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Did not need to lift up the front of the car to use it. I ended up lifting it after getting on the ramps so i can fit the wheel stoppers in front. Definitely recommended for any work that doesn't require the wheels coming off. I went back and forth on these VS quicklift a lot. Quicklift just required a lot more setup and maintenance work. And its mechanical, so there's always a chance of it failing over time. These are super sturdy and actually pretty light weight. Got them stored away on a rack in the garage. Very convenient.
-heavy
-expensive
-once set gets the entire car up quickly
-hydraulics, uses ATF
RaceRamps:
-I have a race jack (Danish brand)
-long ramps (pair)
-extensions for the ramps (car was low, less than 3”)
-rear ramps (pair)
-12” Cribs (four) - also used these for winter storage
-very light
-very strong
-easy to setup quickly
-depending on the work and clearance needed I would use any of the above
- all of above cheaper than quickjack
Reviving an old thread and a little stirring of the pot with respect to clearance with Vektor headers. First, MANY THANKS to basic666 for the excellent ‘how to’ thread and also for providing me with a link to Amazon for the triple square bits he used. They were perfect as was his suggestion to do everything in 1/4”.
I bought a set of headers from Chris at Vektor and started installation about noon yesterday, finishing about noon today. Vektor is less than 30 minutes from where I live so I went by to pick them up a week or two ago. Chris is a class act and so are his employees; was very impressed with him and his staff. Anyway, taking out time for Monday afternoon Happy Hour with my buddies, dinner, chatting with my wife, and sleeping, the entire project over 2 days took about 12 hours which I could shorten significantly now that I’ve done it once. I’ll leave the road clearance measurement for last, but below is redacted text from an email I sent to Chris after the job was completed and the car was driven:
Job is finished and I’ve had the car on the road. I’m worn out (I’m almost 67 so crawling around on the floor isn’t as much fun as it used to be). All in all it took about 12 hours to do the job. I could do it in a lot less time if I had to do it again. The exhaust note is awesome in non PSE, and I imagine with the PSE on it will make heads swivel. The sound is deeper with almost but not quite a growl. With the windows down I can hear the turbos which I love since in my former life I had extensive experience with industrial gas turbines. One reason why my hearing isn't so hot.... With PSE on it is significantly louder (car has Soul 200 cell cats among other goodies). As stated the GTS is louder than before, but the note is deeper and richer, and I like it. I imagine most of the time the PSE will be off, it will definitely be off in my neighborhood unless I’m trying to **** off the neighbors for some reason
Observations:
Power:
Now I wish I had waited for a before/after dyno (Chris offered this to me but my schedule did not allow it to happen anytime soon) as my *** tells me there is definitely more power. Of course no way to tell how much, but there is more. The car is putting out significantly more horsepower than stock. I have one more mod to do (see below), and then I'll get it dyno'd. I’ve driven a Turbo and a Turbo S and I believe my GTS is as fast as the Turbo but not as fast as the Turbo S. Very subjective I know but that’s my impression. The car really scoots!!
Mods include:
Cobb Stage 2 93 octane BMC air filter (I am sure it added little if any hp gain) Soul 200 cell cats Vektor headers DSC Sport V3 Suspension Controller
Purchased but not yet installed:
AMS intercoolers
Headers:
They are a work of art and are of very high quality and everything fit perfectly. Although not many will ever see them, they look really cool and the collector design is just super. I’m glad that I bought them from Vektor. Not taking away anything from other header makers at all; there are great choices available.
Supplied ‘accessories’:
Really great that you get new gaskets with the headers. The gaskets are crush gaskets and you really don’t want to reuse old ones. I imagine most other header companies don’t supply them.
Would have been great to have received one or two 13 and 12 mm nuts for double nutting as that would have saved me some scrounging time. I realize this is a nit pick.
I had the same issue as basic666 related to supplied bolts. The ‘blue’ bolt was not useful but another one, the ‘gray’ bolt was used and I could have used a couple more of them. But I made do with what I had and didn’t need to buy installation hardware elsewhere other than the 13 and 12mm nuts mentioned above. The 12mm nut is not too easy to find and I wound up buying a bag of 50 from Amazon. I bought the 13mm nuts at Lowes. Update 4/3/2019: Chris is sending me some extra cap screws. Told ya he is a class act!
