Alright well i got the pacesetter header, ceramic and all installed on my car today. At this local shop thats been around since 88 and they do turbos yadada.... Anyways they quoted me 2 - 2 1/2 hours to do the job. Well it ended up taking them up to 4 hours. All of which i guess im paying for. Anyways, its still not perfect. The ball and socket joint is leaking! They said it doesnt seal and to get it to be better they would have to cut the down pipe and totate the falange part thats flaired out and reweld it so that it lines up better with the rest of the pipe. Im so @!#$in pissed.... Not only am i being ripped on install but its not even good and im thinking its probably pacesetter.. Anyone have this problem in the past? If not, then im probably planning on calling pacesetter. Anyways, let me know what you guys think. I have a picture too but im on a military computer so i cant save and upload it out of my email...


thanks again

-J


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98' Pontiac Sunfire SE

my bros neon did the same thing . it leaked at the flange somthing that got messed up from there end i beleave . so id say call them and see what they say .

They shouldn't charge you for the full 4+hours.

I think 3 hours of time would be sufficient considering they were almost double their estimate.

Good luck. Your gonna love the results tho.


-Chris

4 hours to intstall a header is total BS, ecspecially for someone working in a shop and has a lot of experience. Installed my 4-2-1 header on my ecotec by myself, no prior experience. It was a total pain in the butt but I had it knocked out in about 3 hours. That includes loosening the mounts and jacking the motor up so I could get the damn thing back in front of the firewall.



___________________________________________________________________

15.71 @ 87.9mph 9-17-05

tighten up the bolts on the ball socket more


also the bolts with the springs should be done in this order

bolt , washer , flange , flange , washer , spring , washer , nut

and the springs should be almost fully compressed , or just touching

my whole exasut system from the downpipe to the tip was done in 3 hours. NEw clamps, new 2 1/4 exasut, new downpipe and cat....... Wow, you are not getting the good end here.



My Cav
I give up...
i'm buying a VW those people love trees, so they should love eachother too... "Andy"

i ahve the obx stainless header and i love it. no problems at the socket and i still have stock engine mounts. (new ones in the mail). anyhoo i had the shop do my whole exhaust 2 1/4 inch custom withe magnaflow cat, both o2 sensors, resonator, and dynomax muffler and it only cost me like 400 bucks. it only took him like a couple hours. not four. geez. i think you got screwed.

http://www.helpelijah.com

I'm glad this post is here. I'm pissed too. I made an appointment to have my header installed today. They cancelled it without telling me and wouldn't do it. So they recommended another shop that would probably be cheaper. That's fine. The guy laughed at me for wanting him to put on a header. He said sometime next week maybe. I took it to ANOTHER place, he said I'd have to leave it all day. All of these places wanted $400 ish. I'm pissed too. I'll freaking do it myself. </rant>


http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2265283
I love being premium!

Mine too some time to do, but with my help we got it in place and bolted up.

The ball was pointed just a little toward the driver's side so they just bent pipe to come straight off it and then go where it needed to go.

They knew it had to join together straight so they made it happen.

They also looked at the down pipe and said it wasn't perfectly round so they put it on a machine and flared it perfectly round.

I suspect this all has to do with getting the right people to do the job. When I booked my install, the owner said it would take a full day to do it right. It ended up taking from 9 am until around 3:30 or so to finish everything.

The only real complication was getting the header in place and bolted up. It just didn't seem to fit in there at all. The guy was considering dropping the subframe to make room when I got into the engine bay and we started unhooking stuff and shifting stuff around. The brake booster tube that comes with the GM S/C kit provided a real fun obstacle.

I had the same problem when I had my pacesetter 4-1 header installed. It leaked from where the downpipe connected with the ball joint. The shop even said that there were some fitment issues with the firewall. So I brought the car back in and they made me a new downpipe for free and they installed it. Haven't had a problem since. You might want to get a new downpipe made because the one pacesetter sends out with their headers isn't long enough. At least that was the case with my 97 Z, not sure about newer models or sunfires.



"Kneel before ZOD!!!"

When my stepdad had to get his exhaust redone on his '86 Scottsdale he sent to a local exhaust shop. They quoted him at 2-2 1/2 hours. Well it ended up taking 4 or 5 and when my stepdad went to go pick it up they said since it took so long they took half off and put on a set of free chrome tips. That exhaust shop rules!




You've claimed all this time that you would die for me. Why then are you so surprised to hear
your own eulogy?
- James Herbert Keenan

I installed my pacesetter header myself on my Eco... took about 5 hours. Most of it was cutting through the stock exhaust pipe with nothing but a hacksaw.

The issue I had was trying to get the damn flange bolt together. Ended up using a friend to help with that.

