Sidepipe installation hints

[lippy]

I'm installing the sidepipes on my ERA and having a bear of a time getting them on the last 1/4-1/2" onto the headers. I installed them with the headers loose and a jack supporting the rear of the sidepipe, and used Walker AcoustiSeal as recommended by ERA. I tried to move the pipe slightly to ensure I got a straight fit, and used a piece of wood lengthwise and a mallet to hit the edge of the tabs, through the opening in the body. I hit it pretty hard and got it almost all the way on, but I cannot get the sidepipe and header tab holes to align. They are off probably 1/4-1/2". Any hints would be appreciated, as well as ones to make sure the side pipes are parallel with the body. Thanks.

[Ron61]

Just a guess, but if you tighten up the headers will that pull the holes more in line? Patrick would be the one to ask as he is quite knowledgeable about ERAs.

Ron

[DanEC]

Lippy, did you test fit all of the individual headers at the slip joint before installing and did they seat with some wiggling in? Are they stainless or ceramic coated?

I have undercar collectors but I think the header portion and slip joint part ot the collectors are the same - I'm not 100% sure. I also ordered mine in bare steel from ERA and sent them out for ceramic coating. They coat the inside also for durability and swore it would not interfer with the slip joints. That was a story pretty easy to see through and sure enough with inside and outside layers of ceramic coating I couldn't even get them to start. I marked where they had been test assembled with the tabs before coating and wrapped the exposed area above the connection with masking tape and then sanded the outside coating off of the header and the inside coating off of the collector until they would slip into place without too much effort. I used drum sanders inside the collector area. When assembled none of the sanded area is visible.

Then I liberally coated the collector side with Walkers sealent. I left the headers very slightly loose on the engine - I just lightly snugged up the bolts so there was still a little wiggle to the pipes to ease alignment. Then I started the collector over the pipes and started working it up by applying pressure and slightly twisting the collector back and forth. That generally got mine up within a 1/4 inch or so and then I put some masking tape on the bottom of my collector and rapped it a few times with a rubber mallet. That got them up to where I could use a punch through the tab holes to ease the pipes up the last 1/8 inch or so and I could get the bolts in. I used a couple different size steel punches to work them up the last slight amount.

With the undercar collectors, rapping on the bottom of them from below was pretty much driving them straight up on to the headers. I don't know exactly what is different on the side exhaust headers to allow them to come out slightly higher through the rocker panel - but if it's pretty much a straight line to the heads, some twisting and rapping on the collector with a mallet should get them in place if they did individually test fit OK.

I guess I should add it probably is possible to dent exhaust or collector piping with a rubber mallet if hit sufficiently hard. You kind of have to use a little judgement in how hard to rap it.

[strictlypersonl]

Unfortunately, it usually takes two people to get the pipes all the way in. One at the front with a rubber mallet, and a second one at the back to wiggle a bit.

[ERA Chas]

Here's a more involved but long term fix. And I know you've been through a lot lately...
Procure a junk FE head and clamp it to your workbench. Mount the head pipes and begin a process of fitting the collector pipes. Put a saw horse length-wise under the sidepipe for support.
The key a muffler expansion tool, commonly available at parts stores. Get one that has a 1-3" range.
Expand pipes as necessary to get a not-overly snug fit. Each pipe will be different. Sand areas where coating is too thick. Get them so that with the head pipes loose on their flanges the collector will slip on with a bit of effort-but no hammering stuff. And I didn't use any sealer between the pipes as it just shrinks away with heat. They won't leak if you work carefully.
Then, maintenance on the car becomes much easier.

