How To: 2.0 Header Installation

Captain KRM P5

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2002 BJFW, 2007 BK3P, 1979 SA22C, 2005 BK3P
Admins/mods; please move this thread to the How To forum if approved!

Things you will need for this installation;
- MIL Eliminator (see how-to section or Apex Motorsports)
- large adjustable crescent wrench
- 10mm, 12mm and 14mm sockets
- breaker bar, small length of pipe, etc for more leverage on tight bolts
- a jack and two jackstands

Before jacking up the car, there are some things you can do with the car on the ground that will be alot easier to do than if the car was in the air. Let's begin!

1.) Open the hood, and if you have not already done so, remove the "air box" that sits just behind the grill. This can be done by undoing the two nuts as well as a small clip that connects it to a hose at the filter box.
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When you are done with this step it should appear as so:
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2.) Unclip the ring that secures both sets of O2 sensor wires
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3.) Unplug the first O2 sensor (the one before the first cat) from the harness. You may need to really work with this clip before it unplugs
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4.) Unbolt the exhaust manifold heat shield from the manifold itself and remove the heat shield.
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5.) Admire your ugly brown manifold. Unscrew the O2 sensor from the exhaust manifold. DO NOT be insanely rough on removing this sensor. They are very sensitive and do not take well to abuse. Set the sensor aside for later use.
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6.) Using the large crescent wrench, undo the EGR valve fitting
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7.) Getting closer yet!!! Remove the bolts, nuts and washers holding the existing manifold to the engine block. Do not be alarmed if some studs (like below) stay in the block.
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8.) Time to jack the car up. DO NOT FORGET TO PULL UP THE EMERGENCY BRAKE BEFORE JACKING THE CAR!!! A multitude of very bad things could befall you otherwise. Using the factory jack points, raise the car up and on both sides place a jackstand as shown below.
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9.) Get underneath the car. I recommend a pair of safety goggles to keep debris from getting in your eyes. Find this heat shield covering the pipe that comes off of the first catalytic convertor. Remove the three bolts holding it into place. You may need to use the breaker bar or equivalent on these for extra "oomph". They are tight and likely rusty.
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10.) Check out Aricjm15. You will see a pair of coiled wires holding the wire from the second O2 sensor. Unscrew the second O2 sensor now that the heat shield is out of the way and uncoil it from the wires. At this point, you may want to install the MIL eliminator as described in the how-to on this forum.
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11.) It will make your life easier later on to install the first O2 sensor into the header like so before putting it into the car.
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12.) There are a pair of "spring loaded" bolts holding the midpipe to the pipe coming off the first cat. Remove the bolts. There is a 'mount' in the same area holding the first cat in place. Remove this mount entirely from the car.
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13.) And out they came....leave the old gasket in place.
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14.) You will see this metal flexible ring on the old pipe that you pulled from underneath the car. Pry this gasket ring off and place it on the bottom tip of the new header.
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15.) You will need to remove the fan on the radiator/passenger side of the car to make the install easier. There are two bolts and a plug holding it down.
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16.) Carefully manuever the header down into the engine bay. Align the bottom piece with the "springs" and studs under the car before sliding it onto the studs in the engine block.
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17.) Screw the EGR fitting onto the new threaded extension, screw in the second O2 sensor down below, plug the first O2 sensor back into the socket and reinstall the fan. Stand back admire your work, fire up your car and enjoy the new sound, feel and power.
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Some things to note;
- if you don't install the MIL/CEL fix, your check engine light will NOT immediately come on. After about 75 to 100 miles your second O2 sensor will finally see the lack of the catalytic converter and will, guaranteed, throw a check engine light.
- the resonator/air box taken off in step one does NOT need to be reinstalled. The car runs fine, sounds better IMO, without it.
- if you see steam rise off of the header for the first time when it warms up, don't fear. That's your hand grease/oil burning off.
- this header sounds VERY nice with the mazdaspeed axleback :D
 
if you don't want uneven purpling of the header, i recommend you use something like mild soap and water or windex or other gentle cleaning agent to clean the header. wipe it down to a shine and start her up. otherwise, you get weird uneven purple hot spots and it looks weird.


excellent write up though cap.
 
tonkabui said:
if you don't want uneven purpling of the header, i recommend you use something like mild soap and water or windex or other gentle cleaning agent to clean the header. wipe it down to a shine and start her up. otherwise, you get weird uneven purple hot spots and it looks weird.


excellent write up though cap.
good advice - we wiped the header down with a degreaser agent and cloth to remove as much slime as possible
 
great header, great price..it took me no time at all to put it in..i think i might of been one of the first to slap one on..my car is uber-rice now.
 
I haven't been on the boards for awhile so forgive me if this has been asked, but does anyone know where I can get this header? Thanks
 
Exhaust leak?

nice writeup captain! but i have the ractive headers and i haven't installed the fix for the second o2 sensor because there's no bung for it and its sitting on my computer desk. Is that damaging my car in any way by not having the second o2 fix in there? Also, is there any kind of exhaust leak grease that I can use because it sounds like i have one where the header connects to the 2nd cat? any info is appreciated! (burn)
 
Thanks for taking the time for this write up...it always helps to visualize before going digging in the engine(yes)
 
Great write up Captain!!!! I always like to see stuff like this especially w/ pictures.
Awsome job!!!
 
ND4SPEED said:
nice writeup captain! but i have the ractive headers and i haven't installed the fix for the second o2 sensor because there's no bung for it and its sitting on my computer desk. Is that damaging my car in any way by not having the second o2 fix in there? Also, is there any kind of exhaust leak grease that I can use because it sounds like i have one where the header connects to the 2nd cat? any info is appreciated! (burn)

Buy a new gasket.
 
Wikked DIY! How about a word about safety? I mean, jacking up the car, resting it on a jackstand on a driveway without any blocks behind the rear tires is just asking for problems. Maybe a blurb about proper jacking procedures? Don't want any responsibility for other's stupidity.

Personally, I used ramps to get underneath the car and I always have blocks behind the rear tires as an added cautionary measure.
 
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