Installation notes:
I have a set of Quick Jacks which worked great. Basic666 used Race Ramps which as he said worked fine. I bought the Quick Jacks on sale at Costco and this is the first time I had a need for them. Other than being heavy they are pretty slick.
I removed the rearmost fender liner of the left rear wheel well thinking it might have helped with access to that fun flange stud on the left side. I should have left it on as removing it didn’t help at all. But the good news is that it was 5 minutes to remove/replace.
For me removing the left heat shield is a must. Basic666 just got his loose, but if you jostle, wiggle, etc. it enough it will come right out. That allowed direct access to the nasty stud without having to use 2 extensions and a universal. Getting the heat shield back in place was easy enough but there’s a screw by the turbo that required the ‘tape the fastener to the bit’ method or you’d never get it back in since you can’t get your hand in the area where the screw goes. Messing with the heat shield probably took 30 - 45 minutes removing and replacing.
I had no fun getting the difficult to access stud out. While I was able to pretty easily double nut it, every time I’d put the 13mm socket on the nut, both nuts would turn but not the stud. So I stopped for a while and then I had the idea of using red Loctite with the double nuts. So I did that and it was bedtime so I quit for the evening which also gave the Loctite enough time to set up. This morning with the 13mm socket on the nut the stud came right out. With the 3 flange studs removed the header slipped out easily.
The 2018 GTS apparently has a different waste gate actuator than the 2017's which was quite easy to remove so I did. Remove a circlip on the wastegate valve arm, remove 2 10mm nuts, and pull off a piece of rubber tubing and it was off in a matter of a minute or two. Having it off helped to ‘clean up' the work area a little.
Now, for the part you’ve been waiting for:
Road clearance reduction:
In my garage, measured with a tape measure with the car moved to various places in the garage (trying to take floor irregularities out of the equation), I came up with 3/16” - 1/4” lower than the lowest point of the rear crossmember. As has been pointed out the front of the car is lower than the rear so I’m not going to lose any sleep over a quarter inch or less. As an FYI my garage floor is very flat so I’m confident with the measurements, and I found no outlier measurements that deviated from the 3/16” - 1/4”.
Thank you for this post! I love the detail you provide regarding the nuances of the product and install - genuinely helpful! I am in the process of deciding between Vektor and Kline headers when I do my exhaust overhaul; def gives me a better idea of what I'm getting into
Thank you for this post! I love the detail you provide regarding the nuances of the product and install - genuinely helpful! I am in the process of deciding between Vektor and Kline headers when I do my exhaust overhaul; def gives me a better idea of what I'm getting into
Glad the post helped! The work is not hard but it is tedious. And I spent a lot of time thinking about the next step. That’s the part of a redo that would help speed up the job. You’d already know what and how to do it. Good luck with whatever decision you make!
I present an alternative means of addressing the driver side top stud.
While most studs came out with the nut, the worst stud to access did not. I attempted the two jam nut method but wasn’t having any luck. A hacksaw did the job just fine, and it’s not like I’m ever going back to stock headers. It was the right move. Once removed, I tried to pull the stud from the header flange and actually bent the stud using the double-nut method. It is a seized as can be. I’ll be using Vektor’s included optional fasteners instead.
Passenger side is all done and torqued. Drive side still needs to be installed.
Last edited by Zylinderkopfdichtung; 03-05-2021 at 07:06 PM.
I recently helped my friend install headers. We were trying to get that tough stud off the drivers side header and believe it or not we slipped out the header with the stud still attached. Saved alot of time. I double nutted the stud on my own passenger side header and removed it.
I recently helped my friend install headers. We were trying to get that tough stud off the drivers side header and believe it or not we slipped out the header with the stud still attached. Saved alot of time. I double nutted the stud on my own passenger side header and removed it.
Did you have to pry and bend it out? My fear was damaging the studs in the block.
One related to from my experience: chase the threads of the studs using some M8-1.25 nuts before reassembly. Use high temperature anti-seize on of the studs.
11-07-2018, 10:13 AM
