Tbi swap build thread

[mcbassin]

Originally Posted by rfmaster

The are couple of issues that tend to pop-up when people switch from cast iron exhaust manifolds to headers in closed loop control car/trucks. The number one is being the fact that a single wire O2 sensor will run cooler if placed near outlet of the conventional long tube header. O2 sensor must be heated to about 600F for normal operation. Anything less and output voltage drops. A simple fix is to run 3 or 4 wire heated O2 sensor. Another problem that plagues headers are loosening header bolts and or a leaky exhaust flange gasket - causing exhaust leaks that O2 sensor is more than happy to pick-up! In both cases O2 feeds erroneous O2 levels back to ECM effecting commanded fuel delivery to intake.

Please do not get me wrong - I love the performance that headers offer over cast iron exhaust manifolds, but I had to replace 4 pairs of exhaust gaskets, flat surfaced header flanges (cheap dynomax headers), and went through couple set of exhaust bolts and thread locking compounds to keep things tight and in place.

//RF

I thought I was the only one that hated the down side of headers? I have had nothing with problems with them leaking at the head and the collector. How much horse does a decent set give you? Is it worth the problems? I know you can buy high dollar aluminum gaskets and retainers studs that don't back out.....but I'm a tight wad.