One: The first step involved with installing the long tube headers is to remove the inner fender skirts to gain access to the stock exhaust manifolds.  The skirts are held in place with plastic clips which simply pull out and are pushed back in when reinstalling.  If you damage any of them replacements can be found at most "Help!" sections at auto parts stores.

Two: If your F-150 is a 4x4 model, remove the front drive shaft (making sure to index it’s position first to retain proper drive shaft balance).  Space is tight and you’ll be grateful later in the installation that you removed the shaft, which is easy to do.  Mark index points with a grease pencil on both the drive-shaft and its mating flange surfaces.  This will align the drive shaft as it was originally, thus retaining proper drive shaft balance by simply reinstalling the drive shaft with the grease pencil marks matched up to each other.

Three: Remove the mid-pipe (the pipe between the y-pipe and the muffler – notice the crimp in this pipe that appears just to the right of the hand of the installation technician – this is one of the "choke points").

Four: Unbolt and remove the driver’s side down pipe and catalytic converter from the y-pipe.  The oxygen sensors will need to be removed from the catalytic converter and the down pipe.  Apply a penetrating oil (Aerofroil is among the best, and what Troyer’s shop uses if needed) to the threads of the O2 sensors only if they are stuck, and even then, apply the thread penetrant lightly. You don’t want to get contaminants on the oxygen-sensing portion of the O2 sensor as that can potentially ruin the sensor. Note the skid plate has been removed on this 4x4 FX4 model - this isn’t required as part of the installation, but the transmission was going to come out for an upgrade too, so the plate was removed while we were there.

Five: Unbolt the passenger side down pipe, remove the O2 sensors and unbolt the y-pipe to frame mount.  Remove all of this from the vehicle.

Six: Remove the engine oil dipstick tube, as it will be in the way when getting the driver’s side header in place.  Once everything is installed, then reinsert the dipstick tube back in the engine block & secure it.

Seven: Remove the nuts holding the driver’s side manifold in place.  Then soak down the studs with a good penetrating oil, let them sit for about 10 minutes and then remove them.  The arrow in the photo shows one of the studs already removed.

Eight: Install the driver’s side header and gasket using the high-grade header bolts supplied in the kit.

Nine: Remove the passenger side exhaust manifold.  Here’s the stock passenger side manifold next to the Dynatech long tube header.  The Dynatech is a huge improvement over stock, with careful contouring of the equal-length header tubes to produce the widest possible torque curve and best HP gains.

Ten: Here’s where things can get a little tricky.  The passenger side header has plenty of clearance once it’s installed, but it’s impossible to get it in place due to a lack of clearance between the starter (arrow) and the frame rail.  To gain enough clearance Dynatech’s instructions recommend removing the starter, installing the header and reinstalling the starter.  That works fine for most folks, but it you have a jack you can push up the passenger side of the engine about an inch or so and that’s plenty of room to squeeze the header in place without having to remove & reinstall the starter – this is just one of the tips the Troyer shop uses to make installation easier & quicker.

Eleven: Install the front O2 sensors and the rear O2 sensors. Make sure to use a small dab of nickel-based anti-seize compound on the threads – not too much, you do not want the anti-seize to flow down onto the actual sensing (tip) portion of the O2 sensor!

Twelve: Tighten down the Dynatech high-flow Y-pipe.

Fourteen: Connect the Dynatech high-flow Y-pipe to the mid-pipe of the exhaust. Note that Mike’s team replaced the stock mid-pipe found in many cat-back exhaust systems with a 3-inch mid-pipe.  The Troyer team also modifies the Dynatech Y-pipe to widen the back mating portion so it would properly fit the 3 inch pipe that Troyer uses instead of the stock 2.5 inch.  With this setup we have 2.5 inch pipes coming back from each side and its 3 inches where they join up.  This improvement increases cross-sectional area by over 70 percent, helping the system to breath a lot better over the stock 2.5" mating section.

Fifteen: Here are the results!  Sharp!  The entire system is connected to the Roush "on-read" cat-back exhaust system.  With the flow improvements made this new setup sounds like a big-block muscle car from the 60’s on the outside, without "droning" inside the cabin. Cruising volume levels are comfortable, yet is plenty loud outside the vehicle when you really get on the throttle.

Once the headers were installed the truck was put on the dyno.  The PCM needs to be reprogrammed for the long tube headers, as the distance from the exhaust port to the O2 sensors changes with the long tube headers, and the PCM strategy needs to be altered to properly reflect those changes in about a dozen different areas.  Also, Mike Troyer wanted to make the tune optimal for the headers on this long-term project truck..  The tuning info and dyno charts are in a separate, upcoming article, because the truck had its transmission upgraded as well and the article will cover all of the changes.  The truck picked up well over 25 HP!  The new transmission included a high stall torque converter so the flash stall makes the dyno charts kick in over 3000 RPM… the 25 HP gain was on the down-slope of the curve so we know the peak number is actually much higher. Torque was also increased significantly, and the shape of the torque curve is also altered to provide more torque at all rpms, and the engine now holds higher torque levels across the entire rpm range.

Let’s take a quick look at what Dynatech offers with their headers that makes them so good:

• Constructed of 100% aircraft-grade T-304 stainless steel.  No need to worry about replacing them in a few years due to rust!  Note that T-304 headers will turn slightly darker (golden hue) with age, and this is neither extreme or abnormal, it’s a sign of high-grade T304 stainless steel headers.  T-304 is generally considered a higher quality stainless steel for automotive applications.  For a good explanation of the differences see http://www.stainless-online.com/manufacturing/304-409-stainless.htm
• The flanges are thick (3/8 inch), laser-cut, welded internally to the rubes and then those welds smoothed by hand and the mating surface machine-ground.  You should be able to expect a long lasting seal, without the leaking/retightening headaches headers can be infamous for.
• The collectors are computer designed for maximum flow.
• OBD-II compliant and still uses all 4 of the stock O2 sensors with the bungs already welded in place.
• Uses triple layer (MLS) stainless steel header gaskets.
• Bolts to factory exhaust or aftermarket cat-back exhaust.
• All tubes are mandrel bent.
• Comes with complete set of bolts, clamps, O2 harness extension & all other hardware needed plus step by step color installation instructions.

Here’s a photo of the flanges with a double-A battery as a reference.  These babies are thick, which helps to reduce warping and leaks.

Here’s the Dynatech y-pipe with the end widened to 3" so we can connect it to a 3" mid-pipe.

I’ve been driving this truck for a little over a month with the headers, and I’m extremely pleased with the results.  The truck certainly has more power than ever before, the exhaust sound is more "throaty" and it gets attention when you stomp on it.  Dynatech makes an extremely high quality product and is one of few companies offering a kit with hi-flow catalytic converters so you have some peace of mind that you’re not sacrificing the air we all breathe for power. Troyer Performance feels that Dynatech is the only header manufacturer offering the proper combination of the absolute highest quality components & construction, includes every piece of hardware & fastener, all the bits & pieces, and the best installation instructions in the business.

There are no compromises with this kit.  There have been no problems with under hood temperatures.  It sounds great, flows great (according to Dynatech it is capable of flowing twice the normal amount), looks great, won’t rust away like the cheaper lower-quality long tube headers on the market for these trucks, and the high quality construction gives peace of mind that you won’t have to constantly re-torque the headers due to leaks.  Of all the modifications that have been made to the Roush F-150 project truck, this one ranks up there in the top 3 with the supercharger and transmission.

Troyer Performance can be found on the web at www.troyerperformance.com.  Dynatech can be found on the web at www.dynatechheaders.com.