MSA headers, what am I in for?

[ISPKI]

In my ongoing effort to get my 77 280z running well, I decided to replace the extremely rusty exhaust manifold with MSA 3-2 headers. I am planning on running dual exhaust, but I may run single until I get a new transmission. Anyways, what am I in for for the install of these? How do they fit? Does the mating surface need to be milled flat usually? How well will they fit with my AT?

[IncompetentOne]

I have a 77 280z as well and my 6 to 1 headers are fantastic. I did not have to do any modifying to the head or the headers to get it to fit. when installing them, it rubs against the steering "rod". nothing major... just give it a little push and it slides in. when installed it does not rub against anything, or touch anything for that matter. I did have to wrap my headers though to keep temps down. I wrapped them down to where they all conjoin into one. I do not have air conditioning on my Z so i do not have the pump there. It looks like more than enough space but i would research a bit more first. I can not say that your experience will go as smoothly as mine, but I had no problems with these headers. they come coated in some black protective spray, i would go ahead and buy some VHT paint and spray them. for the best results, wear some clean gloves, take the headers from the box, and spray them with a few coats. when i sprayed them, the VHT paint peeled off from my fingerprints because of the oil my hands left. good luck! I highly recommend them but it is just my opinion. the 3-2 should install well and sound great on your Z.

[Domzs]

Had it on my 78 . Loved it , had no problem with fitment . I would stay with single , don't see the need for dual unless you have a V8 . You might have to run fuel cell with dual setup , no room on the pass side for a muffler .

[ISPKI]

Thanks for the responses! Did you have to install them from underneath the car or were you able to drop them down from the top? I could almost fit the stock manifold with piping still attached out the top so I am wondering if these headers are smaller and would fit without jacking the car up. I have a couple cans of high temp (1300 degree) plastikote paint that I will be painting these with.

 

As for the dual exhaust - I was planning on running dual pipes out the sides of the car. The pipes would end just behind the doors and in front of the rear tires. My vehicle is not currently lowered, but I probably will never lower it more than an inch or two at most, so I am not too concerned about ground clearance.

 

What do you guys use for washers when bolting these down? I already pulled out the old rusty studs and helicoiled many of the holes. When I bolted the manifold back on, I made the mistake of putting SS lock washers on underneath the nuts. With the torque needing to be placed on the nuts/studs, the lock washers started to spread apart. What type of washers would you fellas recommend for this? the 18-8 SS washers just deform horribly and I did not even have them on the car for more than 25 miles. Looking at mcmaster - they have two options that I would consider: Extra thick SS washers (about 4 times thicker than standard) and case hardened washers that are the same thickness but are hardened to within class 10.9 specs. Those are also zinc plated.

[Domzs]

When I did mine , I removed both manifolds . Had to remove a few broken studs . The header went in from the top . I bought header , new studs , nuts , and washers all from MSA . Make sure you reinstall the heat shield that goes between the manifolds , header puts out a lot of heat .

[ISPKI]

The issue is that I already removed the intake and exhaust manifold, replaced all the studs, all the hardware, cleaned up everything on the intake, replaced all the gaskets and bolted it all back on. When I took the exhaust manifold off to try and solve some issues, I found the SS hardware was all warped - mostly the washers were being sucked through the holes on the manifold and were starting to look like a shallow funnel.

 

I picked up case hardened washers and extra thick case hardened nuts with zinc plating from mcmaster, they say they are hardened to grade 8 standards so they should stand up to the pressure and heat. Hopefully my engine will run a little nicer now.

 

Anyways, headers came in extremely early. Delivery date was Wednesday next week at the earliest, got them Saturday around noon! I was extremely surprised as they had only just left california on Wednesday going Ground. They look to be of good quality, especially for the price. I bolted them on and noticed that the flange was not straight - it had a slight bough in the middle that was creating bout a half inch gap between the head and the flange on one side. I put some of the nuts on the studs and gently tightened them down and the flange straightened out easily. However, I now cannot fit the Y-pipe onto the end of the headers. Looks like the warp in the flange was in between the two 3-pipe groups on the flange.

 

Now that I have it on the car and I can see how to run the piping, I decided to run just the single 2.5" pip out the side of the car. Dual side pipes would be awesome, but I dont think the stock NA motor is really going to make use of it anyways, the new pipe is already much larger than the factory piping. I will try and make the Y-pipe modular with a flange connection so that I can switch to dual pipes in the future if I really want to. This setup should be much more simple, one muffler, 5ft of straight pipe, and one 90 degree angle. Toss a couple hangars on it and its done. No bending, only a few welds to make, should be super simple.

 

What do you guys think of powder coating the entire exhaust system? Will the powder coat stand up to the heat put out by the headers? A friend of mine recommended a guy to me who does good and reasonably priced work. He claims the entire exhaust system should only cost maybe 40$.

[Domzs]

Don't think powder coating will withstand high temp from the header . I did use high temp exhaust paint from collector back , works great .