header help

95five-oh · Jul 17, 2006

A little while ago i bought a set of shiny new bbk unequal length shorties for my '95 GT. It'd been a couple weeks now and ive been unable to find a shop that is willing to put them on for less than $320. Thats about $50 more than i even paid for the headers.... So my question is, how difficult of a job is it? I dont have a car lift, but ive done headers before on a 5.0 f-150. Will this be significantly more difficult due to the tighter confines of the mustang's engine bay? is this a job that i should attempt or should i just swallow my pride and pay a shop to do it?
thanks,
tim

95Vert · Jul 17, 2006

Just put them on yourself. If you've done it once, you can do it again. Heck,at least try it and fail, then just haul it over there, but at least you tried. And if you try and make it, you pulled it off and you feel so much better.

KK6695GT · Jul 17, 2006

Did mine myself. Tighter quarters than a truck but if you've done a set before, you can do these.
Passenger side in from the top, drivers side from the bottom. May have to bend the dipstick tube a bit. Have a couple different sockets, extensions, and open-end wrenches available - lots of small areas to get around. May have to put bolts in and then hammer a screwdriver blade between the bolt head and header tube to dimple the tubes for a bit more clearance for the sockets/wrenches. Spend the money for copper gaskets - you only want to do this once........

fordtech28 · Jul 17, 2006

95five-oh said:
A little while ago i bought a set of shiny new bbk unequal length shorties for my '95 GT. It'd been a couple weeks now and ive been unable to find a shop that is willing to put them on for less than $320. Thats about $50 more than i even paid for the headers.... So my question is, how difficult of a job is it? I dont have a car lift, but ive done headers before on a 5.0 f-150. Will this be significantly more difficult due to the tighter confines of the mustang's engine bay? is this a job that i should attempt or should i just swallow my pride and pay a shop to do it?
thanks,
tim

do it yourself its not that hard the right side is the easiest the left side behind the power steering is the hardest but with some patience you can do it for a beginner its about a 6 hour job but its better than paying 320 dollars when that money can go for something else

stangz4life · Jul 17, 2006

deff. do it yourself it is not very difficult at all.you will be just fine any issues ..hey we are here for ya..also when you say shiny i hope you dont mean you got chrome ones i mean they look great at first but hopefully you do know that with the high tamps they will not be chrome for long they will actually start to turn brownish gold ...coated ones are the best little more $$ but well worth it in the long run..good luck.

95five-oh · Jul 17, 2006

alright thanks for the advice guys, i'll try to give it a shot this week, so i'll likely have a few more questions as i go. and no they arent chrome, i figured i might as well spend a bit more for ceramic, as everyone said thats the better way to go
-tim

Hef5.0weisen · Jul 17, 2006

2nd that for the gaskets, ones that come with the headers will disintegrate in a week. TAke the cash you intended for the install and pick up some handtools (if you don't already have some)....makes this hobby a little less expensive when you do your own stuff...
good luck

95five-oh · Jul 17, 2006

what kind of tools should i need besides standard sockets and open ends? also, ive heard horror stories of header bolt heads snapping off on older stangs like ours and the whole heads having to be removed to drill them out. is this a common problem or a rarety?

94-302-vert · Jul 18, 2006

get some of the ratcheting wrenches and think about some new, smaller headed bolts, preferably a 12pt to use those new ratcheting wrenches. My ratcheting wrenches saved me MANY hours when I did my headers. They took about the pre-mentioned 6 hours but I was working alone... Usually I work with my buddy... I have the weight and strength for the hard stuff and he has the small hands/wrists/dexterity for the hard to get to stuff...

While you are in there it is a great time to do plugs too...

Oh and for the emissions stuff on the right, jsut move it out of the way.... get it up on jackstands so you can work from both over and under the motor. the real challenge is just figuring out how to get to everything...

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