Rofl

up..........down.......up..down..........up....... ....down............:icon14:

It doesnt help that i have the car lifted a bit to high, so i am in a constant crunch hold... But seriously, im having issues getting the heat shield out, i moved the steering column out of the way and its still really tight, i tried turning it upside down but that still doesn't quite cut it. Its almost like i have to turn it upside down the other way, but i can't manage to turn it that way...

To get the heat shield out. You have to bend it some and turn it upside down with some force. It will slide out towards the front. Took me about 4 hours of fighting with it. I even e-mailed Tony about it. He told me the samething I'm telling you.

Just got it! Man, im going to take a picture of it. It is some f'd up... Bent and mangled doesn't even describe it. After 3 hours of toying with it i just went beast mode on it and bent it out. Really wish my flex extension for my dremel tool was not broken, or i would have just cut it out in pieces... Now comes the hard part!

It's down hill from here out. :D

Oh don't tell me that :-( I bought a bottle of captain to celebrate the heat shield coming off. My goal over the next weeks is to get at least 2 bolts off a day. On a side note, my headers did not come with hardware, but my test pipes did, should i reuse the header nuts, or use the TP nuts on the header and the old header nuts on the tp? If that will even work? Or should i buy new bolts at nissan?

The header bolts *should* still be in decent condition, and as long as you haven't stripped the header nuts they'll do fine too. Reuse the old hardware unless it's messed up. Congrats on the heatshield! It's a pain I know. The thing to remember now is to go slow on the header nuts, if you start wrenching too fast the socket will come half off an you'll round off the nut, then it's another trip to Nissan lol.

I'm actually driving around with one of the passenger side (I think) header studs sitting in my garage. It came out during the install and for the life of me I can't get te damn thing back in there. The other nuts are tight though so there's no exhaust leaks.


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So after finally getting the heat shield off yesterday, today after work i got the front 5 bolts off the header, just taking a little smoke break to get the last one. Seems like it is just a straight shot :-) It has only taken me maybe 30 mins including taking off the tire and wheel well liner. Hopefully i did not just jynx myself, but it seems like smooth sailing!

Smoke break FTW

The heat shield is the hardest part of the whole ordeal. :shakes head:

i remember the first time I did it on the 370z. That heat sheild on the driver side was a real pain in the *** for the first hour then I decided to work around it, which wasnt too bad.. ;)

just one big advise, if one of those stud get off ,, make sure you screw them back in properly and not slightly cross threaded .
I had 1 that I crossthreaded without knowing it ... it wasnt fun at all trying to realign it in the hole since the header didnt fit !

Ill keep that in mind thanks! All bolts out, just have to disconnect the back side of the cats and yank that sucker out. Sucks i can only spend about 45 mins after work everyday...

Yeah seriously. I remember I had to take an extra day off of work to get mine done. Major PITA.


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Ditto. I ended up calling out "sick" to finish this up. lol

I dropped the stock manifold and cat as one piece. So you don't have to fool with that damn demon bolt.

So i have an update! I guess while i was at work the exhaust fairy showed up with my FI exhaust and z1 testpipes
http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/a...212_171059.jpg

But seriously, put another 45 mins to an hour in and got this bad boy out
http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/a...212_192314.jpg
Im really hoping to have it all done by this weekend! I want to thank everyone (especially Huck for putting up with my texts) that was kind enough to offer advice and help me out. We really do have a wonderful community here at The370Z!

I will have before and after exhaust clips up by monday at the latest, i believe i will be the first G3, FI non-res, momentum, and Z1 tp combo. Im guessing its going to be stupid loud, what do you think?

Lol it IS pretty loud, I have become my neighbors' alarm clock. When I start my car in the morning their picture frames rattle on the wall. Luckily they love me, so they don't mind too much.

Question: you didn't use air tools to get that stuff off did you? I see that your O2 sensors are still in, and the vibrations from air tools could very possibly ruin the sensors. I'd hate to hear that you had to spend $1600+ on 4 new sensors :(

Don't worry about the texts, I don't mind. I like helping people out and sharing what little knowledge I have lol. Hell, if you were local I would be under the good with you :tup: any other questions don't hesitate to text or call.

Sent from my iPizzle using magic and new-fangled science stuff

I did it all by hand :-)

OP, congrats! That looks to be a pretty good wrap job on your new headers

Could you post a couple photos of how it looks with the wheel/liner off as far as getting to the header nuts?