DeadBob wrote:I installed my pacesetter header myself on my Eco... took about 5 hours. Most of it was cutting through the stock exhaust pipe with nothing but a hacksaw.

The issue I had was trying to get the damn flange bolt together. Ended up using a friend to help with that.

5 hours?! glad i had a sawzaw cuz it took me less that 30min to put in an eco header

I had the same problem when I installed mine. They told me I bolted it unevenly. So the loosened the bolts then retightened it. After that, all was good...
Only took about 1.5 hrs. to install the header myself.

got mine with screws that werent long enough. had to go to home depot for some. did mine with no problems really. everything seems to be bolted up good. got the ceramic 4-1. shop does custom pipe and had no trouble reaching the flange. bout 1-1/2 -2 hours. custom piping 2.25-weld borla muffler and high flow cat.=175$

Well I had a lift and air and a sawzall when I did mine and it went in like a dream! from a stock start to a custom 2 1/2 inch finish took 4 hours. But thats doing the install and a custom exhasut system too.

I'd say you got bent.




Semper Fi SAINT. May you rest in peace.

My first header was pretty reasy to install..... the worst was getting the Springs/Washers/Bolts/Nuts all in, in order, and getting my hands up in there to get the nuts on. This time around, the subframe is still off..... shouldn't have a problem.

now just need my header to show up, so I can drive my car




SPD RCR Z - '02 Z24 420whp
SLO GOAT - '04 GTO 305whp
W41 BOI - '78 Buick Opel Isuzu W41 Swap

So maybe it's me, but whats with paying to get a header installed? It's actually VERY easy and takes only takes simple handtools unless you want your downpipe welded to the rest of the exhaust in which case if you can't do it yourself it should cost no more than 30$ for that weld. But really, I can't see why people don't at least attempt to do basic things like this themselves if they're going to be modding a car.

i had my pacecetter header installed in about 3 hours at a shop. when i called them they said it was going to be around 200 bucks and that is what they charged me. $197 with GST. i was happy. it runs great and made a big difference in power.

my header was easy to intall.


Desert Tuners

“When you come across a big kettle of crazy, it’s best not to stir it.”

Slammed Ohv (Baby Lenko) wrote:So maybe it's me, but whats with paying to get a header installed? It's actually VERY easy and takes only takes simple handtools unless you want your downpipe welded to the rest of the exhaust in which case if you can't do it yourself it should cost no more than 30$ for that weld. But really, I can't see why people don't at least attempt to do basic things like this themselves if they're going to be modding a car.

some people are afraid to get their hands dirty.




SPD RCR Z - '02 Z24 420whp
SLO GOAT - '04 GTO 305whp
W41 BOI - '78 Buick Opel Isuzu W41 Swap

^^^ what he said

plus , dont have time , tools , knowledge

SpeedRacerZ wrote:

Slammed Ohv (Baby Lenko) wrote:So maybe it's me, but whats with paying to get a header installed? It's actually VERY easy and takes only takes simple handtools unless you want your downpipe welded to the rest of the exhaust in which case if you can't do it yourself it should cost no more than 30$ for that weld. But really, I can't see why people don't at least attempt to do basic things like this themselves if they're going to be modding a car.

some people are afraid to get their hands dirty.

Not I. But I wanted mine welded and was having a full exhaust pieced together so it only made sense to have them put the header on.

laying in my garage as I type (well, stood up to type) installing my 2.4 PS Ceramic Coated header.....

My complaints.....

lower down pipe flange (the unwelded one) NOT coated.....

Bolts..... 1/4 inch longer would be nice.....

Down pipe..... 2 1/4" OD pipe..... I might need to take this to a exhaust shop and have them make a 2.5" down pipe for it....... since my whole exhaust is 2.5".....

Otherwise, its a very nice header for the price. The header itself fits very well, and the Ceramic Coating looks so sexy.

Pics to come soon (forgot the digi cam in the house..... I could take some with my phone, but wont do it justice)




SPD RCR Z - '02 Z24 420whp
SLO GOAT - '04 GTO 305whp
W41 BOI - '78 Buick Opel Isuzu W41 Swap

Wild Weasel wrote:

SpeedRacerZ wrote:

Slammed Ohv (Baby Lenko) wrote:So maybe it's me, but whats with paying to get a header installed? It's actually VERY easy and takes only takes simple handtools unless you want your downpipe welded to the rest of the exhaust in which case if you can't do it yourself it should cost no more than 30$ for that weld. But really, I can't see why people don't at least attempt to do basic things like this themselves if they're going to be modding a car.

some people are afraid to get their hands dirty.

Not I. But I wanted mine welded and was having a full exhaust pieced together so it only made sense to have them put the header on.

Likewise. Its time for the exhaust system on my car to be replaced anyway, so yeah, it makes sense to drop off the car with the parts and let them have at it.