Ebay Headers Question

[the big blue bus]

i fought mine to the point i sold em on craigslist and put manifolds back on. never could get em to seal at head or the y pipe. gaskets blew out and it would backfire right there. sounded like a tractor. they lookd cool but im so much happier with a leak free exhaust

 

[94Sierra4x4]

i fought mine to the point i sold em on craigslist and put manifolds back on. never could get em to seal at head or the y pipe. gaskets blew out and it would backfire right there. sounded like a tractor. they lookd cool but im so much happier with a leak free exhaust

You got that right.

 

[Swims350]

eh mines got ebay stainless headers and no leaks so I'm perfectly happy with it.

 

[zilverado71]

Ok, thanks. Ill try to fix is right this weekend and come back with an update.

Do you have a check engine light on? About the possibility of o2 sensor relocation.. probably a good idea to buy a new o2 sensor if you have a 1 wire style. They're only about 20 bucks wherever you go to buy one. Depending on what brand headers you buy, the new o2 hole could be like 1-2 inches further away from the factory position. This will make the wire very tight, and could break it over a short period of time. What you can do is go use two a heat shrink butt connectors (red colored) and extend the new or existing o2 sensor wire. Most people would frown upon this, but since its a 1-wire system its OK to do. Preheated o2 wires are a different story. Make sure NOT to touch the sensor anywhere past the threads. 7/8 wrench should get the job done. Be sure to fasten your wire when your done in a place where it will not lay on those super hot header pipes. One other thing that is a good idea (if you want to keep the truck and to a quality job) is buy fiberglass spark plug sleeves. This will protect the plugs from any concentration of heat (due to cheap header design) in your engine and make them look good. OFC you can avoid all this trouble if you buy name brand HOOKER long tube headers. Doing this you will discover that your going to want to pretty much rebuild the rest of the system at that point though. Long tube can actually be much less of a headache, and do nice things to the exhaust tone IMO.

 

[jcoatswo]

My check engine light comes on intermittently. I know there are a couple of reasons for it though. When I was putting the new engine in I forgot to put in the new EGR which I still havent done, I know my o2 sensor is probably shot (TBI so I only have one). And the engine that I put in has always, for absolutely no reason has always run cold. When the enging was in my grandpas truck I had to put pizza boxes in front or the radiator in the winter time just so it would heat up. I had an unknown leak at the heater core line at the back of the intake for quite some time so I'm running about a gallon or two low on coolant right now and the truck will still only get up to about 155 degrees (right in the middle of 100 and 210 on the gauge). When it gets warmer out Im going to add more coolant but if I do it know I know It'll never heat up. I know I sound like a dumbass knowingly running low on coolant, but this engine has been in my family since it was new in 1994 its just how its been since day one. It's really weird but the old girls got 274,000 miles under her belt and she gets me from a to b every day (knock on wood).

The reason for that rant was that I never get up to "closed loop" operating temp so my o2 is pretty much not even a part of the system. And I guess another question for yall is does anyone else have one of these cold blooded 350s? Or know what may cause this or what the fix is? I would love for my computer and my o2 sensor to have a good relationship...lol

 

[zilverado71]

Cold blooded...

I have a new radiator, thermostat, coolant, fan clutch, rad cap, and coolant bottle. My engine takes about 15-20 minutes to come up to operating temp. (195-205*) Once there, it cycles between 200 at idle, and 160 while driving. Not sure what the cause for this is, but I gave up on trying to fix it. I would like to see 195 all the time.

 

[jcoatswo]

I'm thinking of throwing in a higher temp t-stat to see what it does. All we have at the dealer is the stockers. Higher temp ones are only a couple of bucks at autozone but I just need to find the time to do it.

 

[zilverado71]

Do not do that. Do NOT do that.

 

[jcoatswo]

Ok lol. What would be the issue with a higher temp t stat?

 

[Swims350]

overheating.