Review on BBK Performance 1442 Exhaust Header by Brandon Peters

Only attempt to install if you have mechanical skills, a good tool kit, a workshop/workshop, lots of patience and plenty of time (8 hours minimum or more). without the special tools mentioned below). While installation looks easy, it's actually a big, big pain. Headers were not designed to be easy to install. The first step is to raise the front end with a jack and fix it securely with axle stands. So you can lie comfortably under the car and loosen the fastening screws of the X-tube with a socket wrench. My experience is to liberally spray all the nuts on the exhaust manifold joints with PB Blaster penetrating fluid. This product works amazingly well getting rid of those rusty fasteners, especially the ones that attach to the X-tube. I waited all night and the nuts came free easily. I speak from experience as I didn't use penetrating liquid on the first side and I couldn't move the nuts at all and ended up shearing off the bolts. The other side came off easily after an overnight soak. Access to the passenger side is generally anything but easy. It's a little better on the driver's side. First I made the worst side. You'll need a ratchet socket, a long head, oscillating extensions, and a universal joint to get to the X-tube manifold nuts behind the catalytic converter and around the O2 sensors. You can raise your other hand to guide the bushing (19/32" / 15mm) onto the nut. When you remove the nuts, the clamp plate will fall back and the flare will only fall slightly because the X-tube is on the Drive side stationary Inside the engine compartment, use a long socket wrench, small extension, and ratchet wrench and loosen the small nuts (1/2") on the manifold bolts. Each nut around the manifold profile is visible in a straight line. Most likely, the nut will move a little, then the bolt will rotate and come out completely. Nut sticks to rusty threads. At the end of the bolt is a small square of rubber jaws of a vice (which protects the threads) and unscrew the nuts to remove them holding the flats of the bolts in the engine compartment. On the passenger side, a screw will help unscrew the bone coolant line and lift the handset to the side. Now I went to the driver's side and did the same to remove the manifold and gasket. Access to all the screws is much easier and took no more than 30 minutes compared to 2 hours on the passenger side. Remember I had to cut out the X-Pipe studs on the other side which took me an hour to figure out what to do. I would generally give 2-3 hours to get to this stage, starting with the car on the ground. I undid the clips on the back of the X-tube and the X-tube was securely secured so it could slide. back a bit to reinstall the new distributors with the existing studs. It was self supporting but I put a piece of wood underneath at point X to avoid stressing the O2 sensor wires if it falls. I have already decided on Stage 8 stainless steel retainer bearings (from Revain) on the manifold. reinstall. I've found that there isn't direct access to almost all of the socket pins, maybe the top ends, but that's about it. This is where the 7/16" ratcheting pan wrench was needed to save a lot of small wrench turns and hours of work. I partially installed a couple of studs in the top holes to support the gasket at each end, and then a head and a Stage 8 bolt installed in the center top hole of the flange. I lubricated the threads with anti-seize lube. Now that the gasket is in place the bolts were removed one at a time (to keep the gasket in line and the screw goes in freely. Now the really tricky part! From the passenger side access to the lower screws under the header is not possible with more than one finger I found I could use my spring loaded picking tool (operated with two fingers and a thumb, with four little fingers on the other end for gripping small parts) I held the bolt with a puller and maneuvered it into one of the bottom holes I then ratcheted the wrench onto the head of the bolt and since it has a lip I was able to push the bolt against the threaded hole with a wrench. I then removed the picker and pressed my finger on the end of the bolt under the manifold and explained that I tightened it with a wrench. Be careful not to overtighten the screw. The angle of the face makes alignment difficult. I didn't use the original bolts but will probably need a similar process. On the driver's side, I was able to pull my hand out from under the top of some of the bottom bolts as there isn't much in the way under the headers on that side. The Ford Service Manual lists 30 lb-ft of torque for all fasteners in this setup. . I couldn't torque any of the bolts except the front top one. So I tightened them as tightly and evenly as I could with a 6" wrench, working back and forth on all three flanges to evenly compress the gasket. Steel OEM. I hope that doesn't mean it's leaking after all the work. That's my biggest fear right now. I haven't installed the locking tabs on the manifold bots yet as I plan to double check and tighten them after 500 miles just in case the gasket is loose. I'll try to install the locking tabs later - they won't be easy Installing and inserting the locking ring Now tighten the final screws, the X-pipe to the manifold. X pipe from below and installed a nut (bottom position) to hold everything together. Then I installed a lock washer, washer and nut combination onto the top bolt from the engine compartment. Be careful not to drop anything as pieces can get stuck where you can't find them! As before, the top nut was tightened just enough to fit the nut/washer combination onto the bottom stud. The nuts were then torqued evenly so the pressure plate was square and finally the nuts were torqued to 30 pounds per foot. The X-clamp is now tightened. Finally done - a total of about 8 hours over two evenings and a Saturday morning. Exhaust noise is pleasant and raspy from 4000 rpm. I will improve the Bama engine tuning for this mod, although technically it is not necessary to have a specific tuning to get some horsepower advantage. Exhaust sound comes as standard and is probably the highlight anyway. I felt that the heat from the header was more noticeable than before, with the potential risk of overheating the wiring harness at the top of the driver's side, as well as the coolant pipe and lower wiring harness on the driver's side. from the passenger side. I ordered an insulating thermal film to attach to the manifolds. This will also trap heat in the gases and thus allow the exhaust to flow, increasing performance. It won't look as good as chrome, but honestly I expect the headers to rust over time. Damn, they were rusty upon arrival! They were made in June 2014 and arrived in February 2015 rusty. Others have commented on this in reviews on other sites. If you like a challenge, collect them yourself. If not, install them at your local retailer for around $200.