I've never done this before but my brother and I want to remove the current Lightspeed ceramic header from his Civic and put back the stock header and heat shield.

I was told the gasket can be reused if it's in good condition. Is there a certain order to remove and or reinstall the bolts/nuts? I was told to torque them to 16 ft. lbs but that seems wrong. I'll try to find that .pdf file of the Helms to confirm. The CD is somewhere around here...

Our equipment is really limited. We have a hydraulic floor jack and two jackstands and some wrenches and a socket set. No power or pneumatic tools.

Any special care I should take? Should the pistons be positioned at a certain point before removing the header?

I am not mechanically inclined...the most intensive work I've done was installing an intake, some OEM foglights, and replacing the driver's side window regulator.

 

it is not hard at all remove the 8 11mm(i think they are 11 maybe 12mm) from the head and then remove the 2 bolts that are on your cat. I am not sure if you header came with the support brackets but there might be a few more bolts dwn in there. once all are removed give it a slight tug towards the forn of the car and drop it ou the bottom. Make sure to replace the gasket if it gets damaged or is in poor shape

edit, no where the pistons are doesn't matter at all but make sure you have a torque wrench so you can torque the nuts back on to spec

 

Yep. There are 2 bolts (14mm on my EK exhaust mani) that you have to remove from the header brace under the car close to where the cat bolts to the exhaust mani, but that's it. You'll have to remove the O2 sensor (just unplug it) to get the exhaust mani to move out either. I don't think you can get it out from the top of the car honestly. I have never been able to.

 

ir's easy, to make your job easier spray your nuts with wd40 and let them soak for like a day and also the o2sensor!. i used my old gasket and it was good, no power tools needed an easy job !

 

the nuts need to be torqued down to 23 ft-lbs not 16 ft-lbs. in a criss-cross pattern starting from the center going outward.

 

Thanks guys.

 

02 sensor isnt as easy...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BauleyCivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">02 sensor isnt as easy...</TD></TR></TABLE>

I had to bail on my o2. Too freakin hard to get out!!

 

Its not hard, just nuts and bolts............

 

well you can purchase the special O2 sensor remover and it makes it a hell of a lot ewasiet to get out, but how many miles does your O2 have on it anyways may be time ot rpelace it

 

When you get an o2 tool and cant get it out, even when soaking it with penetrate oil. Its time to get a new one.

 

Well, after a few hours we got the stock header back on. Now the car sounds like a WWII fighter plane. Everything was tightened, but I think the "blap blap" sound is coming from where the top half meets the bottom half as smoke seems to be coming from there. Should've paid a shop $30 to install it as I didn't get any sleep since we worked throughout the night.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Outrun &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Any special care I should take? Should the pistons be positioned at a certain point before removing the header?

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lmfao

 

well did you get a new gasket for the 2 halfs cause that would prolly be a good idea lol, i always replace every gasket when i take something off always safe then sorry, and then i don't need ot worry about things going wrong