The other day, I was asked by one of my old customers that hasn't finished his conversion yet, what were the tips I'd given him when he first started. I got to thinking I should let all of you who are doing the conversion, or are about to begin doing it, know how to do it easily and effectively.
To begin with, there are six holes per header flange. On the header on the driver's side, the top bolt hole is next to the steering box, so is hard to install after the header is mounted. I suggest putting the frontmost bolt in with the gasket, then as the header is lower at the back, slip the top rearmost bolt onto it's hole, including the gasket hole, then swing the header up so you can hand tighten it, so the header is now where you can put the rest of the bolts in. The drivers side is the only side that you need to do this on.
How to tighten the bolts:
You will notice that there are six bolts on each header, but the really important bolts are the three that are on the plane that runs through the center of the exhaust ports. The two top bolts could actually be omitted, but if you don't like to see blank holes staring back at you, you can put them in. The reason I say they this, is the center line holes should be tightened well, but the two top holes per side should just be tightened so they won't fall out. If you tighten the top bolts too much, they crush the gasket at the top, which will rock the header flange up, which will cause exhaust leaks out the bottom. I suggest installing the header bolts with Loc-Tite blue, so they won't need re-tightening, nor will they loosen and fall out, causing a leak.
Jose
To begin with, there are six holes per header flange. On the header on the driver's side, the top bolt hole is next to the steering box, so is hard to install after the header is mounted. I suggest putting the frontmost bolt in with the gasket, then as the header is lower at the back, slip the top rearmost bolt onto it's hole, including the gasket hole, then swing the header up so you can hand tighten it, so the header is now where you can put the rest of the bolts in. The drivers side is the only side that you need to do this on.
How to tighten the bolts:
You will notice that there are six bolts on each header, but the really important bolts are the three that are on the plane that runs through the center of the exhaust ports. The two top bolts could actually be omitted, but if you don't like to see blank holes staring back at you, you can put them in. The reason I say they this, is the center line holes should be tightened well, but the two top holes per side should just be tightened so they won't fall out. If you tighten the top bolts too much, they crush the gasket at the top, which will rock the header flange up, which will cause exhaust leaks out the bottom. I suggest installing the header bolts with Loc-Tite blue, so they won't need re-tightening, nor will they loosen and fall out, causing a leak.
Jose