(booming voice heard in The Matrix: Revolutions, immediately after the epic battle between Neo and Agent Smith results in what Smith thinks is his victory but what actually turns out to be his and Neo's "merger"/simultaneous "destruction"/achievement of at least a temporary peace between the machines and Zion/the "free" humans)
"It is done".
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For those who have been eagerly awaiting the results of phase 2 of the two part series on my header replacement experience, read on.
(WARNING: due to adult content, small children should be escorted from the room.)
(ADDITIONAL WARNING: The author highly recommends you grab your favorite adult beverage before you settle in to read this- you'll find that it's a lot like watching football.)
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First, a brief recap of phase one.
The removal process began Friday P.M. and took about 3 1/2 hours from start to finish and was relatively uncomplicated except for the driver's side rear bolts, which are, as the French are so found of saying, "le beech" (the Anglo-Saxons use a different expression, but I digress...). Specifics of the removal process and "lessons learned" during it are covered in the prior thread.
Now to phase 2.
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PHASE 2 begins early Sat. PM
Saturday afternoon began with a "test" fitment of the driver's side header. The glint of my new Kooks LT looked f-a-n-t-a-s-t-i-c as I adjusted it easily into place after having cleaned off the face of the exhaust port area as BKid and others stressed you should do (big thanks on that one - makes it almost certain that you'll get a good "seal" when the header is finally attached
).
That took all of 5 minutes.
What followed took almost 6 hours - that's
SIX HOURS, for reasons that will become clearer as you read on and which those of you who are going to do this/are thinking about doing this should pay VERY close attention to so you do NOT replicate my experience.
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A. Driver's side header attachment or how NOT to really F**K UP
Let me start by saying right off the bat that the driver's side is SUBSTANTIALLY more difficult to bolt on than the passenger's side, in part because of the tight working space available among the tubes, particularly when it comes to the back two bolts on either side.
As anybody who has done this will probably tell you, you need several things to do the install of the driver's side successfully, in a reasonable amount of time, and without loss of a substantial amount of skin/cuts/etc..
Unfortunately, I failed to realize what these things were until AFTER I had to UNINSTALL then RE-INSTALL the header.
1. You MUST - let me say that again -
MUST- FULLY lubricate the bolts you are about to install BEFORE you do so even partially. This might sound obvious but you may be tempted to only lubricate a few threads, thinking that once you do the bolt will e-a-s-i-l-y thread the rest of the way when you get the header in place for tightening.
You will find out that you are wrong and have to take
ALL of the bolts you worked so laboriously to put in back out again, wasting time, energy and some of your precious skin.
2.You MUST NOT- let me say that again - MUSTNOT- partially "snug up" the bottom four bolts or any of the top bolts BEFORE you have FIRST gotten the very back upper bolt properly threaded in.
I made the very serious, time-consuming error of threading up all of the bottom bolts and first three upper bolts first, thinking "aw, that top upper one in the very back will fit up easily enough when I get to it."
It will not, and you will curse your fate for having thought so to begin with.
What you
MUST do is
partially thread one or two of the bottom bolts first (mostly to provide support for the header as you proceed to the top),
then immediately thread one or two of the top bolts (the middle upper and lower ones work best in IMO). This will give you "free hands" to proceed further with the bolting process.
What
MUST do next (something that I failed to do, as indicated above) is to get that very back uppper bolt properly threaded in. Yes, it's difficult, and yes, it's not the one you'd like to do next, but trust me:
DO IT NEXT - you will be oh so happy you did.
After you've done all of the above steps, proceed merrily on your way to thread the rest of the upper and lower bolts in, then snug them up in the order and torque recommended (remember: don't over-torque
).
You are now done with the basics of the driver's side header installation.
3. TAKE A F**KING BREAK AT THIS POINT
Sit back, admire your hard work, determination and omnipotent mechanical ability while enjoying a well-deserved beverage(s) of your choice, and perhaps an energizing snack (or two, or three, or...you get the idea: REFUEL for the rest of "the journey").
If you fail to do this, you will run out of "gas". At that point, "may G*d have mercy on your soul" for I will not.
B. The passenger's side header
If you do not, as I did, have a BMR or other tubular k-member, then I pity you, because installation of the passenger side header is a comparative b-r-e-e-z-e with one (except for the last upper rear bolt, which is only partially difficult to reach, particularly when compared to the driver's side rear bolts - upper and lower).
What I did was un-bolt the two rear "anchor" bolts of my a-arm from the k-member, then swing it out while wriggling the header into place.
Let me say one thing right now:
IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A TUBULAR K-MEMBER AND AN A-ARM THAT YOU CAN MOVE/REMOVE EASILY YOU WILL HAVE TO REMOVE THE STARTER TO HAVE ANY PRAYER WHATSOEVER OF GETTING THE HEADER INTO PLACE.
I did so life was v-e-r-y, v-e-r-y good during my installation.
Before you even try to get the passenger's side header into place, follow the same procedure as outlined for the initial lubrication/threading of bolts for the driver's side header (see above if you've had too many adult beverages so that you no longer remember
).
After that, proceed with the tightening process: you find that almost all of the bolts are reachable with a socket or wrench (the rear upper and lower are a little more difficult to get to but NOTHING like the driver's side bolts).
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A final word.
I used Stage8 "locking" header bolts, primarily because there has NEVER been a reported failure of one, i.e., one "loosening"/coming out, unlike "regular header bolts.
I warn you now: they are a B**CH to install, particularly on the driver's side header, where there is little room to work to make the little "snap rings"...well, "snap". To give you some idea of how difficult/long it takes to install them, I got the passenger's side header installed in an hour - that's right O-N-E hour. The bolts took me 1 1/2 hours: no joke.
With them being a PITA to install, I STILL recommend them.
Why ?
BECAUSE I NEVER, EVER WANT TO WORRY ABOUT A HEADER BOLT COMING LOOSE, AND HAVE TO DEAL WITH ONE AGAIN. __________________________________________________
Those are my reflections on the installation process itself.
The real question you may be asking yourself is "would he do it again knowing what he does now about what he was going to have to go through to install them?"
(BTW, I just love asking rhetorical questions like that since I get to answer them and nobody else gets to.
)
The answer....(taking more
first...)
YES.
Why you may ask ?
Ask anybody who's ever done it and they will probably tell you something along the lines of "because I wanted to know that there was almost nothing short of maybe engine work that I couldn't do on my car".
Header replacement: phase 2 - the installation and some SPECIFIC recommendations 
).
