[greg schroeder]

My car was delivered with leaking header to side pipe area. When I first pulled my side pipes I thought it was funny that the mating surfaces had weld build up to cause high spots. I ground the surfaces completely flat and used new gaskets. You can buy them from the Olthoffs or Hilbank at a reasonable price. To remove the bolts you can take the correct size wrench and cut the handle short. Put it on the back side toward the engine. When you twist the bolt with the other wrench the cut handle wrench turns to brace itself against the pipe. Often the bolts break off. Use new bolts and nuts always. The best bolts I've found for the job are grade 8 bolts from the hardware store. I've tried quite a few others though.

When I first pulled my headers my thought was it's funny that they cover 1/3 inch of each exhaust port. I got different headers.

I picked up different side pipes too.