I always thought it was solid metal on the inside...

You have to go below the wheel liner and above some of the suspension arms to get to the lower bolts on the driver side.


Sent from my iPizzle using magic and new-fangled science stuff

Thats how I got to some of mine. A flat faced swivel will make your life a million times easier too. A lot of it was just flat out old school wrenching though lol.

Thanks! It was a real pain... Got a little bit easier when i realized i was suppose to wet the wrap down, it dried almost like a cast material.

I can grab a pick tomorrow, but you are right, it is solid metal... You have to attack it from under where the metal stops, with the wheel off. It was the only way i could see to get the 2 bolts under the header in the back off. Those are actually the easiest to get off! I used like a 24" or 36'' extension with a 3/8's u joint at the end and a deep socket 14mm. It helps to have a helping hand reach in to the headers and grab the socket and place it on the bolt because it is too floppy with the u joint on. IF you don't have someone to help you, take some wax or really thick grease and put it on the u joint to make it more rigid so you can align it. (picked that trick up in the AF from a F-16 crew chief) Luckily I got the last one off right as my U joint broke, so you might want to have 2 available just in case. Really the only other thing that has stopped me in my tracks for a while was the O2 sensor on the header. You cant get to it with a wrench while the header is on, so you have to unplug it from the harness... Which sounds easy, but its located in such a spot where it is damn near impossible... Luckily i have a pair of super long needle nose pliers. It helps to snap the plugs off of their mount, that frees up a few more inches of wire to work with

Lol it's like you're recounting my own experience back to me! Congrats on the progress :)


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yeah, i used a crows foot to take the 2 o2's off the header and unplugged em to completely pull them out of the way. didnt want to take the risk of damaging them at all. I disconnected my steering link column also. Youre going to need to get the new headers in. just make sure you reconnect it perfectly on. My steering wheel did a full 360 and when i put it all back together the slip light was on. the steering angle sensor thought i was turning right when i was going straight. The dealership can reset it or anyone with a good obd2 tool can. I had a local shop reset it with their Snap on Obd2 tool.

I made sure my steering wheel was locked before i took the column off, and its in the straight position, so hopfully it wont be off too bad. If the vdc light is on does that cut power constantly?

On the u-joint for the socket. You can wrap a piece of tape around it too, to hold it in position. ;)

It's easy to fix. Just be sure you line it up like you think it should be, then put the wheels back on, drive it down the street and back, adjust it as needed.

Adjust what? :confused:

The steering shaft?

if it's off a tooth or two, you just adjust it..

To answer your question, no, it won't cut the power. I told you how I messed money up so that when I was driving straight the steering wheel was cranked to the left. At first it was so bad that when I would start driving the car would hit the ABS for a second, but then the VDC light would come on and everything was fine. I got back under the car a few days later and undid the steering column and straightened it out. I didn't get it perfect but it was much better. The steering wheel was only slightly angled, and it would take a few miles for the VDC light to kick on, and the ABS problem was gone. Everything drove fine. I recently got back under there again and fixed it for good. I drove straight down my street and stopped next to my driveway. Jacked it up, undid the column, then turned my steering wheel straight and reconnected everything. Worked like a charm.


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Not on mine. The rack and pinion shaft and the u-joint only went on one way with mine. Both have an blank spline that had to be lined up for it to go together. My steering wheel was straight and the Z drove straight. The alginment was spot on too. Ended up with the dealer resetting the sensor. The only way to fix it on mine. ;)

Ah. Mine isn't keyed. It can be put on any which way if you aren't careful.

Wonder why the differences? :confused:

2009 vs 2011?

Must be. Kinda silly that it isn't keyed on mine lmao.

New update, the passenger side header flew off! It was a piece of cake, except for the fact two of the studs came out with the bolts, and i rounded off one bolt on the back side of the cats... Attempted to cut it off with my dremel to no avail, so i just took the y pipe, cat and header off as one piece

http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/a...214_203301.jpg
:ughdance:

I should have just done that in the first place... Tomorrow i will begin the install of the new headers, TPs and CBE :tup:

I already installed one 02 sensor on my z1 test pipes. I also purchased bung extenders, and was wondering how much steel wool i should put it them, and what type? I purchased fine grade steel wool, and packed a pretty good amount in there... I actually had to stop and take some out twice, is this a good amount? Thanks!

CG's! How many day's have you been at it again?