Headers Install

Just use the metal Kooks gaskets, they work great by themselves. And yes you can lift under the front edge of oil pan. I used a folded up towel on top of a short 2x6 for padding using a floor jack to raise engine. I’ve past 3 emissions tests in IL with the standard cats. We pass as long as there are no CELs and the monitors are all ready.

 

" Most " people that did LT's on jack stands said they'd never do it again.
The fact that you have access to a lift makes it a non question..

 

he would have to wait un

He would have to wait until winter to use the lift though, since his car is put up for winter. It was either wait for lift and stare at pretty headers leaning up against the wall, or give it a go on jack stands. Seems like he couldn't wait, lol. I don't blame him, that mod itch is a tough one to scratch.

 

On my 05' GT the original BBK gaskets blew out about 2 years after install. I replaced them with Kooks aluminum header gaskets #PY-8023A-AL

I do spray them with hi-temp copper seal (old racers trick) prior to install. Also, initially check the bolts after a few hundred miles just to make sure... So far no issues, 3 years and counting.

 

I don't track my 2010 GT auto, (4.6L,3v) with small M90 roush blower, it's just a street car. However, once the JBA ceramic coated LT's + mating hi-flow cats were added (catted H), the difference was night and day.(1 5/8 primary, 2.5" collector) Any idiot could tell the difference in the improved tq + hp. I had previously installed the bigger twin 62mm FRPP TB, and also a 94 tune before the LT install. Before the LT install, it was 350rwhp + 325 rwtq. After the LT install, it's now 386 rwhp and 376rwtq...with the same 5 psi boost. That's a bunch. I could have installed the smaller blower pulley, and gotten similar results...with 7-8 psi boost. It was a high level experiment. The advantage of the LT's is, they work in NA or blower mode. The smaller pulley only works in blower mode.

I think some of the gains are from the ceramic coating on both the inside and outsides of the LT's. The internal exhaust gases are hotter..and flow faster. Eng bay is definitely cooler, like 40 F cooler. Part of that is due to the ceramic coating...and part of it is that the new hi-flow cats reside below the front seats. Oem cats were at base of eng bay..and run hot. On a 2010, 80% of the upper grille is blocked off. Replaced oem upper grille with a 7 bar grille (upper foglamp delete). That vastly improved the airflow through the upper grille..and also provides addition eng bay cooling. It also eliminated the 2 x 90 deg bends into the 'snorkel' that feeds air into the oem airbox. (K+N panel filter also installed). Air is now straight in to the now exposed snorkel intake.

However, the exhaust was too damned loud..+ bad drone at 1900 rpm. (FRPP SS FRS-500 mufflers installed long before the LT's). I'm told the hi-flow cats are the culprit, not the LT's. So in went the SS Pypes M80's , (welded) just before the rear axle...... problem solved.

 

Guess I forgot the third dissapointment.
Cannot tell any difference with my ceramic JBAs as far as reduced underhood temps.
I should put mine on the dyno before I pull the LTs off and put the reliable and maintainance free stock shorties back on.

 

I ran Kooks headers with the soft aluminum Kooks gaskets and Hi-temp silicon on both sides of the gasket for ten years. Took them off for maintenance once and reinstalled them the same way. They have never leaked around the gaskets. Also using steel header bolts about an inch long and have never had problems with them coming loose.

 

Good advice above. I installed BBK shorties on my 08 GT. I have only to items of advice.

• A Scotchbrite pad on an oscillating tool did a great job of cleaning up the gasket surface of the heads. I was surprised that I had enough room, but it was there.
• A ratcheting tie down strap worked well for holding the pipes off the ground so I could bolt them to the collectors.

 

I've done it three times so what does that say about me

The initial install is the most difficult. After that pulling the headers out and putting them back in is easy. Pull the starter, support the engine and pull the motor mounts, disconnect the steering shaft, pull the dipstick, remove headers. I think JBA's have a little more room around the bolts than Kooks do but I'm not sure.

I initially did my ceramic coated JBA's, pulled them back out once for paint, then pulled them back out again when I found a smokin' deal on 304 stainless JBA's (also did that partly because my ceramic JBA's were welded up weird and the collectors didn't line up right). Those ones aren't coming back out.

I would have given some tips but I'm late to this party! Glad you got it done.

 

That's why I didn't state " ALL ", & my comment was based on threads I've over the years..

