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ok, so as some of you may know i installed my DC headers on saturday / sunday along with the help of 05GT and Gaumbomb, thought i would share my nightmare with everyone else.
We did it on a military base, so we could use the hobby shop which has lifts and every tool imaginable, which really helped out alot. we started with taking off the stock y-pipe, right from the start we had problems. the 3rd and 4th bolt we took off broke in half, the nut was just rusted on it, and we used air tools to break it, ended up snaping the bolt. well no big deal, if i ever need to put back on my stock headers i can just have that drilled out.
so on to the front manifold. first problem ... i loose a nut, i was taking it off of the bottom part and lost it, still dont know where it is. well no problem, we can just get another one at autozone or somewhere like that. next problem. the bolt under the AC hose wont break. we try everything we can, and we just end up starting to strip it. of course since we are on a military base at a hobby shop, we cant just vent the AC there since its illegal. so i get the bright idea to push it across the street to a service center and have them vent it for us. so back on goes the wheel, off the lift comes the car, and me and 05GT push my car across the street, about a hour later the ac is vented, and we got to push it back across the street, up a slight hill. luckly we had some help pushing it up that hill. so back on the lift it goes, we break the bolt no problem, the AC compresor gets swivled out fo the way the front manifold comes out. now the rear, the lower 4 bolts ... piece of cake, the heat shield ... a whole different animal, they were the biggest PITA to get out. took about a hour for us to get them all out along with 05GT getting a nice stabbing from my car. now the top bolts, not too bad, they arent too hard to break, only problem is the middle bolt comes out along with the nut. so we get the back manifold off.
now to get the o2 sensors out of the manifolds, we had a 02 socket to use for this, so 3 of the 4 were a piece of cake, but the front upper one got crossthreaded on the stock manifold, and completely screwed up the threading on the o2 sensor, and it wouldnt go into the DC headers bung for it. so we put it aside for now, and installed the front DC header. by this time its getting late and the hobby shop kicked us out.
next day we stop by autozone on the way to the shop, we get a universal 02 sensor, and what i thought was the right size nut to replace the one i lost on the front manifold.
we get to the shop and get to work splicing the universal O2 into the stock connection. then we put in the rear manifold which really wasnt hard with the extra room from the aftermarket headers. then the Y pipe, and thoguht we were hope free, WRONG :3_fyou
we go to connect the lower rear o2 sensor and guess what, its about a quarter inch too short. at this point, i just wanna get it running, so i grabbed the cut up stock o2 sensor that had the messed up threading and it actually went into the bung. so i tied the one that was actually connected up in the engine bay out of the way, and now have a o2 sensor not hooked to anything stuck in the bung lol. (and yes i have a cel, but im not sure if its from my getto riged lower o2 sensor or the spliced one) ok, time to lower the car back to the ground and put back on the alternator, belt, and that nut on teh front manifold
alternator went back inplace without too much hassle, then the belt. i put my socket wrench into the spot, put a pipe on the handle for extra leverage, and pull, BAM the belt tensioner BREAKS, the metal just snapped off around the slot for the socket wrench. so we use the upper nut, its yellow, not sure what it is, but we put the socket wrench on that and tightned it, which pulled on the belt, giving us enough room to slide the belt in place. (btw does anyone know if hyundai will fix the tensioner under warrenty?) now to the front manifold ... and what do you know the nut i got is too small, so i said screw it, just tightened up the 6 already on there and left the 7th nut-less.
after charging my battery (i left my door open over night at the shop and drained my battery) it started right up, with lots of white smoke from my engine bay due to the wd40.
so heres some pics of the nightmare, which took 2 days and a total of 11 hours










We did it on a military base, so we could use the hobby shop which has lifts and every tool imaginable, which really helped out alot. we started with taking off the stock y-pipe, right from the start we had problems. the 3rd and 4th bolt we took off broke in half, the nut was just rusted on it, and we used air tools to break it, ended up snaping the bolt. well no big deal, if i ever need to put back on my stock headers i can just have that drilled out.
so on to the front manifold. first problem ... i loose a nut, i was taking it off of the bottom part and lost it, still dont know where it is. well no problem, we can just get another one at autozone or somewhere like that. next problem. the bolt under the AC hose wont break. we try everything we can, and we just end up starting to strip it. of course since we are on a military base at a hobby shop, we cant just vent the AC there since its illegal. so i get the bright idea to push it across the street to a service center and have them vent it for us. so back on goes the wheel, off the lift comes the car, and me and 05GT push my car across the street, about a hour later the ac is vented, and we got to push it back across the street, up a slight hill. luckly we had some help pushing it up that hill. so back on the lift it goes, we break the bolt no problem, the AC compresor gets swivled out fo the way the front manifold comes out. now the rear, the lower 4 bolts ... piece of cake, the heat shield ... a whole different animal, they were the biggest PITA to get out. took about a hour for us to get them all out along with 05GT getting a nice stabbing from my car. now the top bolts, not too bad, they arent too hard to break, only problem is the middle bolt comes out along with the nut. so we get the back manifold off.
now to get the o2 sensors out of the manifolds, we had a 02 socket to use for this, so 3 of the 4 were a piece of cake, but the front upper one got crossthreaded on the stock manifold, and completely screwed up the threading on the o2 sensor, and it wouldnt go into the DC headers bung for it. so we put it aside for now, and installed the front DC header. by this time its getting late and the hobby shop kicked us out.
next day we stop by autozone on the way to the shop, we get a universal 02 sensor, and what i thought was the right size nut to replace the one i lost on the front manifold.
we get to the shop and get to work splicing the universal O2 into the stock connection. then we put in the rear manifold which really wasnt hard with the extra room from the aftermarket headers. then the Y pipe, and thoguht we were hope free, WRONG :3_fyou
we go to connect the lower rear o2 sensor and guess what, its about a quarter inch too short. at this point, i just wanna get it running, so i grabbed the cut up stock o2 sensor that had the messed up threading and it actually went into the bung. so i tied the one that was actually connected up in the engine bay out of the way, and now have a o2 sensor not hooked to anything stuck in the bung lol. (and yes i have a cel, but im not sure if its from my getto riged lower o2 sensor or the spliced one) ok, time to lower the car back to the ground and put back on the alternator, belt, and that nut on teh front manifold
alternator went back inplace without too much hassle, then the belt. i put my socket wrench into the spot, put a pipe on the handle for extra leverage, and pull, BAM the belt tensioner BREAKS, the metal just snapped off around the slot for the socket wrench. so we use the upper nut, its yellow, not sure what it is, but we put the socket wrench on that and tightned it, which pulled on the belt, giving us enough room to slide the belt in place. (btw does anyone know if hyundai will fix the tensioner under warrenty?) now to the front manifold ... and what do you know the nut i got is too small, so i said screw it, just tightened up the 6 already on there and left the 7th nut-less.
after charging my battery (i left my door open over night at the shop and drained my battery) it started right up, with lots of white smoke from my engine bay due to the wd40.
so heres some pics of the nightmare, which took 2 days and a total of 11 hours