Okay guys so here's the deal. Got my header and full exhaust welded and put together on Wednesday. As some of you know the tri-y has some pretty crappy ground clearance. What I was thinking of doing is cutting off about 1-2" on the top portion of the multi piece design. In my mind If I take the 1-2" off the top set of pipes that the slip fit will compensate and make up for that 1-2" and tuck it better to the undercarriage of my car. Has anyone seen/heard/done anything like this? Love the header love the exhaust but the ground clearance is pretty atrocious on my lowered vehicle.

Any help or opinions would be appreciated. Also. Us 4th genners. If you guys do decide to get this header be forewarned that the primary o2 sensor harness only has enough room to fit straight down on the top of the header. The o2 bung that comes pre welded on the header is not able to be utilized with the stock length harness/o2.

Any thoughts or opinions would be great. If I can get this thing tucked up another 1-2" My quality of life would be greatly improved.

 

It would be worth the try to get mroe clearance, the only issue beign if for osme reason it doesnt work then you are back to sqaure one and have to weld to get there. As for the o2 sensor, you could always just clip the harness and add a section of wire to give the 02 sensor the room needed. Is your o2 wire stillclipped intot he frame? If you unclip it and let it hang you might be able to egt soem more lenght out of it.

 

Agreed with Bouckaroo. Additionally, consider the clearance with the oil pan and with the crossmemeber. IIRC, this header on non-swapped cars (i.e. Preludes) isn't supposed to require notching, and that's a huge plus.

I'd consult directly with Private Label to get their input. I would think if they would have tried to get the maximum clearance without sacrificing the integrity of their design from the get-go. Who knows, worth a shot at least. FWIW, I wouldn't cut up that piece if it were mine.

.02, good luck.

 

Its not "their" design

 

There are no angles on the top section. So I think if I cut 1"ish off the top section of tubing it will still slide on there fine without any problems.

As for the o2 sensor. Even with that clip cut (because it's riveted) it does not have enough clearance. I just had another bung welded on top of the header. No CEL's on either primary/secondary o2 sensors so that is good on that part.

I raised my car up a bit on the front end. Thankfully I bought Coilovers before doing all of this. It's still absurdly low to the ground. The Flange they have welded on to the header collector is a strange size as well.

I'm trying to balance out my need/want for my car to be lower while being realistic. There is no point lower on my undercarridge than the collector to cat piping.

I don't see any flow issues or fitment issues coming from shortening the tubing on the top section. I was just hoping someone ran into the same issue as me and instead of "living with it" Decided to try and make it perfect for his/her application

 

I'd just cut the 2ND section shorter which would raise the whole bottom. No welding necessary


Edit:

Looks like the top section is what slips in. Cut that shorter. May have to refab the fastener or you could simply put a couple spot welds to hold it together

 

This is exactly what I was looking at doing. Just needed another mind involved to agree with me before I took the plunge.

 

Emailed Private Label MFG. I'll let you guys know what I hear back to see if we can pull this off and solve a lot of problems. I know there are quite a few of us with this header and all with the same issue.

 

Figure out how much clearance there is between the header and oil pan before you do anything.