Hi guys. I know I've been absent for a while, work schedule and all.
I've been braving the cold in my garage to start the header install while getting the routing my fuel lines, etc,etc...
What I've run into is my exotic muscle headers are going in easily enough, but the drivers side collector is VERY close to the floor/trans tunnel. In fact, if it were any longer, I wouldn't have been able to bolt the header to the head.
I've already sent an email to EM with photos of the issue and I'll probably hear back from this week.
I'm writing this to see if any of you have run into this with EM headers.
Thanks for any help you can give.

Good header, I usually haven't heard of a lot of problems with them. Please post up the answer you receive from them.

Well, after talking to Merle at EM, he suggested the motor mount on the drivers side could be holding the header out, causing the header not to seat fully against the head. I'll check this out asap when I'm able.
The adventure continues.........

I saw a thread where a guy who had an LT1 had that issue, but I don't think that that an issue with an L98. The motor mounts are different. The guy with the LT1 ended up shaving down the bracket.

That's what Merle told me to do. He said the point of contact between header and mount is fairly inconspicuous so you need to look closely.

I took a look at the engine mounts and the headers are NOT in contact with them. I've been trying this reach Merle again, but as yet, no luck. I'll get back when I know something.....

Any photos? Is it fully installed on the head now?

It is on the head, mocked up into position.
It looks like I'm gonna have to send that side back to EM to be checked in their jig.
Out of lunchtime, I'll be back.

Ok, I finally have an update of sorts.
At Merle's suggestion, I sent the left side back and tracking sez it's been delivered. Merle will be checking it in the jig to see if something has shifted during assembly.
So, the adventure continues!

Tracking shows the header was delivered yesterday. Merle cannot be reached by phone and has neither confirmed its arrival nor replied to my email from earlier today.
I must admit, if impatience were a superpower, I'd be Superman. Are the standards I hold for myself too much to expect of others?

The header is to be test fit in the jig either tomorrow or Friday. Hopefully I'll know something by Friday night.

I'm sure the suspense is killing you... but be patient.

Merle got back to me w/ his findings.
He placed the header in the jig and states that it lined up correctly.
He then went on to say that it's his conclusion that my heads (AFR 1040's) are holding the headers in this position. I'm a bit skeptical as he told me he has them on his car w/ the same heads, with no issue.
He did offer to take them back, but with a restocking fee. I already have $$ in shipping the left side back. I don't wanna pay to ship the right side back and then have a restocking fee on top of that, so I'm gonna ask him to send it back to me and I'll work with what I've got. Otherwise it's either custom headers or Stainless Works for $1500.00, and I don't have that.

Under the circumstances, I think this about the best option. On one side, I need a set of headers. On the other side is Merle trying to run a business out of his basement. We're about 2000 miles apart trying to resolve an issue of fitment. All of this considered, I s'pose this is about the best outcome for all.

Hopefully it all fits once you get it installed and tightened up.

I'll just hafta see what I can do with it.

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Provided he sends it back. He's got a good reputation, but he's not much for answering the phone, returning calls, or timely email communication.

I got it back today in good enough shape. The collector was damaged in shipping, but since I'm gonna cut it to attempt to put an "S" bend on it, it really makes no difference. I'm hoping it didn't cause issues I've yet to discover.
I can't seem to find the thread/post on how to post pics. Can someone post a link here? I'll try to learn how again and show some progress pics.

Good luck with the re-work. It's really a shame this has to be done to a new part! But, that's how it is now in the world of car parts.


Joel

Wow! It's been two weeks since posted on here. Time flies when you're bustinazz. Between 55 hrs a week at work, and spending all available time on this exhaust, I haven't had time for much else.
I will eventually try to post some pics, but I am making some headway on this exhaust. I've gotten both collectors altered and am preparing to put some of the Flowmaster reducers onto the back of the cats. I need to shorten things wherever I can as space is at a premium, as always.
I've had to make some crude tools to help me keep things going together as envisioned. Once my cats are together, I can mate them to the LTx exhaust and that'll be that.
I hope you can make sense of that.
I'll be back...........

Bob, use Photobucket and use the HTML tag to upload.

Glad it's coming along, though.

Thanks Matt,
I'll try to do that today.

Here goes.....
The 1st few I'll try to post are of the driver side before, showing the problem.
as you can see, the collector is by the photo appearance, very close to the front corner of the drivers footwell, outside of the area of the gas pedal.
In actuality, if it were just a bit longer, it would've been into the fiberglass.

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These next photos are the header mocked into place showing the modification I've made to the collector to give some clearance between the floor and cat.

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Please forgive my lack of welding skills.
After these were taken, I discovered that the mandrel bent tubing from Jegs was stretched thin on the outer radii of the tube sections. It went from .06-.070 down to as little as .028 wall thickness. In order to get some life out of this system, I needed to increase the wall thickness on the outer radii of the curves. I looked into spray-welding, but it was quite cost prohibitive. Just adding a second layer over the top wouldn't help much either. So I had to add metal with the welder, grind, add more, grind more, etc, etc...
I've seen other mandrel bent tubing that did not lose thickness so dramatically, but I think this tube did because it was such a tight radius of 3" on the centerline of the tube.

looks good. The welds look fine, I would rather have a strong joint the way you did it.

Joel

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That's a real stinker but it looks like you recovered from it very well. Keep it up.

Thanks guys for the kind words!
There's more to come.........

I think that was an excellent solution to the problem. Good job!

Thanks guys!
Coming from fellow C4 dudes that mod their cars, that means a lot!