Header Installation Question?

[Rohr397]

So I removed my header in order to install the new oil tank after my last one broke. Now I'm going to install my header pipe and it's causing me some major frustration. I can never seem to get the damn thing to fit in there very well, I usually end up spending 20 minutes or more trying to shimmy it in and end up scraping and smashing everything in it's path. Is there an easier way to put this header on or is it always a PITA?

[Stickman400]

I always remeber the stock header to be a PITA.

[Rohr397]

Are the aftermarket headers any easier? I can't get this thing to go on, I've tried bashing it thru and everything but it keeps getting hung up on the air box or the oil tank or it gets wedged between the two and gets hung up on the head. I've just about had it

[BeefySTi]

i remember them always being a PITA when I did it. altho, there is a way to put them in that they slide right into place, but i can never remember how to do it. I think if you rotate the header so that the pipes arent parallel to one another and sorta "roll" the header into place if i remember right. hard to explain, i know. if i remember right the left side pipe (the one that bolts on the shifter side of the motor) goes in lower than the right pipe and then as you push it into position in front of the motor, you rotate the head pipe until the pipes are even height and it slides in. like i said, i can never remember it for some reason. hope that helped.

and no, aftermarket pipes are not better. my big gun head pipe was ever worse because the bends were longer than the stocker.

[Rohr397]

Well now the header is jammed into one of the cooling fins and won't budge even a little bit. I tried prying it out with a crowbar and it started breaking the fin off. It's completely stuck and I have no clue what to do at this point.

[CJM]

Loosen up and move your oil cooler and the oil tank. Then you slide the header in. That is the only way to do it with the larger oil tank.

[TheAwesomehonda]

I have the CFM oil tank and hmf headers and i haven't had much trouble getting the head on with the oil tank bolted tight. I'm assuming you have the slip-on removed?

[Rohr397]

Originally posted by TheAwesomehonda
I have the CFM oil tank and hmf headers and i haven't had much trouble getting the head on with the oil tank bolted tight. I'm assuming you have the slip-on removed?

Correct

[atvrider13]

I know this sounds like alotta work but in order to fit my header in my ex with a Um tank i hafto take out all of the engine mounts except the swingarm pivot, remove the gas tank and airboot etc. and lift up the engine and then put the header in then reinstall everything.

[Rohr397]

^Just tried this, didn't work, idk if they made the tank wrong or something but I'm probably going to load up the quad and take it in the shop today, I've pulled about every part out of that area and nothing seems to work.