Wow man, I'm trying to put headers on my '66 skylark/gs 401. The good news is that the two bolts I snapped off are on the right side. The bad news is that I cant get the driver's side exhaust manifold out of the engine bay. I've removed the power stearing bracket, and unbolted the starter, removed the clutch linkage and can almost get it out, but not quite. ok whats the trick here. I need some insight from someone that has removed the exhaust manifold from a 65-66 gs 401. underneath, it hangs up on the control arm frame bracket. Do I need to raise the engine? While I'm asking, what's the trick to removing the starter? man, my 71 GS-455 was a hell of lot easier to work on! any help would be appreciated. For all you "frame off " resto guys, I know......its easy when the car is dismantled! thanks, Frank
Pick It Up Frank! Frank, You are going to have to remove the bolt that goes through the motor mount on both sides of the engine. Then lift it using a engine crane or a U shaped lift under the motor mounts on a floor jack. Don't lift it using the balancer or pan. Cheryl
Ditto on removing the eng mount bolts to get the header in.... The starter....that's not fun either.:gt: It helps if you remove the solenoid from it first. If you can afford it....spring for one of Tom Telesco's hi torque mini starters....and never worry about changing your starter again! I think I put the starter back in after the header was in position, but not yet bolted on. Oil filter changes may be difficult with headers also. It's a tight fit getting it in and out. I have to remove the converter cover to get the filter out and in.....But my headers were built by Kustom Headers, but appear to be the same design as the repo's....do the rest of you have this problem?
Frank, Sounds like everyone has you on the right track. Just one area of caution: You may want to loosen the tranny support bolts to allow the tranny to move up a little when you jack the engine up. Someone gave me this tip when I was replacing the exhaust manifolds on my car. What a royal pain the the *** to do either the starter or manifolds / headers. BTW, would like to see some pics of your car. Do you have any posted somewhere? Color appears to be burgundy mist like my thin pillar..... Steve
Thanks a bunch for all the input! I thought in the back of my mind that I was going to have to lift the motor, but I wanted to hear it from the voice(s) of experience. Since the car is up(down) for the winter, I'll take my time with it. I would love to go with a new mini starter, but mine is working ok, and I do have a spare one.....so, I'am stuck with the guilt I have about spending even more money then is neccessary. You will note that I deemed putting headers on was something I had to do ! :grin: Thanks again for the good info. Frank
Tom's starters are soooo much easier to install than that huge stock one :gt: , much lighter too. Your on the right track now Frank, happy wrenching.
I removed the factory exhaust manifolds and put headers on my '65 GS without taking the starter off or even loosening it. I jacked the motor up, took the rear part of the PS bracket off and was able to get the manifold out and the header in. I also had to take off the clutch z-bar, but that is very simple. As for the oil filter--I couldn't get it back on the car after putting the headers on the passenger side. I had to sick a 10" piece of 2" steel pipe up in the header collector and tweak the whole header toward the drivers side by about 1" by pressing on the end of the pipe with my feet. Once I permanantly tweaked it, the oil filter clears between the header and the frame easily. On a 4-speed car, there is no option of taking of the converter cover to remove the oil filter.
Brian, thanks. It looks like that side doesnt have to go up very far to get enough clearence. Frank:TU:
I jacked up the left side, and removed the manifold. my headache now comes from two snapped off exhaust manifold bolts on the other side. I can't find my left hand drill bits, so I gotta buy some more, before I attempt the removal. soaked them with aerokroil, heated the area, and no luck yet. I dont know why I keep starting these projects...... o No:
