Rep Power: 296

Hey guys,
I'm taking off the OEM exhaust manifold as we speak, but I barely have clearance from the bottom of the car to remove the last bolt(you know, the one right next to the bottom sensor). It's really uncomfortable to get the sucket in there. Do you guys have any ideas on what I should do to remove this last bolt? I was thinking of removing the plastic at the bottom, would that help? It's a real pain the ***. Please, anyone??

PS: My car's an 04 LX manual.
the bolt is on the other side of the red arrow.

 
Rep Power: 296

k, nm, I got the bolt out..dang!!, what a pain in the butt.

On another note, I'm unsure if any of you guys have run across this problem, but the OEM graphite ring that goes at the bottom between the header and the down pipe wouldn't fit around the header , so I had to get one with a bigger diameter.
I know it may sounds like nonsense; but it hapened. I guess I didn't expect so many inconveniences .

 
Rep Power: 296

Oh well, after all the rain and all the problems, I finally got it done. Took me really a long time cause I ran into lack of parts, and the rain didn't help at all(I don't have a garage),but oh well. It was worth it.

This little fellow came very close to me when I was working on my car. To my surprise, it's the smallest frog I've ever seen. Right next to it, is a 6" extension. I know...call me weird...I'm an animal lover.

 
Rep Power: 297

Cool man, notice any gains at all or more louder exhaust?

 
Rep Power: 0

where did you get it and for how much?

 
Rep Power: 297

Im debating on getting a header myself, just not sure if its worth the money...

 
Rep Power: 0

same question

 
Rep Power: 513

wow thats one small *** frog

nice headers though

 
Rep Power: 813

It should make the exhaust louder. My rear section sounds as loud as catback almost.

 
Rep Power: 0

it will increase some hp, remember kamikaze = no cat on lx

 
Rep Power: 296

Hey all,

I'm very happy with my header and even though it took me longer than I thought, it's definatelly worth it.

The following are some of the problems you might run into if you get this header for your 04 LX. (Don't be scare because of my huge review, it's really not that bad)

1)New hardware(15mm nuts and big steel washers) are needed to attach the header and downpipe. The 15 mm nuts are welded to the OEM manifold, hence you need new ones or you can try and them off and reuse them as I did. Steel washers are required for the spring bolts since holes at bottom of header are bigger than OEM manifold and nuts alone would not work.

2)The top sensor cables need to be extended to connect to its plug since the sensor it's to the right instead of on top like the OEM one and therefore the cables won't reach.

3)Some of the bolts that hold the OEM manifold were kind of tight, so need to be very carefull not to strip them or brake them. (Torque Wrench is a must). Torque the bolts and nuts to the block at about 270 in/lbs.

4) You will definately need jack stands to work underneath the front. It's almost impossible to remove the spring bolts from up top.

5)And finally, you might need to replace part #15(what I call the" Graphite Ring") on the diagram since OEM one didn't fit on the bigger diameter of the header's end.

That's about it. For the most part, it's a perfect bolt on to the head and it looks great on the Engine Bay. It increases torque, not a huge thing but you will definately feel the diference. I would recommended to anyone.

Marketing:
Paid $140 for the header to another member here.
Tools and hardware, aboout $40. These include torque wrench, jack stands and socket set.
Intallation: F R E E B E E, he he

 
Rep Power: 296

Major Concern about the kamikaze header. All Kamikaze owners please read.

After testing my car yesterday with the Kamikaze header on, I forgot about a very important detail.

There's a support bracket(#1 in the diagram) that holds the OEM manifold. Honda calls it(stay, converter). The OEM exhaust manifold brings from factory another hole where this braket is attached to with another bolt to support the weight of the manifold(you can see it in the diagram), but the Kamikaze header doesn't bring this extra hole for the bracket to be attached. I'm surprised that so many members here have the Kamikaze header and they have never mention this problem.

I'm really worried since I don't think it should be safe to be driving around with the header supported only by the top bolts. IMO those bolts are there only to attach the header to the head but not to really carry its whole weight. Besides, with the vibrations of daily driving, the top bolts that were torqued can probably come loose or in the worst case scenario, they can even break .

Does anyone have any idea on what to do??
I was thinking on putting the bracket #1 and somehow attaching an extra piece to it so that this way, it somehow supports the weight of the header. I'm not sure yet on what can be done about this. I sure will keep you guys posted.

 
Rep Power: 372

Don't worry about it. Most headers, aftermarket and OEM, don't have this support bracket. You'll be fine.

BTW... nice job and it looks awesome!

 
Rep Power: 296

Thanks for the compliments R1, but man, are you sure about this?
I mean, this new header weights a little more than the OEM one.
I'm just very concerned about those bolts getting loose with all the vibration from the road.

 
Rep Power: 300

Mike does your exhaust piping after the header hang lower to the ground? I had to redo my exhaust after installing this header because its about 2" longer than the oem manifold and the exhaust was about 4" from the ground. let me know thanks

 
Rep Power: 296

Wow! 4 inches from the ground eh?? That's pretty low man. Well, even though my suspenssion is really low also(I'd say about 7 to 8 inches from the ground), it doesn't really scrape unless I go over some high speed bump or something. You say the header is 2 inches longer than the OEM manifold? That's odd. It sounds strange that you had to redo your exhaust after you installed this header. My header was a perfect fit to the downpipe, the only thing is that it eliminated the Cat. Did you have a catback exhaust installed before you put the header? If so, did you modify the downpipe at all? As long as you didn't modify the downpipe, the header should have been a perfect bolt on.

 
Rep Power: 296

Ok, guys remember I said I'd like to put the bracket that holds the header back on, but I couldn't because it wasn't long enough? Well, this is what I came up with. I found a strong enough piece of metal with two holes that align perfect with the header. Take a look:

The bracket is now extended all the way to the header's hole Hopefully, it should work, I'll try it on Saturday.