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1987 - 1996 F150 & Larger F-Series Trucks 1987 - 1996 Ford F-150, F-250, F-350 and larger pickups - including the 1997 heavy-duty F250/F350+ trucks

Header install, duals, now minor issues.

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Old Sep 16, 2012 | 04:40 PM
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Freightrain
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Header install, duals, now minor issues.

89 F150/302/Aod.

Got a set of Pacesetter shorties, got them coated locally. Ordered up a true dual set up from LMCtruck.

Got it all put on the other day, though was not as simple as I thought. The tear down went pretty painless(getting old manifolds off and Y pipe-about 1.5 hrs). Got headers put on without too much fuss(about 1 hr). The bad part was the exhaust kit. Man, was that a PITA. Guess $200 doesn't get you much(in the line of "fitment).

The right head pipe was not bent enough to go back straight. I had to cut with sawzall and reweld. Fixed.

The left head pipe was way off also. It cuts under pan and goes back. Too bad it ran into pan and the backward part was pointing upward. Cut down from flange, bend and reweld. Cut before last elbow rotate to level and reweld. Hmmm, now it looks like things might line up better.

I got the tailpipes hung and propped with jack stands and worked my way back up to mufflers and hooking them to mid pipe. Very far from perfect, but it worked out okay. It is definitely NOT a bolt on kit. Without a welder and rosebud torch it would not be on the truck.

Sounds good with Thrush turbo mufflers, tailpipes look nice and stock looking pointing out behind each rear tire. I don't like the pipes out the back look. I'm more for the factory look(even though they didn't offer it on these trucks).

Ok, now the issue. Truck starts and runs okay for the most part. Seems it has an issue when it is cold and tried to come down off high idle. It drops off, almost stalls and then kicks it up a notch or so for another minute and then idles back to normal. Kinda not really smooth as before, but not a real "miss". I installed a new O2 sensor just because, I used the old one to plug the sensor hole in the drivers side header that isn't needed.

No codes, runs fine down the road. I cleaned the IAC again(did it a few months ago after having minor idling issues after cold idle).

Anyone else have issues after putting headers on? I know it opened the breathing, don't really feel any major power increases(haven't beat on it, don't do that anyway). From a light it seems normal, though hoping it seens some kinda of mileage increase. Just a week before on a little roadtrip on highway it broke 20 mpg. I was amazed, it usually gets about 15 around town, about 18 on the highway(running 65 mph).
 
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