Hi all,
As many of you know (as you can see from all of my posts), I decided (for reasons I am now not so sure of) to install a set of Kooks 1-3/4 long tubes in my 13 convertible. I read everything I could from the posts on this forum, to youtube videos, to an advance copies of the install instructions. I convinced myself that it cant be all that bad to install. Well boys and girls I was WRONG!
I've been working on cars since I was 12 (I'm in my 50s now). I drag raced for years. Mostly Mopars. I've dealt with Chargers, Road Runners, 340s, Hemis. Build my own Dana 60 rears, 727 autotrans. Put a 69 Road Runner together that came in a box with no instructions. None of this prepared me for the nightmare I was about to face. To those of you that took this job on and brought it to conclusion, I bow to you all.
First off the header instructions are sorely lacking. It skips a lot of steps. To say "remove' is not good enough. With this car you need to know how to remove and in detail. The manifold come of with very little effort. Getting the headers in is another matter.
Lets start with the "do I remove the K member or not". To quote the Kooks support guy, you will need quaaludes and every tool imaginable to do it without removing the K member. You can get the passenger side in without removing it, but the drivers side is next to impossible. It gets stuck between the bellhousing and the area where the cross brace attaches. I tried jacking the engine as high as it would go, rocking to the right (I sweated that one as I was afraid the engine would slip off the jack). It simply would not go. Kooks recommended removing the K member (not mentioned in the instructions).
Next order of business is the O2 sensor harness. You need to be creative to unplug the passenger side. The latch to unhook it is at the back of the plug. You need a long screwdriver and you need to get the blade into the square opening at the back of the plug and push down while pulling the O2 pig tail. There is no way to get both hands in there. You will need a long pair of needle nose to grasp the pig tail and pull while pushing the screwdriver.
Now if you want to re-connect the O2s after the header install and not use the extensions, you have to undo all of the clips around the bellhousing that the harness is anchored to. Left and right are on the same harness. Pull one side, you shorten the other. Oh and by the way, these clips are under the EGR tube. I removed it for better access. Big mistake. It took an experienced guy 2 hours to get it back in (more on that later)
Getting the starter back in is fun too. The headers are in the way to afford any type of wrench or ratchet other than an extremely short 10mm wrench. And the bolts are long. All of the bolts are long (headers, engine mounts, starter), and you will only have enough room for a short swing of the wrench. Be prepared to take breaks as you fingers and hand will cramp up from being in awkward position.
Back to the drivers side header. I was quite prepared to remove the K member until I started thinking about what was over my head. A 600lb engine. They say never support the car with a jack along. Doing that with an engine may be just a bad. Imagine if the jack failed or slipped. I was willing to buy the Ford tools to do it until I found out that the engine brackets that bolt to head are 500 dollars each and the support 1700 dollars (you actually need pieces from two types of supports to clear the blower and the hood). At that point I chickened out and trailered the car to an experienced Mustang shop.
In speaking with him, he said he can install the left header without removing the k member. I asked him how, but he was unwilling to share the secret. I don't blame him as that's his business. So it started off by taking two hours to get the EGR tube back in, 4 hours to install the header, and another hour to get the dip stick in. Do yourself a favor and get the Lokar flexible dipstick. Even that was bitch to install on a hoist. First off, the stub that goes in the hole is way too long and needs to be cut back. Second its right behind the oil cooler/filter attachment and angles towards the fender and you cant really see it.
Finally a word about the 02 extensions. Many say don't use them. Some say to use them. I'm not sure what the issue is. I've heard the pins are loose or pop out or they don't plug in correctly. I've heard the added wire throws the voltage off. kooks still supplies them with the headers. They shop that completed my install used one on the right side as he was afraid that not using it would pull the harness too tight. He didn't seem to worry about it and indicated he never had a problem using them. I would think that by now the manufacturers would have solved any issues. I didn't run car long long after the install. Just enough to get it out of the shop and into the trailer (of course it snowed the day of the install and they salted the crap out of the road so I couldn't drive it home) and then off the trailer and into the garage. I'm sure it wasn't enough time to go into open loop, but it did not throw a code and ran fine.
This all went down on Wednesday to Thursday. I've finally recovered enough to write this. Am I trying to dissuade you from taking on this project? Not at all. just making you aware of the realities involved. Am a glad I did it? Time will tell.
