My experience with Pacesetter headers.

[roSSco]

I bought the coated emission style and the ORY for my '99 SS. I installed them myself :mad: My 1st impression was that they had cleaned up the ORY quite a bit from pics others had posted. The Y area was ground and cleaned up nicely. I test fit everything and all was well.

To get the drivers side to fit, there was a piece of the engine block that had to be ground away :mad: I know that the engine could have been jacked up, but alas I have only one floor jack. Once the header was in place it was discovered that it would rub/bang the K member :mad: At the time all I had @ my disposal was a Dremel tool :rolleyes: I used it with a side cut bit to remove what I thought was enough material (it wasn't). I'm still waiting on my Breslin header bolts and when they arrive, I will grind/cut away more from the K member.

On to the Y pipe...
First off, the passenger side has no problems.

The drivers side header angles up in such a way that the Y pipe has no choice but to be FIRMLY against the bottom of the car. I mean there wasn't room for a sheet of paper to fit in between it and the car.:eek: I have put 3 band clamps with heater hose and header wrap around the Y pipe to stop the INSANE AMOUNT OF BANGING! It banged on startup, idle and everywhere in between (except when idling in reverse :rolleyes: ).

I was unable to get the Y pipe to connect to my stock exhaust no matter how hard I tried. :mad: Had to cut about 3" off of the stock exhaust and had it welded at a muffler shop (a story in itself :rolleyes: ). Did you know it seems to be impossible to find a 2 3/4" coupler :no:

I am happy with the sound and they seem ok otherwise. :wheresthe shrug smiley?:

[WildBill WS6/SS]

Mine fit up perfectly. I had zero problems :confused:

[$ickZ06]

i have heard the y pipe is crap

[dropkick]

Originally posted by roSSco
I bought the coated emission style and the ORY for my '99 SS. I installed them myself :mad: My 1st impression was that they had cleaned up the ORY quite a bit from pics others had posted. The Y area was ground and cleaned up nicely. I test fit everything and all was well.

To get the drivers side to fit, there was a piece of the engine block that had to be ground away :mad: I know that the engine could have been jacked up, but alas I have only one floor jack. Once the header was in place it was discovered that it would rub/bang the K member :mad: At the time all I had @ my disposal was a Dremel tool :rolleyes: I used it with a side cut bit to remove what I thought was enough material (it wasn't). I'm still waiting on my Breslin header bolts and when they arrive, I will grind/cut away more from the K member.

On to the Y pipe...
First off, the passenger side has no problems.

The drivers side header angles up in such a way that the Y pipe has no choice but to be FIRMLY against the bottom of the car. I mean there wasn't room for a sheet of paper to fit in between it and the car.:eek: I have put 3 band clamps with heater hose and header wrap around the Y pipe to stop the INSANE AMOUNT OF BANGING! It banged on startup, idle and everywhere in between (except when idling in reverse :rolleyes: ).

I was unable to get the Y pipe to connect to my stock exhaust no matter how hard I tried. :mad: Had to cut about 3" off of the stock exhaust and had it welded at a muffler shop (a story in itself :rolleyes: ). Did you know it seems to be impossible to find a 2 3/4" coupler :no:

I am happy with the sound and they seem ok otherwise. :wheresthe shrug smiley?:

I had basically the same problems you had. I fixed the banging y-pipe by heating both ends with a torch and using a prybar to bend it down away from the floor board. If you don't have a torch, take it to an exhaust shop. An honest shop won't charge much for that.

[Jay 2001 TA]

I will be doing mine this weekend. Thanks for the input.

[bRa_DeN]

my hookers fit perfectly with no problems:D

[FirehawkNS]

Hope I don't have any of these problems with my Mac Mids!!

[NolanTA]

My pacesetter y banged pretty bad, too.. I had the muffler shop flange the headers and adjust/re-fab the y-pipe to give more clearance.. tomorrow I'm going to have the rear of the y-pipe flanged as well so I can later have him fab me a catted y.

[nickPSD]

My pacesetters went on fine, with no problems at all. Nothing bangs, just had to cut alittle of the K-member away.

[Bad Andy]

The y is a serious piece of shit. The headers are great though. I think part of my banging problem is due to wearing motor mounts.

[FstBlk Z28]

Originally posted by Bad Andy
The y is a serious piece of shit. The headers are great though. I think part of my banging problem is due to wearing motor mounts.

A poly transmission mount will help w/ Y pipe bangin as well. I put a Energy Suspension mount on my car hoping it would solve some of my banging problems. and it fixed about 99% of the bang!!! Only 20 bux and about a 20 min install as well:D

File down the nubs on the bottom and the vibration isn't that bad .... it gets better as it gets broken in too.... and you'll get used to it

[nickPSD]

Just have the y-pipe made at an exhaust shop, I found it to be cheaper than the crappy y-pipe you can buy with the headers

[bRa_DeN]

if the y-pipe is causing so much problems just take it off and install some true duals, there problem solved:D

[jumpcable]

The only problem I had with my Pacesetters was that I had to grind away about 1/4 " of material off of the K-member. Other than that, they fit great and I installed both from the bottom with nothing but rhino ramps holding the car up in the air.

After I read about so many problems with the y pipe, I decided to just get a custom one made at my local muffler shop. For 90 bucks, I got a great stainless off road y-pipe, 3", not mandrel bends, but it looks great, and no banging issues. Of course, I had to drive the car about five miles with a cam through open headers...that was cool! :cool:

[Toxic99]

I had the same probs. Had to grind the K member, grind the block, and the Y-pipe is a POS. But, after going to the track and knocking .5 secs. off my et and adding 4-5 mph, it was all worth it.:cool:

[8urpony]

Mine are going on next saterday. Hope they go on with no problems.:xfings:

[Scotty]

Thanks for the review. I hope to pick up some Pacesetters some time this year.

[ELS1]

yea i helped my friend install some poly motor mounts from TR and it stopped the banging with his pacesetters.

[roSSco]

I had to drop the drivers side header and cut away some more of the K member and while I was at it I bent the Y pipe down some. Then re-assembled everything and there is a little more clearance now :cool:

I can't even tell if there is banging anymore thanks to the clamps w/the header wrap and heater hose. :drive:

[AccomplishedXile]

goodnes you had a rough time man

you say you knocked off .5 of a second with just the pacesettars

[roSSco]

Originally posted by Yungn2K
goodnes you had a rough time man

Yes I did!

Originally posted by Yungn2K
you say you knocked off .5 of a second with just the pacesettars

Not me :umm: We'll see tomorrow night :drive:

[Scotty]

What kind of exhaust do you have and how does it sound now? More rasp, deeper, etc?

[roSSco]

I've got a junkyard Flowmaster muffler. I think it sounds good. It's not too loud in the cabin, no buzz @ 2200 rpms like so many folks complain about, nice deep idle. Quiet at cruise, but really sings @ WOT :D

[8urpony]

Put mine on today. Only problem was the k-member had to grind some off on the drivers side. Damn driving aroung with open headers is loud.:burnout:

[jumpcable]

Yeah...isn't it just mean and nasty sounding. I did that after I put my cam and headers in. It was just badass! Everyone looked at me like I was riding in Satan's chariot!