[mrmustang]

I learned long ago the trick to installing 4 into 4 headers (although I had to be reminded of it this past spring)

1: loosen the header bolts so you can wiggle the header tubes.
2: Install (loosely) the rear bolt on the side pipe itself
3: Spray a light coat of PAM" cooking spray on the inside of the side pipe flange, and on the outside of the header tubes. You can spray it o a rag and wipe it on both pieces if you do not want to get over-spray on everything.
4: With the car either on a set of jack stands or wheel ramps in the front, slowly slip the side pipe to header tubes on while you are under the car. Each one is slightly longer than the other, so the first tube to hit is the first to get aligned, the second, third, and then final tube.
5: The header tubes should now be firmly within each associated side pipe tube. You can now wiggle the side pipe to get the bolt flanges to join each other.
6: Now bolt the flanges together (make sure to use a lock washer).
7: once flanges are firmly bolted together, retighten your header flanges to the heads.
8: Finally, install and tighten any rear mounting tab bolts, again remember to use lock washers.
9: Fire the car up and listen to how good the sound is.
10: Clean up and get yourself something to drink, you earned it.


Yes, it really is that easy.


Bill S.

[SSSammy]

Originally Posted by strictlypersonl

Unfortunately, it usually takes two people to get the pipes all the way in. One at the front with a rubber mallet, and a second one at the back to wiggle a bit.

Or the person at the front can grasp the collector with both hands and wiggle it up and down rapidly while pushing vigorously I think it makes this go better if you say: "YAAAHHHHGGGGG!!!" at the same time

Mine are ceramic coated on both sides of the joint. So I sand the headers with emery cloth to get them smooth. Make sure none of them are oval. If so, re-shape them round with channel-lock pliers. I smooth the inside of the collector pipes with a 2" brass wire wheel on a drill motor. I don't use sealant, because I have found that I need to remove the pipes from time to time. Some leak a tiny bit. For the first fitting, you can try Vaseline. Just apply liberally to the inside of the collector. It will smoke a lot when you start up, but it will burn off in a few minutes.

As was suggested above, mocking this up off the car first is helpful. The side pipes will line up parallel to the body when they are bolted to the rear mount strap and the front tabs are bolted.

Sam

[FWB]

You just need more beer......

[kevins2]

Lippy,

Since I just recently installed mine, I'll chime in. My primaries are ceramic coated and I have stainless steel sidepipes. I used Walker's Acousti-seal - it will serve as a lubricant but will obviously dry if you take too long. Definitely a two person job as Bob said. Be sure to cover the hanger bracket on the back of the sidepipe with some thick rags in case they contact your paint. I used a 2 1/2 lb. plastic dead blow hammer and with one person wiggling the pipe around, "persuaded" the pipes on with the hammer and also pushing and wiggling the collector end. I don't think I could have gotten them on by myself. About two weeks later, I had to remove one to enlarge the body opening a bit (you may have seen photos of that on my thread). The Walker's cleaned off pretty easily and the pipe went on much easier the second time - still had a second person helping but it was considerably easier.

Kevin

[DanEC]

Originally Posted by ERA Chas

Procure a junk FE head and clamp it to your workbench. Mount the head pipes and begin a process of fitting the collector pipes.

In the event you don't have a spare junk yard head lying around or need one for a door stop - here is another approach. Get a piece of 1x6 poplar or other straight wood - lay your exhaust header gasket on it and mark the bolt holes - drill them out and bolt your header pipes to it. I welded some of my header tabs on using this method and they lined up perfect on the car. I bolted the left exhaust pipes on one side and the right exhaust pipes on the other side.

[kevins2]

Lippy didn't say if he was trying to install them by himself, but I suspect he was. Probably easier to get a neighbor or his wife to help. With a second person it really isn't that hard - not easy, but not too hard. He was able to install the transmission from inside the cockpit by himself, this is easier - again, with a second person helping.

[DanEC]

Originally Posted by FWB

You just need more beer......

This will attract some help.

[ERA Chas]

Originally Posted by DanEC

In the event you don't have a spare junk yard head lying around or need one for a door stop - here is another approach. Get a piece of 1x6 poplar or other straight wood - lay your exhaust header gasket on it and mark the bolt holes - drill them out and bolt your header pipes to it.

Excellent idea. It should scare you that we think alike...
I'll repeat, no second helper, no lubricants/sealers, no hammers needed.
Beer is always a good idea.

