ok, I haven't got the header and presilencer yet, but I've paid, and it should be on the way, so might as well start begging for help now.



first off, any tips are appreciated.



will I have to remove a bunch of other stuff? is it challenging like fun, or challenging like blow your car up with frustration? will I need any special tools? estimated time for first try (weekend vs. week)? will I need some sort of gaskets for header-to-engine, presilencer-to-y pipe?



that's all for now...

It isn't blow your car up frustrating. It really isn't all that bad. When you've had all the **** on and off a couple times it starts to be one of the easier tasks LOL

super easy, if youve never done it before you prolly will want to pull the air cleaner tube off. you unbolt the manifold from the motor and the main cat at the y pipe, undo the applicable hangers, and take it off as one chunk, the header is easier to put back cause its lighter and less cumbersome



mike

cool...so there really isn't anything in the way that needs to be remove, except the intake tube? that sounds simple!! *ominous cloud of bad luck moves overhead*



what about seals/gaskets? I'm buying this used, so it won't come with anything else.

you need the one for the engine to header, header to pre silencer and the pre silencer to y pipe



mike

use instant gasket

you could do that too



mike

the header is welded to the presilencer, so that makes 2!

are those gaskets easily obtainable? are they universals that I could find anywhere, or do I need to order from Mazda?



or is instant gasket good enough? (can you tell how experienced I am?)

you can get em from mazda, racing beat, mazdatrix etc.



mike

only problem with using rvd is that u have to let ur car sit at least 24 hours prior to driving. but that the cheap way outta buying those gaskets

one more: I just called the dealership, and they have them in stock. Would the oem replacement work the same for the rb header/presilencer?

yup, 'tis the same thing



mike

great...I'm sure you'll see this thread pop up again when I get the goods, which should be sometime this week. Then I can start saving for mufflers. I'm looking forward to the supposed power increase.

if you've never had to deal with exhaust bolts before it might be frustrating, depends where your car has spent it's life.... if it's always been in FL it might not be bad at all. If it's seen salt/snow... the exhaust bolts can be a real bitch, spraying some penetrating oil on it like the day before you start your project can make things go alot smoother. Other than that it should be cake.

my car never saw salt or snow and that **** was a bitch to take off. put a little grease on it and just turn the mother fucker.

that's one lesson from my dad I'll never forget: how to find leverage

I'll expect some bloody nuckles...thanks for the heads up

speaking of leverage, theres a trick I learned a while back that has been very good to me...



put one wrench on the bolt/nut, open end out... then take another wrench of similar size, and put it's box end into the jaws of the open end.. orienting it properly you effectively double the length of the wrench. Works great in the junk yard pulling parts.

my dad was/is a carpenter of sorts, and had pipe clamps (or bar clamps, whatever) in our garage. he would just put over the handle of the ratchet, effectively increasing the handle size by about 3 feet. he would get it loose, or break the socket.



he recently busted my 9 mm into like 3 pieces...man, those things fly

cripes...blowing apart a socket...i usually break off the bolt head first..get snap-on https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...#>/biggrin.png



as for penetrating oils....use something called Kroil if you can find it if not use liquid torch or liquid wrench...wd-40 does not work

mouse milk!

I use PEN, stuff is awesome.

The header should come with the gaskets (mine did from Racing Beat) but maybe I ordered it like that.



The HARDEST part was getting that GD MF heat shield off the factory manifold. I didn't remove my intake, but that would have made things MUCH easier.



Anyway a couple of hours is all it takes. I did presoak all my bolts the day before.

He's getting the header second hand, so he doesnt expect to get the gasket(s).



I just took a small cutting torch to the heat sheild, **** those small corroded bolts.

I'll do what I can with what I've got, which doesn't include a torch. Got word from the seller, should arrive tomorrow. I can't beleive I'm this excited about an ugly piece of metal.

I picked up a small oxygen + mapp torch from home depot for like $30-40, it just uses the small type tanks that your typical propane torch would. It's hot enough to cut sheet metal and bolts, and works great for brazing small things, I even used it to weld shut the fittings on my power steering rack when converting it to manual. It also makes removing seized bolts a breeze by heating whatever they thread into in situations which permit it, the small flame makes it easy to control and avoid rubber hoses and such. My only complaint is the valve on the oxygen line is a piece of ****, makes it hard to get the oxygen:mapp ratio right... very touchy knob.



just some fyi in case you find yourself in need of one https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...IR#>/smile.png I believe they advertise it as a cutting/brazing torch...

something just scares me about using an open flame under a car, where there's oil and grease and gas and other stuff...I'm just a weenie when it comes to stuff that I don't know anything about, and can easily result in chaos

chaos is fun, but i dunno if i want to be stuck under a car with fire



mike

oh yeah the heater shields are a bitch too

my gasket was still silver when I took off the manifold, so I didn't replace it.

ok, got an estimate from some place: $45 yeah, I'm going there hopefully this week https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...#>/biggrin.png



oh, and there was a pile of convertors in the back of the shop...I knew it was the right place