ebay 7afe header (on a corolla), pics Options

[Bitter]

its on.

i didnt drive it much, it was getting dark and theres no where near by where i feel safe zooming around much. it seems to have lessened the fade at the end of the upper rpms, im not sure if its because ive been soo light footed with the right pedal, but it does feel faster when i plant it. it looks soooo out of place with my dingy engine tho, oh well! its turning a nice sandy color right now and is still shiny, i made sure to wash it down with brake cleaner to remove any oils and to wipe it down so finger prints wouldnt become permanent.


the old exhaust removal was ALOT easier than i anticipated. 1st i loosened everything that i could loosen, then ground the heads off the midpipe to cat flange (the bolts/nuts had rusted to one peice with the flange and themselves). once the heads were cut off the rest of the bolt just dropped right out and the flanges came right apart! the rest of the hardware came off easily, except the stock midpipe to manfold nuts. i had to put my electric impact gun on those to get them loose. the manifold to head nuts were all easy except for the one behind the alternator, you need to remove the alternator tensioner assembly from under it and swing the alternator up to get at that nut with a box end 14mm wrench. then you can use the open end once its broken loose. now is a good time to replace the alterator belt since you just took it off to swing the alternator up out of the way. once the stock stuff is off just swap the new into place with the correct gaskets (mine came with gaskets, tho the manifold to head gasket was poorly fit, its flat now but i had to double the torque to 50lb/ft to get the gasket to push flat). everything else i just tightened till it felt tight then reinstalled the alternator with the new belt, tensioned the belt, double checked everything, wiped it down with brake clean and fired it up.

at idle it sounds pretty much the same, save for just a little bit of a hollow whistle (think wind through a window) at the tail pipe. when the engine is revved it sounds a little more "racey" with no rasp (atleast none i could hear). for $100 i dont feel dissappointed yet, im going to pull my PCM fuse so that it can re-learn the fuel trims with the new oxygen sensor and make any adjustments in relation to the change in exhaust flow. i'll track my fuel mileage and see if the header made it more or less. i have a 150 mile drive friday and back on sunday to track highway mileage.







hmm sort of close to the alternator and wires, i wonder if thats going to cause problems? well better safe than sorry.



yes, it looks horrible. but it was free, quick, and easy. took less than 15 minutes to think up, make, and install and could potentially save my alternator. the sheild is still hot to the touch (very hot!) but doesnt feel like it radiates out as much heat as the open runner next to it.