Boxster Headers - Revisited
01-09-2009, 08:59 AM
#16
Burning Brakes
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My garage has a 2 post lift so the plan would be to put it on the lift and fire up the old kerosene heater and get it nice and toasty where I could work in comfort. When i purchased this car years back, within 6 months i bought a lift because it would (and has) make life easier working on this bugger.
I agree with turboflyer on checking flang thickness and I was planning / hoping to do that before i bought bolts. Weather and work schedule has kept me from doing so.
One other thing, the headers came with gaskets, which from what i read are not as good as the factory ones but who knows.
As for torque, the threads i read said something about 7ft lbs but people were doing 20. I have a bently manual and an electronic copy of the porsche ones so I will definately be looking up the torque values before i go wrenching away.
My car was in twice for RMS approx 4 years ago and for some reason, the dealer took 1 of the headers off. I know this because a few of the bolts are shiney new compaired to the others. I am hoping that will make at least the one header an easy removal. we shal see. ah ha ha ha
course, i could just trade it in on an S and get instant power gain. but what fun is that ?
Tom
I agree with turboflyer on checking flang thickness and I was planning / hoping to do that before i bought bolts. Weather and work schedule has kept me from doing so.
One other thing, the headers came with gaskets, which from what i read are not as good as the factory ones but who knows.
As for torque, the threads i read said something about 7ft lbs but people were doing 20. I have a bently manual and an electronic copy of the porsche ones so I will definately be looking up the torque values before i go wrenching away.
My car was in twice for RMS approx 4 years ago and for some reason, the dealer took 1 of the headers off. I know this because a few of the bolts are shiney new compaired to the others. I am hoping that will make at least the one header an easy removal. we shal see. ah ha ha ha
course, i could just trade it in on an S and get instant power gain. but what fun is that ?
Tom
01-09-2009, 04:34 PM
#17
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Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Jackson Hole WY
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i have been through this header issue twice now, first when i had a shop instal my headers, CEL .Then i had our local Porshe mech re wire and re locate o2 bungs( i didn't know him when i had the first work done) CEL. Then when we were put a second set of headers on to work with the suppercharger i noticed that somewhere along the line the the rear harness was hooked to the pre cat sensor and vice versa. Quick switch and finally after of 1+years no more CEL.
First the bolts, i went to my local carquest and they ordered them for me and they showed up a day later and this is middle of nowhere Jackson wy.
As far as not getting your CEL to keep going off your best bet is putting your secondary cats back in and lengtheing the wiring harness' of the seconday o2 so that it will reach to a good spot after the secondary cats where you will need to weld on a new o2 bung. We found that the top of the pipe worked well and was out of the way. It is time consuming to lengthen the harness' but not that difficult if you have the right tools and parts.
For the front sensors, if you have to mount new bungs make sure that you find a spot on the header that the wires will reach. If they are close but don't reach check to see if the post cat wireing harness is longer it may allow you to only lengthen 1 set of harness'. But hook it up to the front sensor conection.
On the driverside make sure that your power stering fluid hose is not touching or near your new header, you may want to secure it out of the way. You don't want to know.
After first install. on road trip.
You can live with checking your CEL but it will keep going off every couple of drive cycles and is not what you want to see keep popping up when your on a road trip.
Eric
First the bolts, i went to my local carquest and they ordered them for me and they showed up a day later and this is middle of nowhere Jackson wy.
As far as not getting your CEL to keep going off your best bet is putting your secondary cats back in and lengtheing the wiring harness' of the seconday o2 so that it will reach to a good spot after the secondary cats where you will need to weld on a new o2 bung. We found that the top of the pipe worked well and was out of the way. It is time consuming to lengthen the harness' but not that difficult if you have the right tools and parts.
For the front sensors, if you have to mount new bungs make sure that you find a spot on the header that the wires will reach. If they are close but don't reach check to see if the post cat wireing harness is longer it may allow you to only lengthen 1 set of harness'. But hook it up to the front sensor conection.
On the driverside make sure that your power stering fluid hose is not touching or near your new header, you may want to secure it out of the way. You don't want to know.
After first install. on road trip.You can live with checking your CEL but it will keep going off every couple of drive cycles and is not what you want to see keep popping up when your on a road trip.
Eric
01-10-2009, 01:18 PM
#18
Burning Brakes
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Get this, I spoke with the folks where i got my cat bypass pipes from and they have these "extensions" for the o2 sensors, sounds like it just moves the secondary o2 sensors our of the direct path of the exhaust but they said it cures many of the CEL's but it depends how hard u drive the car. I am tempted to try a number of things before I go welding extra bungs back in. The headers I am using have two bungs on each header so I can put both sensors in, but yes the CEL will occur. Also toying with the idea of adding a resister to the secondary O2's as it would influence the voltage produced by the sensor. Seeing how all the secondary o2 does is tell the car that the cats are working, I just need to 'lessen' the signal. It's snowing / sleeting so I have tons of time to ponder my game plan.
I appreciate all the ideas, keep em coming.
As for bolts, I stopped at NAPA last night and they had 4, going to visit another napa for the remaining 8. All were grade 8.8.
Tom
I appreciate all the ideas, keep em coming.
As for bolts, I stopped at NAPA last night and they had 4, going to visit another napa for the remaining 8. All were grade 8.8.
Tom
01-11-2009, 01:27 PM
#19
Burning Brakes
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So I crawled under the car just for a quick look see to determine how different the header flanges were and i noticed that the factory headers appear to have an aluminum plate between them and the heads. Does anyone know what the purpose of that plate is and if I should not use it when installing the aftermarket headers. I'm kicking myself in the tail for not photographing it but it was rather cold out and i merely was going for a quick measurement only.
Tom
Tom
