New headers - Pypes

**Ares** · 05-29-2008, 09:54 PM

Well my MACs finally ate it. Four years old and winters have taken there toll. I seemed to have cracked the collectors last Sunday since they were thin from corrosion. So I picked up the Pypes Stainless headers off Ebay for $329($289 after I send in the $40 rebate) Price was hard to pass up since I paid more for my MACs. These look to be designed similar to MACs which should make hookup to my H-pipe easier. Got them today and they look real nice. Nice clean welds and the ports at the flange are nice and clean not protruding into opening, looked to have been cleaned up after welding. Much cleaner welding then the MACs by far. If it rains saterday I know what I will be doing. If not I'll be at the track finishing off the MACs.

Pics - Driver side

**mineralrob** · 05-29-2008, 09:59 PM

Nice those are the exact same ones i'm going with. I've the pypes offroad x right now and i'm very satisfied with the fit/sound quality etc.

**casper gt** · 05-29-2008, 10:10 PM

they look nice Ed but the word I was hearing was that they weren't out quite yet, I guess that was wrong. if you could could you take a pic or two of the egr tube in case its not real clear on the car as I was thinking of going with them too & have deleted egr. see you next sat (gotta work this sat, not doing rain dance or anything,lol ) thanks

**Troll** · 05-29-2008, 10:27 PM

very nice price and they look better quality built, too. nice purchase. too bad, you already had longtubes and you're just replacing with a similar design. probably won't get much gains.

**Rodeheaver's** · 05-29-2008, 10:57 PM

NICE, those look like bigger tubes than the mac headers have....1.3/4"??

**Ares** · 05-29-2008, 11:46 PM

Originally Posted by Rodeheaver's

NICE, those look like bigger tubes than the mac headers have....1.3/4"??

Yeah they do look big but they are 1 5/8" which is fine for a 4.6 The collector is a 3" which is an improvement. The ball/socket connection will need opened up some as it's about 2 3/16" at opening. I'll massage that to atleast 2 1/2".

Any hold up in the exhaust would probably be the catback. I'm sure the Mac Flowpaths are not much better then Flowmasters

**Ares** · 06-02-2008, 06:29 PM

Well the driver side one is made wrong. The #4 tube is out to far and basically in the path of the steering shaft. Which leaves zero room for the steering shaft. Took pics and emailed Pypes plus I called them. Was told that they have had a few calls with same issue. So they need to get a car in and do a test fit of production pieces. So I guess I have to return these and look for something else as I need to get the old ones replaced.

Glad I didn't rip this all apart only to find this out. I think pissed would be an understatement.

**mineralrob** · 06-02-2008, 06:49 PM

wow sorry to here that.

**Ares** · 06-02-2008, 07:10 PM

My old Mac's

Pypes - notice placement of tube #4 almost touching tube #1.

**wishIhada5.0** · 06-12-2008, 12:22 AM

Whats the cross pipe between numbers 3 and 4?

**Ares** · 08-09-2008, 12:50 AM

Ok I got these installed today and I started about 10am and finished about 10:30pm. Needless to say the thin foam mat and cardboard I was laying on didn't help as I am sore everywhere from being on ground. That said could these have been done quicker? Yep most certainly as I wasted alot of time MF'n rusty crap(EGR tube for one), eating dinner and catching a little Steelers action.

These Pypes headers are basically a direct copy of Mac headers. These passenger side when I put both next to each other looked identical. The fit was about the same Pretty good overall other then one tube touching part of starter. Lil hammer work to tube and file to starter seemed to work wonders.

Now as I mentioned before the driver side had me worried about fit. Again this side is damn near the same as my Mac's other then the tubes I previously mentioned. The steering shaft fits barely. I still have some decent rub which is only noticable under power when motor is torqued slightly. I think a few passes at track may solve this if not I will massage them a little more. There is just enough room for the shaft between the tubes and the very leading edge of universal joint on motor side looks to just rub. If I could lower motor maybe 1/8" I would have room. This I will see what I can do. (just dawned on me to shim back of tranny down which will drop back of motor moving it down and away from steering shaft, ok now to bed, see what happens when you think about rest

)

Now the shiny under the car looks good

Wait to you see what my old ones looked like. Both reducers were so bad I had cracks over half way around each. I had to be losing a few ponies because of them. So I have new headers installed and no more nasty exhaust tick/leak. I thought my cats I put on in April '07 had blown out as car seemed noiser(not counting exhaust leak) but I found them both intact which means I ran my best ET/mph thru cats. So I think maybe my Mac mufflers have lost a few baffles to the rust gremlins which is good enough reason to order a new exhaust

I rate these Pypes Stainless headers a 3.5 out of 5 for fit. If they would tweak the driver side one and slightly dimple the tube near starter I would go 4.5. Currently to much unknown out of box for my liking. #4 tube need the bend to end about 1/4" closer to flange and tube #1 & 2 need about 3/16" more space added between flange and tubes to clear shaft without a problem. Seems simple fixes that can be done on their jigs.

Finish/Workmanship I say 4.9 out of 5. The things are nice looking and the welds are very clean. Polished to a blinding shine.

I used Percy Split Lock fasteners which were actually very nice. Tighten screw down and the tighten a lil center screw/pin which expands end of bolt keeping it from backing out. These were stainless of course. Also reused my stock exhaust gaskets for second time but I did have to modify them for the one pice flange by reversing the lil bumps between ports to go towards head. Little hammer and bending work. My dipstick tube broke trying to remove so I got that plugged with lag bolt and copper RTV for now.

I will have pics of headers installed tommorrow. For now I hear my pillow calling.

**Ares** · 08-11-2008, 11:37 PM

I did try shimming trans down 1/8" it helped somewhat but torque of motor still causing interference. Driver mount is starting to split so I may just go with solid mounts.

Pictures....

Passenger side bottom

Driver side bottom

Closeup of Steering shaft fit(it does rub at universal at firewall under torque)

Shot of Percy Splitlock fasteners installed

Front to back shot

Side shoot showing clearance

**Ares** · 08-11-2008, 11:59 PM

Oh and the old vs new

**PunisherStang** · 08-12-2008, 12:10 AM

how do they sound? you should post a vid lol

**thedak** · 08-13-2008, 02:22 AM

LT's for $329.00

Must be nice..............

**MBH** · 08-13-2008, 11:24 AM

Originally Posted by Ares

Oh and the old vs new

so which one is the new one again?

Its a shame to hear some of the problems they had fitment wise, but thankfully you're smart/handy enough to overcome them :) Thats a great deal on the headers :)