[lippy]

Good news/bad news. On the passenger side sidepipe, I sanded off some of the ceramic coating on the insides of the collector pipes. With a little Walker AcoustiSeal and the headers loosely bolted to the heads, it went right on. 15m max. Easy job.

On the driver's side (the first one I attempted), it was a bear. I eventually did get the sidepipe on and the tab holes aligned, but it was a mother and I dented/dinged one of the collector tubes on the sidepipe in the process. Bummer, and my first real damage since I've started this project. I think I may just live with it, at least for now, because the alternative is to take the sidepipe off again and get the damage fixed (by a bodyshop?) and get the whole thing recoated. And the sidepipe is on that side so tight that I dont think it will be trivial to remove it, and I don't want to damage the headers. Maybe a few heat cycles will help.

Last point: In order to get the sidepipes parallel to the car in two planes, I had to get some metal exhaust hanger brackets and cut out two sections (one for each side) that attach to the car on one end and to the rubber hangers ERA provided on the other end. Otherwise the rubber hangers alone were just too short - by a few inches. Anyone else do something similar?

[kevins2]

Hi Lippy,

I initially thought my rubber hangers were too short as well. Turns out there is considerable variation regarding where the bottom of the body is trimmed. Mine wrapped around considerably and was preventing the hangers from mounting at the correct angle (the 45 degree corner goes against the floor). After speaking with Doug, I took my Dremel tool and notched the body to allow the hangers to position correctly and that did the trick. As it turned out, that was good practice for enlarging the body opening I mentioned earlier.

Kevin

[lippy]

Originally Posted by kevins2

Hi Lippy,

I initially thought my rubber hangers were too short as well. Turns out there is considerable variation regarding where the bottom of the body is trimmed. Mine wrapped around considerably and was preventing the hangers from mounting at the correct angle (the 45 degree corner goes against the floor). After speaking with Doug, I took my Dremel tool and notched the body to allow the hangers to position correctly and that did the trick. As it turned out, that was good practice for enlarging the body opening I mentioned earlier.

Kevin

Kevin, thankfully, one of the few problems I didn't have was interference at the opening in the body. i have a minimum 3/8" clearance, and mostly more. Notching the body is one way to do it, but I managed to get it right using some additional metal hanger material and the sidepipes are now parallel to the body in two planes, so I think I'm all good. Thanks.

[madmaxx]

are these slip fit side pipes. If so I worked mine on by twisting the whole pipe up and down while I was pushing them on. They went on easy as compared to just pushing and pulling. disassemble was the same.

[lippy]

Now I want to remove the driver's sidepipe (the one that was a bear) so I can get a Wideband sensor bung TIG welded to it. This is the one I dinged during installation, so I'm less worried about damage to the ceramic coat from the weld.

This one went on with real difficulty, and it is extremely tight. Any good tips to remove it without doing any damage? Header bolts tight or loose? Heat the joints? Thanks!

[DanEC]

I've found on a couple of exhaust system removals that spraying a good penetrating oil up into the slip joint first has helped a lot. I think slightly loosening the header bolts would allow a little additional movement at the individual pipes as you try to wiggle it off. Have to protect the body at the opening and hanger.

[kevins2]

Hi Lippy,

I had to remove the driver's side pipe to deal with enlarging the opening as I said earlier. Both of my pipes went on with some difficulty and were very tight so I thought I was in for a real battle. I had also used Walker's exhaust seal. To my surprise, the pipe came off relatively easy. I disconnected the rear hanger and temporarily rested the sidepipe on a jack so I could wrap the hanger with rags in case it accidently touched the body. My wife wiggled the sidepipe around and I pushed and used my dead blow hammer from underneath the car and it came off relatively easy. For reassembly, I cleaned off the dried Walkers and reapplied it. The pipe went on fairly easily the second time, again with my wife wiggling the sidepipe around. I did not loosen the header pipes.

Kevin