First off, don't buy ebay long tube headers, the fitment sucks! It took me hours & hours to get them to fit right. But here was my problem and a solution for others.
My front header was hitting the subframe big time and I didn't realize this until I had everything bolted up (took 4 hours to do that). I couldn't use spacers to raise the motor mount because the rear header was mashed up against the underside of the car even though I beat on the car with a BFH. I figured I had to bend the headers, but did not want to go through the pain to remove them and then reinstall. So I decided to do this:
I used a block of wood and a floor jack to lift on the header right behind the sway bar. I am trying to bend it upward off of the subframe. Time to test those Chinese welds
This took some serious weight off of the front of the car. I lifted it as much as I could until the end was hitting the bottom of the car. The front of the car came up about 3-4 inches in the process.
Once it was up all the way, I used a propane torch to heat the header and try and relieve some pressure/strain. You can see the discolored part where I heated them cherry-red.
I wasn't worried about the discoloration since I hear these things discolor after like 20 minutes of driving. I could also hear the suspension creek every now and then as it settled a little, I assume that was a result of the header bending upward like I wanted.
I released the jack and I was left with about 3mm's of clearance between the header and the subframe! Start to finish took about 20 minutes. Hard to see the clearance, but its there:
I am actually surprised this worked and I did not break anything.
My front header was hitting the subframe big time and I didn't realize this until I had everything bolted up (took 4 hours to do that). I couldn't use spacers to raise the motor mount because the rear header was mashed up against the underside of the car even though I beat on the car with a BFH. I figured I had to bend the headers, but did not want to go through the pain to remove them and then reinstall. So I decided to do this:
I used a block of wood and a floor jack to lift on the header right behind the sway bar. I am trying to bend it upward off of the subframe. Time to test those Chinese welds
This took some serious weight off of the front of the car. I lifted it as much as I could until the end was hitting the bottom of the car. The front of the car came up about 3-4 inches in the process.
Once it was up all the way, I used a propane torch to heat the header and try and relieve some pressure/strain. You can see the discolored part where I heated them cherry-red.
I wasn't worried about the discoloration since I hear these things discolor after like 20 minutes of driving. I could also hear the suspension creek every now and then as it settled a little, I assume that was a result of the header bending upward like I wanted.
I released the jack and I was left with about 3mm's of clearance between the header and the subframe! Start to finish took about 20 minutes. Hard to see the clearance, but its there:
I am actually surprised this worked and I did not break anything.
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