MaF Ceramic Coated 2-Piece Header Install - notes from the field (1 Viewer)

[JP_FJ40]

after the OEM head pipe was discontinued, I decided to move to the tuned port ceramic coated two-piece headers Man-a-Fre sells.

First pair and Y were installed 8 years ago by a shop in Medford along with a fluid heat riser.

The ball on the front header set rotted through a few months ago but was missed by my local shop when he did a winter checkup. What he found instead was a exhaust manifold leak, and that the cup connectors on the Y pipe were shot.

Ordered a new Y from MaF. Took delivery of shiny new Y pipe, and brought it in.

I was told 1. it wouldn't mate with the headers, and 2. headers were shot.

Another call to MaF and headers ordered to mate with new Y. It should be noted that MaF has apparently used a couple manufacturers for headers and that was a possible reason new Y wouldn't align with old headers.

Delivered Friday, unseasonable warmth, and a new shop space to work in meant I cracked it open Saturday morning.

So easy I'm sorry I paid hacks to do the work in the past:

A. Fender off. Air cleaner off, carb off, insulator plate off, manifold nuts/ bolts off.

B. Drop exhaust headers in scrap pile.

C. Completely and thoroughly clean up manifold port face. (It was left looking like s*** by the previous mechanic. The install 8 years ago used two gaskets and RTV. New gasket install a month ago with two generic gaskets and shellac. No clean up, so face still had residual RTV etc. from initial install. ayfkm?)

D. Blew out bolt holes and cleaned up bolts and studs.

E. Fresh gasket provided, refit manifolds and under-tighten, to hang somewhat loosely. (That's important. You don't want to have to dis/assemble everything twice.)

F. Slide under and fit Y to loosely hanging headers. Draw balls into cups with hardware supplied.

G. Once the balls/cups are drawn together, tweak down manifold nuts/ bolts balls tight. Follow tightening sequence in factory manual, or Haynes.

H. insulator plate, carb, ac assembly, and fender back on.

I. Fire it up and enjoy the sound of tuned headers. The open pipe idle and drive to the muffler shop this morning sounded so f'ing beautiful, I hated to have to muffle it.

Here's the ongoing saga of my old truck.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/interrobang918/sets/72157603108003604/with/8374751028/

Shots of header install are at the end.

mjb

 

[SteveH]

Good photos and writeup. did you use these particular MAF headers because they were the best or better than others, or merely because they were available for your year and engine?

 

[JP_FJ40]

The MaF headers were originally recommended by a resto shop in NH, so that was what I went with 8 years ago. Not sure how many options there were out there at the time.

Newly fitted the first time the truck ran/ sounded great. No reason to expect that would be any different this second time around. Doing the install myself meant I had time to obsess over trivial details like clean mating surfaces.

That said, in discussion with customer service at MaF I had asked if the one-piece header was a better option, and the feeling was the 2-piece was the way to go. Of course that was the seller's opinion, so grain of salt.

 

[1911]

I put MAF two-piece, ceramic-coated headers on the 3FE in my FJ80 and they fit great and increased my fuel economy, but they rusted-out near the flanges after 70-80,000 miles. Welded up the holes and re-installed, but they rusted out again more quickly. Gave up and re-installed the stock cast iron manifold.

 

[Griffin]

Thanks for the write up and pics!!

I have a noob question here - is removing the carb and insulator plate straight forward? I know we are only talking bolts here, but can I just move the carb and plate to the side without unhooking throttle cables or any other carb stuff?

Recently had a mechanic do a crappy job installing new headers and the gasket is already cracked in several places, creating a bad case of the ticks.

This job doesn't look complicated, though, and I was thinking about breaking it down myself using one of Mark's "do it right or to it twice" super duty header gasket.