The install was acutally more difficult than I thought it would be. I had some trouble with two of the bolts on Cat. Converter and also the one that connects the OEM header mounting bracket to the engine. What made it hard is was that there was not a lot of room to manuever underneath the car. You are laying on your back and you have to put a lot of force on each bolt to get it off, so you have to get yourself in the perfect postion. If I would have had a lift it would have been a lot easier. I recommend definitely having a breaker bar and some extensions for it. You will definitely need an extension to get to the bolt connecting the header mount bracket to the engine.
One of the problems I ran into was that I tried to get the OEM header out without taking the mounting bracket off of it. I don't recommend trying that. : )
Before the install I was worried the most about the bolts on the exhaust manifold. It turned out that those were actually the easiest to get out. I was able to get 4 of those off from above using an 18" breaker bar. I got the last one on the bottom right from below. The O2 sensor was also pretty easy. I removed that using an adjustable wrench and made sure to put anti-seize on the threads before I installed it in the DC header.
I was fortunate because when I turned the ignition on for the first time after the install there was no leaks! I made sure to torque each bolt to the exact spec. mentioned in the Comptech instructions. I found a 3/8" head 12" long torque wrench from the Autozone for $20. It measured from 120-960 inch lbs. so I just converted to ft lbs. by dividing my 12. For Example, 300 in. lbs. = 25 ft. lbs
I also made sure to tighten the bolts on the exhaust manifold from the middle alternating outwards. I did the same when connecting the primary and secondary parts of the header. For the bolts on the cat, I followed the tightening sequence shown in the Comptech instructions.
Special thanks to JTso from one of other TSX forums. He really helped out!
I went for my first ride and I it seems like the RPMs rise a little faster. This can be felt the most in the higher Rpms...like 4000-7600. I haven't gotten a chance to drive a lot yet, so I'll have to post more info after I've driven for awhile. The real tests will be when I'm mashin' to work next week!
Triz08: I know you're really curious about whether the headers remove the dip when you hit Vtec on the 5AT. It hasn't completely removed the dip at Vtec, but it has reduced it a lot. I could still feel the dip, but it seemed like it wasn't as big of a dip. With VSA off the dip is almost completely gone. I'm gonna have to test this out some more and let you know though.
I'll post some pics too in a second. Sorry that the post is so long guys.
The install took me about 2 1/2 - 3 hours.
10 minutes into the install I sliced my thumb open from a bad weld on the bar for the floor jack I was using.
It was pretty deep but I put a band-aid on it and kept right on going though.
The install was acutally more difficult than I thought it would be. I had some trouble with two of the bolts on Cat. Converter and also the one that connects the OEM header mounting bracket to the engine. What made it hard is was that there was not a lot of room to manuever underneath the car. You are laying on your back and you have to put a lot of force on each bolt to get it off, so you have to get yourself in the perfect postion. If I would have had a lift it would have been a lot easier. I recommend definitely having a breaker bar and some extensions for it. You will definitely need an extension to get to the bolt connecting the header mount bracket to the engine.
One of the problems I ran into was that I tried to get the OEM header out without taking the mounting bracket off of it. I don't recommend trying that. : )
Before the install I was worried the most about the bolts on the exhaust manifold. It turned out that those were actually the easiest to get out. I was able to get 4 of those off from above using an 18" breaker bar. I got the last one on the bottom right from below. The O2 sensor was also pretty easy. I removed that using an adjustable wrench and made sure to put anti-seize on the threads before I installed it in the DC header.
I was fortunate because when I turned the ignition on for the first time after the install there was no leaks! I made sure to torque each bolt to the exact spec. mentioned in the Comptech instructions. I found a 3/8" head 12" long torque wrench from the Autozone for $20. It measured from 120-960 inch lbs. so I just converted to ft lbs. by dividing my 12. For Example, 300 in. lbs. = 25 ft. lbs
I also made sure to tighten the bolts on the exhaust manifold from the middle alternating outwards. I did the same when connecting the primary and secondary parts of the header. For the bolts on the cat, I followed the tightening sequence shown in the Comptech instructions.
Special thanks to JTso from one of other TSX forums. He really helped out!
I went for my first ride and I it seems like the RPMs rise a little faster. This can be felt the most in the higher Rpms...like 4000-7600. I haven't gotten a chance to drive a lot yet, so I'll have to post more info after I've driven for awhile. The real tests will be when I'm mashin' to work next week!
Triz08: I know you're really curious about whether the headers remove the dip when you hit Vtec on the 5AT. It hasn't completely removed the dip at Vtec, but it has reduced it a lot. I could still feel the dip, but it seemed like it wasn't as big of a dip. With VSA off the dip is almost completely gone. I'm gonna have to test this out some more and let you know though.
I'll post some pics too in a second. Sorry that the post is so long guys.
looks really good thogh, what's next.
