Thanks for the responses regarding the welding. They will come in handy for sure. I have 11 broken studs out of 20. 6 are broken a few threads into the heads, so if left-handed drills don't work, I'm sure some welding will be required.

 

Good luck and keep us posted, there is always something different with every install and something new to learn from! And we LOVE pictures!!!

 

I drilled with right hand bits first. The studs turned further into the head. Then we cut the end (the tapered part) off a tap, and used it to clean the first few threads out. Then we used the left hand bit. Some required going back and forth a few times with left and right bits. Our studs seemed stuck worse right at the edge of the head. Good luck if you're not done already.

 

I haven't been over here in awhile, but Thursday we left with boat in tow, and as we left the house a light rattle exploded into a full blown exhaust leak. I havnot been able to see exactly where, but seems to be the collector tubes. My Ex came from NJ, so it has had rust issues. Has anyone else with headers seen this? It still could be a manifold gasket... Gotta look more tomorrow, since we were out all weekend. What do you all think?
Garry in Kodiak, AK

 

Tom, how did you install the bracket for the large heat shield? I'm working on installing the heat shield right now, but can't figure out how the small bracket is supposed to be installed behind it by the sway bar link. Did you drill a hole in the frame?

 

Mine have only been on since June, so they haven't been through a Wisconsin winter yet. I asked if people were happy with the Banks headers when I put mine on. Some had them on over 2 years with no problems. What brand headers do you have? The rattling first says something came loose.

 

There should be a hole in the frame that works. I don't know how to find it, but I took pics and posted them when I did mine. Maybe one of my pics has a better angle. Sammie did a thread with pics also. If I find my thread and the pics look useful, I'll make a post to bring it to the top.

At least you've got the hard work done!

 

Anders, In the photo you quoted if you look closely you can see that I had to drill an extra hole in the shield to land the small bracket to it. There was a hole in the frame for the other end of the little bracket. Lance's photos show it pretty well too.
Good luck!

 

Sounds like either a gasket failed or worst case a cracked primary at the collector, hope it's just a gasket and an easy fix for you.
Out in the boat off Kodiak Island in the last week of October!

 

Thanks again to Tom and Christina! Your threads made my install so much easier. Anyone putting the Banks headers on should read them both, along with any other old threads you can find. It will make your life MUCH easier. At one point (the heat shields) I almost took my laptop under the EX.

 

Welcome - glad they were of assistance and saved you a few bloody knuckles. We did ours a few weeks apart and compared notes and shared some left of parts even...

 

You should be able to narrow down whether it's at the collector or further up by opening the hood and listening for the leak. A cheap stethoscope will allow you to hear where the sound is coming from. You can try to use your hand as a sound shield to isolate where the noise is coming from.

Header and collector bolts usually should be rechecked after a break in period due to the heating/cooling cycles. Especially if the bolts were put in dry (no antisieze or loctite depending on application).

Coated headers should last the lifetime of an engine. Uncoated headers can rust through over time. That's why cheap headers are cheap, they usually are thin wall tube and no coating. Thicker wall tubing and coatings are worth the money.



I appreciate this thread greatly even though I may never put headers on my Ex. I wonder if that T was reworked how much of a difference it would make as that's a huge restriction to even a stock system!

 

There are aftermarket Y-pipes available, they do let the engine exhale better but some users have reported they get some exhaust flutter with them, that crazy factory T-pipe was Ford's way of fighting the flutter noise.

 

Well the weather was good here today, so with my super bright LED flashlight i started looking. Found that there is a piece of metal that is supposed to be between the 5 collector pipes. It is gone, so the exhaust is blasting up between the 5 pipes. Everything else seems to be solid, but fixing this will require pulling the header for sure...

Any other ideas???

Garry in Kodiak.

 

Unbolt the exhaust, reach into the collector and weld a piece of metal in there??

I know it won't be all that easy, but aside from removal and get them warrantied, that's only thing I can come up with.