I will post back on how they turn out. Thanks..

 

Well, I tackled the driver's side today. It went WAY easier than the passenger side. All 8 studs came out fine, the header mounted up with no problems. Probably only spent a couple hours on this part.

The rest of the day was spent on the y-pipe. Probably another 4 hours.

I didn't get it back together enough to fire it up yet though... tomorrow!




Be gentle on me about the welds.

 

Looking good so far, Sir.

 

Thanks redford

Well, I didn't get to the point of test driving it today. I did get the exhaust all back together enough to start it up, let it get hot, let it cool, then re-tighten the header bolts. So far so good.

I skipped the test drive because I didn't want to put the splash shields back in, knowing that I would need to re-tighten the header bolts after the first cool down.

Tomorrow after work I hope to put them back in and go for a spin.

Here's my y-pipe after installation. The "go easy on my welds" disclaimer is still in effect

 

Great write up. Thanks for all of the hard work.

 

Well, Inquiring minds want to know; you feel any difference with the new headers/y-pipe?

 

Anyone ever hear of any dyno results or have a guess on hp increase if any? The only reason I ask is because people who put on the Gibson shorty's said it was a waste of $$$ so I was hoping the JBA would be better. I also have been wanting to install these also. Yes, please update us on seat of the pant's improvements if any. Thanks

 

Dropped my truck off Sunday night to have my gibson headers installed. I don't expect to see a huge difference until the Y-Pipe but had some broken studs so needed to be done anyway. So as of the end of the day Monday 13 studs removed safety 2 broken and 1 to go. As of this morning the driver side was installed and completely finished and was working on the passenger side but was concerned it was going to be hard, but I hope not. Gibson guaranteed that it would fit without alterations. Still haven't got the phone call yet so hopefully soon and I am worried about the cost being it is taking so long.

I will follow up

 

Unfortunately, I've been sidetracked on other things the past two evenings and haven't got my truck all the way back together (splash shields) so I haven't had my first drive yet

Got stuff going on tomorrow evening and Thursday evening too so its not looking good until Friday.

I'll definitely post up my butt dyno results as soon as I can. I'll have a better idea once I can take it for a decent trip that involves mountains and such. Maybe this weekend.

I also don't have huge expectations for the power increase. I'm expecting the headers & y-pipe combo will result in noticible gain though.

I've never had a problem with the power on this truck but I figured while I was doing it I would "upgrade" to something better than the factory logs, so I went for the headers. And, since it was all apart anyway, the y-pipe was a no brainer.

I'm also going to put in a K&N filter. I know, I know, some like 'em, some don't. I've had no problems with them in the past so we'll see.

So, better flow in.... better flow out, whatever happens in between is outta my hands

 

Well, I finally wrapped everything up this evening and then took it for a test drive.

I gotta say I'm impressed. I can definitely feel the difference! Much better throttle response and its seems to have quite a bit more pep off the line. It seems to accelerate alot smoother as well.

Since I did both at once, I don't know what helped the most, the headers or the y-pipe. Hopefully topcopsr will get a test drive with headers & stock y-pipe and report back. Then report back again after the y-pipe.

So far I'm happy with this setup.

 

I'm def going with the header and y pipe, figure its a safe bet being stainless, and the fact I can ceramic coat on the cheap should make these last 4 ever.

Just did the drivers side to get through inspection, ended up going with a dorman replacement and made my own stainless studs from some 8mm bolts from bolt depot, used flanged serated stainless nuts to hold 'em.

Getting them off was a pain, but after reading on this forum all the different tips I did it like this.

took off inner fender
used a OA torch to burn off the remnents of the nuts and studs
burned studs off the manifold to Y pipe
removed manifold
got some nuts and mig'd them onto the 1/2" studs that were left
all came out clean as a whistle
reinstalled and everything worked.

This forum rocks, I would have had to spend a ton of cash at a shop for this without you guys....

Oh and stroppe, great site with loads of info thanx

 

That's a good summary jakazz007. I think the heat really helps when you weld the nuts on. I know the one I did that way, that had just broke a few minutes earlier, came right out.

Well, here's the writeup I put together on this.

2004 F250 Broken Exhuast Manifold Stud

Thanks again to everyone who has replied to this thread!

 

Excellent write up. Thanks a lot for the detailed photo's. This really helped me decide NOT to tackle this job. Glad it worked out for you.
Jim
Flickr: scram98400jm's Photostream

 

Thanks, and glad I could help

Yeah, this project ranked up fairly high on the difficulty scale. I'd give it about a 7/10. If I had broken more studs I probably would've ranked it higher

For the risk scale, I'd give it about 15/10 Mainly because of the risk of trashing a head when trying to get a broken stud out. That could ruin a person's day and wallet.

 

Well guys everything is all completed.

Last week I had a shop install the headers. Labor hours where almost 15 hours. Cost alot more than I was expecting. Anyhow picked up the truck with just the headers installed and drove it home. Didn't notice a real huge difference but did a little. One thing I did notice is I did hear a little noise when getting on the throttle almost sounded like a slight leak. What I am wondering is because of the thin walled headers do I hear more coming out of the header rather than stock manifold??? Not sure. So when I got home I allowed it to cool several hours. Took a wrench to it and it and was able to snug a few bolts a little. Took it for another ride and still the same slight sound. Then took the torque wrench to the bolts and noticed I couldn't torque a few as they were stripped out already. So now I am pissed but I think I have a savior. The bolts were only about 3/4" and the threads in the head were 1 5/8" or so. Went to the store and got an 1 1/2" bolt and seemed to be okay but real nervous. Met with the shop and as I paid them also let them know what happened and they should have followed the directions to torque them properly. They were very sorry and agreed to repair it and insert time serts to repair the bad ones. I am really hoping that my longer bolt will be okay cause I don't want to have to take it back. So........

Now as for the y-pipe I took it to the exhaust shop and they custom made a y-pipe for the truck. The passenger side is a direct flow right into the main exhaust and the drivers side connects into the main exhaust with a y. started it up and man what a big difference. It even had alot deeper sound to it. I have been really getting on it so I am not sure how accurate the gas mileage will be but.. I did a much better improvement with the y. So I think as a whole the combination is probably a real improvement.