HeNeSSeY

Guys,

I had my header installed about a week ago. I have a problem. After I installed the header, the exhaust sits a little bit lower, and keeps rattling against my rear Spoon brace. It looks like it would rattle against a stock brace as well. Its pretty damn annoying, as the rattling is pretty LOUD. Did any of you guys with DC headers have this problem? What can I do to fix this?

Schatten

mine doesn't sit any lower. a shop installed the header? have you taken it by them to see if they missed a hanger or something?

The Reverend

there are no header "hangers"

HeNeSSeY

Yeah... I double checked everything. I had another person look at it as well. Everything is fine. I have the DC header with the Tanabe RM exhaust. It looks like the header makes the cat/exhaust sit a little bit lower. I'm trying to search for pics on this site, to compare if the DC header is a little bit off from the stock exhaust.

Man, this sucks. The rattle is SOOO annoying. Its embarrassing at red lights... having a nice car with a loud ass rattle.

Schatten

Rev - yea, I know there are no header hangers. when I installed mine I can't remember if the cat-pipe was bolted up anywhere or had to be removed or not, so not sure if that was not done properly where it would push part of the exhaust down.

but a header should hang at the same level as any other header if its bolted up properly and the engine mounts are all the same. clearance to the ground may differ between cars, but hanging should be the same.

HeNeSSeY

I think he meant the exhaust hangers. Speaking of hangers, do they make one where it doesn't stretch as much? I really don't want to start cutting and welding on my Tanabe... wondering if there is a "stiffer" hanger out there that I can purchase.

When starting the car in the morning, theres no rattle. I look under the car, and theres a little bit of space between the exhaust and the rear brace. But after say, 10 mins of driving, I guess heat makes the hanger expand, and then the rattle starts. I park the car, and the exhaust is sitting on the rear brace. Happens all the time.....

HeNeSSeY

Schatten, one more question... When you installed the header, did you take the stock adapter/gasket off and place it on the DC header? The gasket/adapter that sits in between the header and the cat.

Schatten

I am pretty sure I did reuse the stock bushing-like-item (for lack of technical term). Only thing I do remember is breaking one of those spring bolts that was cross threaded at the factory. I had to rig something up that worked with what I could find at the local auto store.

do you have an xbrace? that might help protect a bit of the hanging of the header. the xbrace usually provides a half inch of protection - maybe. but not sure what to do about the hangers. have you looked up in there, in the rear, to see if the rubber hangers are on all the way?

HeNeSSeY

Yeah.. I've looked over it like a bunch of different times. Everything is fine. I'm about to head to a friends shop, maybe we can cut off the hanger on the resonator part on the exhaust, and weld something on there thats a little bit shorter. Hopefully this works...

Hmm... I haven't looked to see if my xbrace is protecting the header. I'll take a look at that today. Thanks for the tips!

bbsilver

[QUOTE]Originally posted by HeNeSSeY
[B]

I think he meant the exhaust hangers.