Always ensure the vehicle you are working under is supported securely with jack stands, wear appropriate clothing and safety goggles.  Be weary of your clothing and the proximity to moving parts.  If you are uncomfortable about attempting an installation, DON'T......Seek a qualified service person or facility to help with your installation.  This articles contained in this site are in addition to and enhancement of existing OEM specified procedures and practices.  With regard to specifications and procedures, the OEM manual, procedure or practice shall dictate and govern.

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To start with unhook all of the plugs that attach the O2 sensors then you will be able to remove the OEM H-pipe or after market mid-pipe if you have one installed.

We will remove the engine mounts from the motor on the drivers side. This will serve 2 purposes. It is going to give us more room to play with when we are installing the new PaceSetter Headers, as well as allowing the removal and replacement of the oil dipstick. The OEM stock exhaust manifolds have spaces between each exhaust port. The new headers have a 3/8" laser cut flanges that are going to seat tight against the heads. You have to have the dipstick removed in order to install the headers.  We didn't do this initially, but our instructions will aid you during your installation.  Some of the photos are out of sequence because of this but don't be confused.

The dipstick tube is attached via a flange to the head about half way down the tube. Remove the bolt that is restraining the flange to the head and then remove the motor mount. Remove the actually dipstick itself and then clean all the excess oil and gunk from around the location where the tube enters the engine block. The tube is sealed to the block via and O-ring. With the flange loose, the tube can be wiggled back and forth and removed from the block. When you remove the tube, there is the threat that some gunk could fall into the hole in the block. Ensure that you have clean this area well.

With the dipstick out of the way, plug the hole with a small piece of rag or cloth. Remove the motor mount and this will clear the way to remove the driver’s side exhaust manifold. The EGR tube that routes hot exhaust gas to the EGR valve needs to be transferred to the header, loosen the flange nut so that the tube can be removed from the stock exhaust manifold

The exhaust manifold if held on with 8 nuts and studs. Removing some of the nuts might actually back out the studs from the heads. Don’t worry about this, will be removing them eventually anyway. Remove all the nuts from the center out, leaving the outside 2 nuts until last. Loosen the remaining 2 nuts so that they can be removed by your fingers. Hold the manifold against the head with one hand while removing the last of the nuts. With all the nuts removed, the manifold can be removed. You may have to tap it a little to loosen it up. It is fairly heavy so make sure you are prepared when it comes free of the studs.

Place the manifold in a safe place out of the way. Remove the OEM manifold gasket. Remove any of the studs that did not come out with the nuts. Once all the nuts have been removed, we are going thread the new Stage8 locking header bolts into the head. These are higher quality bolts and threading them in and out of the head a couple of times will "Chase" the threads and make it much easier when we are mounting new header.

Clean the head surface with a good quality scraper being careful not to scratch or damage the head. The head material is Aluminum and is a fairly soft material. With the head surface cleaned, you can also take some brake cleaner, spray in on a rag and wipe the mating surface clean.

The OEM header gaskets are better quality than a compressed material gasket. We purchased a new set of OEM gaskets to ensure a good quality seal. 

Hold the driver’s side header up to the head and thread in one of the front bolts. This will help to hold the header in place. The header gaskets on the drivers side are 2 pieces. Install the rear gasket and thread 2 of the bolts into the rear header flange. Remove the single bolt installed first and install the gasket on the front half of the header. Install all the header bolts that remain and slowly snug them up using a criss-cross pattern. With all the bolts snugged up, it is time to tightened them up. Wiggle the header a little to make sure that it is seated properly to the head and completely tighten all the bolts. Install the Stage8 locking tab on the head of the Stage8 bolts. Position according to their instructions to prevent the bolts from loosening up. Insert the snap ring into the groove on the head to retrain the locking tab.

The dipstick tube needs to be installed back into the block before you re-install the motor mount. Remove the rag, lube the O-ring on the dipstick tube and re-insert into the block. Re-install the motor mount and then re-install the bolt in the flange on the dipstick. Tighten the bolt into the head and then re-insert the dipstick back into the tube.

Re-installing the EGR tubing into the header is probably going to take a little bit of effort. You may need to loosen the tubing at the intake chamber to provide enough movement of the tube. Tighten both top and bottom completely once the tube in installed.

Remove the passenger side motor mount. The passenger side OEM exhaust manifold will be removed in a similar fashion to the drivers side. Remove all the nuts but 2 from either end allowing you control when you finally remove the last 2 nuts. The passenger side studs need to be removed as well and the threads need to be chased again.

Clean the surface of the head completely and wipe down with a rag dampened with brake cleaner.

The concentration of tubes that pass down in the vicinity of the starter can cause overheating of the starter. We chose to error on the side of caution by heat shielding the starter. Heat protection can be purchased from any high performance shot for a reasonable amount. The heat wrap comes with a couple of stainless steel clamps. Wrap the starter and securely tie the wrap to the starter with the supplied ties.

Once the starter is protected, installing the passenger side header can be completed. Use a similar technique to install the gaskets as used on the drivers side. Once both gaskets are installed, thread all the Stage8 bolts into the head and tighten appropriately with a criss-cross pattern. Once the header has been firmly and securely mounted to the head, the Stage8 locking tabs and snap rings can be installed. You will probably have to get creative on a couple of the bolts to get the snap ring and locking tab installed. Patience, needle nose pliers and flexible fingers are inevitably going to come in handy on the lower flange bolt near the firewall. The way the last tube comes down makes this bolt particularly difficult to work with.

The motor mount on the passenger side can be re-installed. Re-install the K-member at this time and then you can install the new X-pipe.

The location of the O2 sensors on the long tubes is further away than the OEM position.  You must splice into the OEM O2 sensor wiring an extra 16" of wire to accommodate the new location.