At about noon today I finally got to yank the tired busted *** D16a6 out of my car after being beaten on for 239,920 miles. Didn't do anything to the shortblock I put back in except for a Megan Racing header, going to rebuild a head with a little bigger cam and rebuild another transmission now. Anyways, went out to seat the rings and I noticed a little bit of a ticking/clicking noise coming from the axles (I think) seem to go away by the time I got home about 1 1/2 hours later anyone have that prob before? Also the Megan header was a great deal for $130 but the flange to bolt up to the catalytic converter is welded on a little bit incorrect and the top of the flange is tilted away from the converter. Major exhaust leak because of this and the gasket doesn't even touch between the two, anyone else have problems with that header? I know they aren't the highest quality, but cost was a big consideration. Also replaced the clutch with an Exedy clutch kit, the pedal pressure required to engage it seems pretty soft now compared to how it used to be. Did I miss an adjustment, or should this be expected? Thanks for answers in advance, please don't flame cause I'm a poor mother ****** and sorry I didn't take pictures. No digital camera and didn't feel like getting grease/oil/nasty stuff all over my new phone.

 

i'm trying to think of what you could do for the header...

you could try to have someone weld the flange on it right

you could try to mill the face flat

you could try to custom make a gasket or spacer like a "wedge"

for the clutch, good luck. i've heard of people getting bad pressure plates with cheaper (and even some expensive) clutch setups, hope that didn't happen to you.

 

I think I'm gonna end up replacing the exhaust, and I guess I'll put a flange made to fit that one on a straight pipe when I put the new exhaust on it.

 

Dunno if you took care of the problem yet, but a clicking noise coming from the axles could be a sign of shot cv joints.