 

That is a common problem when moving the sensors from the stock manifolds to headers becasue you're moving the sensors farther from the engine. The sensors rely upon the hot exhaust to get the sensors up to their proper operating temp. When you move them farther downstream it takes longer for them to get hot enough so the computer thinks something is wrong. Did you do any tuning for the headers. I believe it is somthing like O2 sensor transport delay time needs to be increased in the tune. Not positive though, It's been a while since I've had to deal with that.

 

Oh, your fine to drive it the way it is. Just a minor annoyance.

Wait, your sensors moved closer to the motor and now you have codes? That seems weird.

 

I never got codes installing LTs on the coyote. But I can confirm that LTs do infact slow the response time of the O2s.
Forscan Mode 6 displays the time in ms for the coyote.
It was reporting ~140 ms.
Added 25% to the transport delay. I now am at 80ms.
I never looked at this on the stock headers, no clue what stock response time should be. Additional 5% had no effect, Im calling it 'dialed in'. lol

 

Since you posted you used the NTK 22060\22500 NB O2 sensors (which are front\rear specific), you can look at the sensor leads to ID 1 from the other externally. The NTK 22060 sensors (pre-cat or front) have a shorter lead that doesn't have any stud mounting clips attached to them. The NTK 22500 sensors (post-cat or rear) have the longer leads w\ 2 stud mounting clips attached to them.
Internally, here's a picture of a NTK 22060\NTK 22500 NB O2 sensor's element shield placed end to end:
The larger element shield (lower) is the NTK 22060 front\pre-cat NB O2 sensor.....................

If I read your postings correctly, you swapped out a set of BBK full-length LTH's for a set of Kooks mid-length LTH's, yes? If this is so, then IMHO, I don't think the tune's current O2 sensor transport delay map settings is the main culprit triggering the P0133\P0153 DTC's since the physical O2 sensor mounting position distance from the exhaust ports are closer......but this also will depend on how far the TD map settings were changed from OEM to accommodate the BBK LTH's.

What I'm typing below is related to a SO PCM (which you have) & the tune within it:

A P0133\P0153 O2 Sensor Slow to Respond DTC (B1S1\B2S1) is mainly due to the O2 sensor V\ms transition rate between 600mV (rich line) to 300mV (lean line) or vice-versa being out of bounds (below the slow threshold) from when the PCM calls for a fueling switch from either rich or lean to when the O2 sensor voltage actually responds to this change in fueling around stoichiometry (usually within 100 ms time frame). If these sensors did get swapped, I can definitely see these DTC's coming up due to knowing the NTK 22500's (rear or post-cat) weren't designed for engine fueling control thus are slower responding compared to the NTK 22060's........that is, if they got swapped around.

The O2 Sensor Transport Delay map settings are a measurement in time (seconds) from when the PCM commands a fuel injector to start injecting fuel into a cylinder to when the PCM applies a fueling correction from the O2 sensor reaction to the exhaust from said cylinder, based on the engine RPM's at the time. The PCM will adjust these settings to correct this timing within a set window in the tune so as long as the actual timing falls within this correction window, the PCM can remove this out of the equation......except whenever the engine load drops below .20 load (below this threshold O2 TD timing correction\learning is disabled) thus if this is causing an issue w\ O2 sensor response time it will be mostly during engine idle (low RPM threshold is also set @ 1,000 RPM's, below this O2 TD timing correction\learning is disabled)......which IMHO is very doubtful since the physical O2 sensor mounting distance is closer to exhaust ports in the Kooks LTH's than the BBK LTH's (which would actually physically speed up the idle & overall O2 TD timing signals instead of slowing them down). Most tuners do not touch any of these in-tune TD control settings......only the actual timing settings in the TD map.

The Kooks LTH's will almost run off the OEM O2 TD map settings w\o issue (the only area where they can get into trouble is during idle when the TD learning\correction is disabled) & the only other in-tune setting that can directly affect O2 sensor TD timing is the injector reference CA timing setting (sets injector EOIT to camshaft adv dur IVO timing point....thus sets when an injector will be commanded open.....this setting will also change based on any commanded cam retard timing).

Since you haven't had the tune touched during this LTH swap out, I highly doubt your issue is tune related & you're already on the right track to start off TS'ing...........

My 2 cents................hope this helps.