This is a series of technical notes and words of caution on the Tri-mill JTOUTFITTER headers for everyone. -----First of all if you haven't ordered em yet, I woudln't.------ They're a bitch to get on and retrofit compared to other headers, but wanted to give you some additional info and let you know of wrong turns when installing in case you already have em or on some insanely tight budget and have patience. I made it work, but If I had to do it again I would go with a two piece header. BUT, you probably can do it the "redneck" way with barstock, and copper paste like the guy in this video. Getting em machined is too expensive to even mess with IMO. So Since you have it already though, It might still be doable with massive time and money waste. Keep these tips in mind when proceeding:
Tips and rabbit holes:
The thickness of the flange is sometimes different and the headers often warped and don't flex much at all, hence why I had a machinist mill them (but it cost me $300!). It might be worth one go and see if you can get it to level out and seal, if not I would throw em away.
Since you already have em, save your money and try to redneck it like this guy in this video and see if you get lucky. you very well might. The barstock under the bolts isn't even angled straight but somehow he has enough clamping force. He is also using a stock gasket, so this means HIGHER torque spec on the bolts, which may be why it seals. He used some of the copper paste to get it to seal, and proabbly a toyota gasket. dont use remflex iwth copper paste. I went the long and hard way of getting it machined...and also went the dry remflex gasket route since it was mostly straight. but if you go this route make sure you get the intake machined simualtneously with it. (since i didnt do this I had to cut up feeler gauges to slde underneath the flange to get the thicknesses to even out.. NOT FUN!)I dont think guys who buy the two peice headders have to deal with this....
A few other things:
I used the same header primer and paint as him and it went well so far.
DO NOT use the gaskets JT outfitters sends you.
Also, you're going to have to carefully use a sanding disk or something heavy duty to take down part of the carb spacer. some of the flange on the trimills (in front of ports 3 and 5) hits the carb spacer, making it so the spacer doesn't seat onto the intake properly (at least in my case) I had to spend three hours taking it down so it would stop coliding the header. (Wear a respirator and eye protection it was messy!)
I would also take a straight edge to it and visualize how straight the one they sent you is. Mine was pretty screwed up before getting it machined. In the meantime make sure your block is straight as well, god forbid.
When installing you have to make sure that the ports are lined up with the ports on the engine block. It doesn't hang nicely like the stock manifold or the intake.
After installing the first few times I thought I had a vacuum leak because it was runnin gso bad, but iwas just the bad aftermarket carb i put on. Use stock carb and tune it before you decide whether or not the trimills are causing an intake leak. This simple concept would have saved me WEEKS of heartache.
I think it can be done, and as far as I can tell mine have remained sealed with the remflex gasket on there. You might need copper paste and a thick stock gasket if not going the machined route I don't know.
in the end, The rig sounds beautiful with no cat and headers! At least people now know some of the rabbit hole they're in for with the JT outfitter tri mill headers.......
Hope this helps, wanted to share my experience and save people time, feel free to shoot me questions.
TLDR If I had to do it over again I'd go and had already purchased the tri mills I would do one attempt if it didn't seal etc. or started to come off over time I would have buy nice two piece headers and eat the cost. You'll end up spending roughly the same amount getting the trimills and intake machined.
Dan
Tips and rabbit holes:
The thickness of the flange is sometimes different and the headers often warped and don't flex much at all, hence why I had a machinist mill them (but it cost me $300!). It might be worth one go and see if you can get it to level out and seal, if not I would throw em away.
Since you already have em, save your money and try to redneck it like this guy in this video and see if you get lucky. you very well might. The barstock under the bolts isn't even angled straight but somehow he has enough clamping force. He is also using a stock gasket, so this means HIGHER torque spec on the bolts, which may be why it seals. He used some of the copper paste to get it to seal, and proabbly a toyota gasket. dont use remflex iwth copper paste. I went the long and hard way of getting it machined...and also went the dry remflex gasket route since it was mostly straight. but if you go this route make sure you get the intake machined simualtneously with it. (since i didnt do this I had to cut up feeler gauges to slde underneath the flange to get the thicknesses to even out.. NOT FUN!)I dont think guys who buy the two peice headders have to deal with this....
A few other things:
I used the same header primer and paint as him and it went well so far.
DO NOT use the gaskets JT outfitters sends you.
Also, you're going to have to carefully use a sanding disk or something heavy duty to take down part of the carb spacer. some of the flange on the trimills (in front of ports 3 and 5) hits the carb spacer, making it so the spacer doesn't seat onto the intake properly (at least in my case) I had to spend three hours taking it down so it would stop coliding the header. (Wear a respirator and eye protection it was messy!)
I would also take a straight edge to it and visualize how straight the one they sent you is. Mine was pretty screwed up before getting it machined. In the meantime make sure your block is straight as well, god forbid.
When installing you have to make sure that the ports are lined up with the ports on the engine block. It doesn't hang nicely like the stock manifold or the intake.
After installing the first few times I thought I had a vacuum leak because it was runnin gso bad, but iwas just the bad aftermarket carb i put on. Use stock carb and tune it before you decide whether or not the trimills are causing an intake leak. This simple concept would have saved me WEEKS of heartache.
I think it can be done, and as far as I can tell mine have remained sealed with the remflex gasket on there. You might need copper paste and a thick stock gasket if not going the machined route I don't know.
in the end, The rig sounds beautiful with no cat and headers! At least people now know some of the rabbit hole they're in for with the JT outfitter tri mill headers.......
Hope this helps, wanted to share my experience and save people time, feel free to shoot me questions.
TLDR If I had to do it over again I'd go and had already purchased the tri mills I would do one attempt if it didn't seal etc. or started to come off over time I would have buy nice two piece headers and eat the cost. You'll end up spending roughly the same amount getting the trimills and intake machined.
Dan