As many of you know (as you can see from all of my posts), I decided (for reasons I am now not so sure of) to install a set of Kooks 1-3/4 long tubes in my 13 convertible. I read everything I could from the posts on this forum, to youtube videos, to an advance copies of the install instructions. I convinced myself that it cant be all that bad to install. Well boys and girls I was WRONG!
I've been working on cars since I was 12 (I'm in my 50s now). I drag raced for years. Mostly Mopars. I've dealt with Chargers, Road Runners, 340s, Hemis. Build my own Dana 60 rears, 727 autotrans. Put a 69 Road Runner together that came in a box with no instructions. None of this prepared me for the nightmare I was about to face. To those of you that took this job on and brought it to conclusion, I bow to you all.
First off the header instructions are sorely lacking. It skips a lot of steps. To say "remove' is not good enough. With this car you need to know how to remove and in detail. The manifold come of with very little effort. Getting the headers in is another matter.
Lets start with the "do I remove the K member or not". To quote the Kooks support guy, you will need quaaludes and every tool imaginable to do it without removing the K member. You can get the passenger side in without removing it, but the drivers side is next to impossible. It gets stuck between the bellhousing and the area where the cross brace attaches. I tried jacking the engine as high as it would go, rocking to the right (I sweated that one as I was afraid the engine would slip off the jack). It simply would not go. Kooks recommended removing the K member (not mentioned in the instructions).
Next order of business is the O2 sensor harness. You need to be creative to unplug the passenger side. The latch to unhook it is at the back of the plug. You need a long screwdriver and you need to get the blade into the square opening at the back of the plug and push down while pulling the O2 pig tail. There is no way to get both hands in there. You will need a long pair of needle nose to grasp the pig tail and pull while pushing the screwdriver.
Now if you want to re-connect the O2s after the header install and not use the extensions, you have to undo all of the clips around the bellhousing that the harness is anchored to. Left and right are on the same harness. Pull one side, you shorten the other. Oh and by the way, these clips are under the EGR tube. I removed it for better access. Big mistake. It took an experienced guy 2 hours to get it back in (more on that later)
Getting the starter back in is fun too. The headers are in the way to afford any type of wrench or ratchet other than an extremely short 10mm wrench. And the bolts are long. All of the bolts are long (headers, engine mounts, starter), and you will only have enough room for a short swing of the wrench. Be prepared to take breaks as you fingers and hand will cramp up from being in awkward position.
Back to the drivers side header. I was quite prepared to remove the K member until I started thinking about what was over my head. A 600lb engine. They say never support the car with a jack along. Doing that with an engine may be just a bad. Imagine if the jack failed or slipped. I was willing to buy the Ford tools to do it until I found out that the engine brackets that bolt to head are 500 dollars each and the support 1700 dollars (you actually need pieces from two types of supports to clear the blower and the hood). At that point I chickened out and trailered the car to an experienced Mustang shop.
In speaking with him, he said he can install the left header without removing the k member. I asked him how, but he was unwilling to share the secret. I don't blame him as that's his business. So it started off by taking two hours to get the EGR tube back in, 4 hours to install the header, and another hour to get the dip stick in. Do yourself a favor and get the Lokar flexible dipstick. Even that was bitch to install on a hoist. First off, the stub that goes in the hole is way too long and needs to be cut back. Second its right behind the oil cooler/filter attachment and angles towards the fender and you cant really see it.
Finally a word about the 02 extensions. Many say don't use them. Some say to use them. I'm not sure what the issue is. I've heard the pins are loose or pop out or they don't plug in correctly. I've heard the added wire throws the voltage off. kooks still supplies them with the headers. They shop that completed my install used one on the right side as he was afraid that not using it would pull the harness too tight. He didn't seem to worry about it and indicated he never had a problem using them. I would think that by now the manufacturers would have solved any issues. I didn't run car long long after the install. Just enough to get it out of the shop and into the trailer (of course it snowed the day of the install and they salted the crap out of the road so I couldn't drive it home) and then off the trailer and into the garage. I'm sure it wasn't enough time to go into open loop, but it did not throw a code and ran fine.
This all went down on Wednesday to Thursday. I've finally recovered enough to write this. Am I trying to dissuade you from taking on this project? Not at all. just making you aware of the realities involved. Am a glad I did it? Time will tell.
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