Well shoot, I went OEM and got the most expensive locker bolts possible and I'm still worried about leaks - with 800 miles on em

 

Ya but yours weren't installed right according to your story. The product is only as good as the person putting it in.

Side not I used stage 8 locking bolts and they work perfect. Not one has rattled its way loose.

 

True. I would've used Stage 8's (half the price of the Percy's), but there's ZERO room to put those little clips on some of the bolts on the 04+ 5.4s. But really, locking bolts shouldn't be necessary, they're just extra protection/prevention.

 

Ya I think guy that did mine said he couldn't get on of those clips on. The rest he said he got on. It was just a pain.
I would rather just be safe then sorry.

 

I found a shop that is ordering mandrel bends and we're doing all stainless for a lot less than the other shop quoted.




Well, I read through 21 pages of comments haha. Stealth ended up taking the OEM gaskets off and replacing them with the OBX gaskets and it got rid of the leak.

 

Sweet! SS is the way to go. Wish the price up by me for SS was good because aluminum rots thru in 3 to 5 years.

So you're saying the obx fixed the leak..dang

 

Hmmm I might've used the OBX gaskets if they didn't crumble. Either way, mine isn't bad enough to mess with right now. But I'm a hypochondriac with my truck and it's irritating that I paid $160 for gaskets and bolts that were supposed to eliminate any question of leakage . . . Seems OBX gaskets and Ford studs/nuts would've been better haha

 

Yep, he changed to the obx gaskets and the leak was gone..

But yeah, there was no way I was gonna go aluminized and have to redo my exhaust in 3 years..


I'm the same way with my truck.. If the smallest thing is wrong, I have to fix it.. But, what are you gonna do about your leak?


Anyways, I stopped in at the shop today.. He's taking his sweet time getting it done.. He only had one manifold off and had the old exhaust cut out of the truck. He's fitting me in between appointments, so it's understandable.. But you would think he would have booked me in by now. So, I'm hoping it's done by the end of the week..

 

Do you have an immediate need for your truck? I guess if you're at school there isn't. I hope you're getting a good deal/ hook up for it taking so long. How much is he charging for everything? Honesty, if it's around $1,000, it's a steal and I wish I could do it all over!

Well, my exhaust guy told me mine weren't leaking, or are extremely minorly if they are. So I guess nothing. I'll just turn my ears off and become numb to it! If it gets worse, I'll fix it, but I've got enough things to do and get in order before school. I think they're leaking, but I don't have enough evidence to justify 10 hours of time to tear my exhaust apart or spend 60 bucks on new gaskets that might not even help anything. Good thing I'm only 2 hours away from home/tools! I'm gonna tighten and lock all the bolts I can get to, detail the outside, snap some pics, and be on my way! It'll be along time before my baby will be properly cleaned again haha

 

Well, he said $350 for the header install and around $575 for the exhaust. Hopefully he'll give me a little more off for taking so long.. But I kinda do need my truck because I play hockey for my school and I need to get to the rink and back..

 

Oh my gosh . . . That's a STEAL! I would've paid that in a heart beat. Including the labor for install, I have $1600-1700 in my exhaust. And that's with me spending a lot of my own time messing with it; me doing 90% of the exhaust labor haha.

Do you have hockey practice in the middle of the summer? I know nothing about hockey, so I don't even know when y'alls season starts

 

Well, I already have 850 in parts (headers, gaskets, header bolts, mufflers, x-pipe and tips. Then, I'll be paying 350 for the header install and 550 for the labor and some stainless tubing to finish the exhaust. So in the end, I'll have about $1700-1800 into it.

UPDATE!!!--->I stopped by today and he had the drivers side header in and he was having trouble getting the passenger side header in and he was about to go home.. so I stayed there and got the header in place for him to finish installing tomorrow. He said he might be able to get it done if I was able to get it in place tonight. So, I'm crossing my fingers.

On a side note, I'm so glad I'm paying him to do that install because just trying to feed the header in and get it in place took me like an hour. It SUCKED and I will never be doing that again. I've done about 30% of the work to install the headers myself.

 

Ohhh I forgot you already had the mufflers and x pipe and tips. Numbers add up more realistically now haha.

Did you not undo the passenger side motor mount? Doing that and jacking the engine up makes it pretty easy to slide that header right into place. Either way, exciting!! It's gonna sound awesome, better than mine for sure.

 

I didn't undo the passenger side mount.. My jack wouldn't go high enough to lift the engine. My truck is lifted 6"..

Got my truck back yesterday and the passenger side header is hitting the firewall and the transmission where the starter bolts on.. I don't know what to do.. I really, really don't want to take out the header and dent it or pay someone to do it. And since the header is touching the firewall, the sound transfers through from the engine and it's very bad. Also, the cab shakes like crazy.

The truck sounds unreal though. It has a loud deep tone. I love it.

 

Last night I went for a drive and under a slight load with light acceleration I can hear the header tapping loudly on the transmission... I don't know what to do. Do you think it might tap enough to dent itself? Could the problem work itself out?