SUPERCHARGE

UGH! man, I feel like stabbing someone in the face with a rusty fork... see I live in a city of 5.5 million, and I don't have any auto store such as this. All this damn hole has is Canadian Tire and some over-priced knock-offs who do not carry grade 8 BOLTS! unless for specific products, which headers is not part of.

Damn Toronto, I lived in Halifax, a city of 500 000 people last year and had nearly everything.

I'm going to email LPP right away and ask them what grade their bolts are. I really didn't think they be anyhting else but 8 considering the heat and pressure they have to endure.

Dark Halo

iTrader: (14)

do you have a ace hardware or anything like that?

SUPERCHARGE

Ok, so I sent a message to LPP, and I'm impressed with the honesty of this guy's email. LPP def is not some sort of bullshit company.

This is the email i sent them:

Hi, I received your Headers and Y pipe much earlier than expected. Thanks for the fast shipping, you obviously didn't take much time after the payment to ship them out. Means a lot and will let people know that.

The headers look awesome and do they ever look solid. But I have a couple questions about the parts they came with. You supply good headers at a good price, so no surprise if the parts they come with aren't the greatest. For example, everyone recommends Band clamps over the clamps they came with, which I will do.

But as for the gasket and bolts... I'm trying to figure out the quality of each. Bolt heads are known to snap off in Gm trucks, I'm sure you're aware of that. And it's a nightmare to fix such problems, I had that issue twice with the stock manifold bolts. May I ask, do you know what grade/quality your bolts are? (grade 8?) And have you had anyone report issues with them? Quality header bolts are not easy to find here, but I'd sacrifice a few dollars and time to make 100% sure I have some decent ones that would be LESS LIKELY to snap off and cause me 4 days worth of drilling and work down the road, lol.

Same for the gasket, are these pretty generic or are they from some specific brand? Truck will run at some pretty high temperatures.

So again, it's not to complain, at all the headers are without doubt nicely built for a great price which is what counts, and shipping was great. I'm just trying to determine if the parts the headers came with should typically last as long as something you'd pick up at a performance shop.

Thanks!

Martial.


And this was the honest reply he sent me:

You can just reuse your stock gaskets there metal and can be used over and over.
I would look into buying some stage 8 header bolts there the best out there.
And band clamps are a good idea too.
These are the best I've found:

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

Thanks, Carl

WELL... So i guess this answer is pretty consistent with what I've been hearing around. I just cannot get over the fact that people are recommending using the same stock gasket though. I mean if they're that good, I may simply decide to just buy some new ones directly from GM. I just find something strange about re-using a gasket on a 210 000km engine.

SUPERCHARGE

ok, dumb NEWBIE question coming.... , when we talk about Stage 8 Header bolts... is this a Brand... or is this just the strength of the bolt we're speaking of?

SUPERCHARGE

nevermind, i answered my own dumb question.

So, what I'll need other than tools, new O2 sensor, Band clamps, PB blaster, Exhaust sealant (copper based), sparks plugs, factory gaskets and Stage 8 bolts (god knows where the hell i'll find that around here)

GMCtrk

iTrader: (27)

you dont need new o2s and don't use any copper spray. Just reuse the stock gasket.

TX Tahoe Z71

iTrader: (28)

You probably mean Grade 8, which is referring to the grades of bolts based on tensile strength... http://dodgeram.org/tech/specs/bolts..._strength.html

Edit: you already answered it

SUPERCHARGE

Well, hm, i said o2 sensor simply because i don't even know if it ever was replaced. Do these not have to be replaced once in a while? Or is it diff with these trucks? And the Copper based RTV is for sealing the exhaust parts together, not to be used as the main gasket, also makes them come apart easier if i need to take them down at some point.

BigCountryx

iTrader: (3)

This is the hi temp rtv I used, not on the gaskets, just in the slip fit pipes, when assembled you can't tell it's there. It's just what I did and I like it, deffinately not a must have for everyone.


Did i miss something? why do you need a new O2 sensor? Oh I'd also weld in a bung for a wideband just incase you want one later on. Use the plug that came with the headers to seal it off for now.

TX Tahoe Z71

iTrader: (28)

I replaced my front o2's at 75k because gas prices were really high, and it picked up about 2mpg and ran a bit better.