The headers I have are a 3/8" flange and the brand is Topspeed Pro1 apparently. They came with the waffle style metal gaskets and just hardware for the connection between the headers and the Y pipe.

 

3/8" huh! Very interesting! I stated earlier that one seller said 1/2" flange. Well I looked again at the e-mail reply they sent to me, They stated 1/2" flange "Topspeed Pro-1"
What a deal! LOL!!

 

Hey Those look great ....nice bang for the buck.. Let us know how the install go's....

 

Ugly so far, took awhile to cut the bolts for the stock manifolds to the down pipe. My Dremel wasn't cutting it (no pun intended) so bought a pnuematic 3" die grinder. I only have a pancake compressor so running the die grinder was time consuming and frustrating.

Once I finally got those cut and free I decided to work on the passenger side manifold since there is much more room and access. There were three studs with the nuts on the top side. I cleaned them up and was able to remove both the nut and stud from the most forward top hole. Cool, I thought this wasn't going to be so bad. Went to the forward most one on the bottom, snapped at the nut. Same for another one on the top. I couldn't get anything to bite on the last one on the top so I just cut that one off with my Dremel.

I only had two more to go now both on the bottom. The first one to work on was the second from the rear as it was the easiest to get to. I ended up cutting that off as well. It's now dark and I figured I would start fresh in the morning as that last one on the bottom is going to be a mother to get to. I might just remove the down pipe so I have more room to work from the bottom as all of the drivers side bottom nuts are still on.

 

Just reading these stories made me cringe. So glad I got my mechanic to do it for me!

 

Well, the saga continues. Had to run into town to get some cut-off wheels for the Dremel. Was able to make somewhat short work of the down pipe so I could get more room to get to the last stud on the passenger side. Got it off and now on to the dreaded drivers side.

I was able to remove one whole stud with the nut but that was only a teaser. I had two others break off when trying to back them out. Cut two more off and down to the final one. The stud from hell, it's on the bottom and the 2nd from the front. It is of course the most difficult to get to due to the damn cross member. Why couldn't that one have broken off so I would only have to drill it? It's also deformed from rust so I even though I can get a 12mm socket on the damn thing I can't get it to turn or break off!

I am seriously contemplating towing the thing to the Ford Dealership as I don't any air tools that I feel I need to remove the cross member with. Trying to break the torque on some of those rusted bolts while laying on my back is not appealing to me. Short of coming up with an idea on how to get the one stud off or at least sheared off I feel I am going to have to cry uncle. So close I am not even concerned with having to drill out the majority of the studs.

 

Have you cried uncle yet? I am entertaining headers in the next few months.

 

Yes I did, I threw in the towel I hope to have it back Monday or Tuesday. It may actually have worked out for the better as for three days we had torrential rains and ridiculous wind. Even though it was under a car port the rains were driven in so working on it in the rain would have been even more maddening.

I'll post some follow up once I get it back.

 

Just an update, there are 9 studs still stuck. It's looking like the heads will have to come off and be taken to a machine shop to remove them. Apparently some of them are rusted in pretty well. There were a few that sheared off fairly deep in addition to some of them being sheared off for years. I would recommend those who have broken studs that are still within your Emissions Warranty to try and push Ford into covering the repair or replacing the studs as soon as you know they have broken vs. waiting until they get bad enough. Maybe if I had done mine much sooner they wouldn't be so bad.

 

well so much for the doug thorley headers i was getting after waiting alomost 20 days i had the gall to want a tracking no.so the guy got pissy and refunded my money ,at least i got my money back. barry

 

Where from? I got mine from Autoanything. They have free shipping and sales too if you watch.

 

guy on ebay conley i think they were cheap but not sure they exisited ?? guess that's what i get for cheaping out wasted over two weeks ,barry

 

That's why I tell people never to wait with the manifold issue. It only gets just THAT much worse.

 

I have had 1 broken stud for 2 years on my 99 with no known leaks. I do not want to wake the sleeping giant, but would like headers. It is storries like this that make me want to leave well enough alone. Is the time, money and energy worth the results? I would probably go with Thorleys if I could find some.

 

Doug Thorley Headers 218Y - Doug Thorley Tri-Y Headers - Overview - SummitRacing.com