KOOKS long tube headers install | 2005 Mustang GT

[Jay Tee]

Ok I’m back with my second mod, the kooks long tube headers install.
Oh yea I am not a mechanic and I do not work on cars, But I can read and read with comprehension the instructions from kooks were written very good…
Before I start let me tell you this was very time consuming almost all the bolts had to be wrenched all the way off and most of them had thread locker on them.
Now let’s get to the install

The first thing you should do is get yourself 4 jack stands and a floor jack (borrow from your friends if necessary) pic 40
When you jack up your stang do the back first(pic 41) a little then set the 1st pair of stands under the axel close to the wheels(pic 42 & 43), then let the car down on to stands and then to the front,
When you jack up the car from the front you will have to find the cross member, located directly under the engine in front of the oil pan (do not jack up on oil pan) do this till you get the car at the height you want (for me it was about 16”) make sure the car is level once you’ve got it jacked up

[Jay Tee]

Now disconnect the battery and put tape over the terminal (pic 44) this is to keep the terminal from arching out and jolting the computer.
Now back underneath the car, unbolt the clamps that hold the pipe assembly (pic45) also note that there is a clip on the inside of the H , my hand is in the way, you just pull on this clip and slide the clamp back at the same time (pic 46) now your exhaust system is free from the H pipe, just let it hang there (pic 47)

[Jay Tee]

Now remove the sensors from the cats (pic48) there is one on each cat (pic 49)

[Jay Tee]

Be sure to unplug them before you unscrew them so you don’t twist the wires (pic 50) now carefully remove the sensors and make sure to mark them passenger side and drivers side. Put them in a safe place because you will need to put them back on.(pic51)
Now is the best time to put a shot of WD-40 to help break the rust loose (pic 52) now break loose with a ratchet with about 8” of extension with a deep well socket at the end (pic 53) On the back bolts you may need to add a universal joint to help make it easer to get to (pic 54)

[Jay Tee]

Do the same to the driver’s side to remove cats from manifolds
Now with all that loose your ready to pull the cat and H pipe assembly out(pic 55)Here it is removed now properly dispose of.(pic 56) Now remove the starter, Make sure that you disconnected the battery before you do this or you will short your car out! Note: the red wire is the hot wire from the battery. That’s why you need to make sure its DISCONNECTED!!!!!(PIC 57)
Now disconnect the starter power cable (pic 58) and just let it hang there. Now the starter and solenoid are disconnected (pic 59) start unbolting the starter

[Jay Tee]

The starter has 3 bolts that hold it to the engine block. 1 on the bottom,(pic 60) 1 in the middle and 1on the top out of sight. To get to the top starter bolt you will need an extension (pic 61) the starter is not very big or heavy and once you take the last bolt out in will fall off. (pic 62) now with the starter out of the way you will have access to the motor mount NOTE: there are 6 bolts that hold the motor mount to the engine block, 2 of the 6 are extra long studs and require a deep socket to get them off. The other stud is out of sight and has the ground cable bolted to it.(pic 63)
Now go to the top of the motor from the hood side and unbolt the top motor mount bolt (64)

[Jay Tee]

Now you will need to jack up the motor just high enough to get the motor mount out (pic67) (I put a phone book on the jack and used the oil pan to lift the motor up)
Now with the motor mount out of the way you can now get to the manifold bolts(pic 65)
There are 4 on the bottom and 4 on the top. They were not hard to get off you can use a ratchet with an extension (pic66)
Some of the studs will come off with the bolts.Thats OK cause you will not be reusing them(pic 69)
Now that all 8 bolts have been removed the manifold will just “fall out” (pic70)

[Jay Tee]

Be careful not to hit the head (the machined surfaces around the ports) with the manifold as it is come out (pic71)
Now with a 3/16” hex socket remove the all of the studs (pic72)and (pic 73)

[Jay Tee]

Now that the cast iron manifold is out its time to install a header! But wait ..I had to wash the header first because it was full of grinding dust and metal flakes (pic74)
I just went to the front and used the water hose to spray the header out (pic75)
Then I dried it with a towel to get most of the water out (pic76)
And check that there is no gunk in the collector (pic 77) and make sure thet is no metal flakes in the tubes (pic78)

[Jay Tee]

Now the KOOKS costume header is now ready to be installed!(pic80)
The header install was pretty ez to do ON THE PASSANGER SIDE . it just slides right up in to place all you do is start to 4 bottom bolts on the head (the headers flange is slotted on the bottom side so that it will sit on the bolts so you can get the gasket on from the top (see pic 78) tighten up all the header bolts reinstall the motor mount and the bolts etc. (pic81) the starter motor will now be a little bit harder put back in because that 3rd bolt
On the top of the starter you will not be able to see it now and will have to “feel for it” to tighten it down that was the hardest bolt to put back on

[Jay Tee]

Now that the header in its now home the O2 sensor will not reach (pic82) will have to A) buy an extension or B) cut and splice it (pic83 and 84)

Now that that’s done and the driver side is installed (the drivers side was a little bet ezer to do its done the same way as the passenger side.i did one side first then the other)
I put the cats and the X pipe together on the driveway first then I installed to the headers
(pic86)leave the pipes lose so the you can adjust em and line em up with rest of the exhusest system then tighten all down starting from the collectors working your way down (pic 87) this took me about 10 hours to do this over a 3 day span ..
now I load my tune … I will post video of how it sounds with open cat headers and with the JBA axel backs.

[jstang6969]

:wowspring informative write up. Wish I could have been there to see it.

John

[Scottyboy]

Damn dude.

[Rob]

Nice, gotta give you props for tackling Long tubes by yourself on jackstands.

[zosick]

props for tackling Long tubes by yourself.

w3rd^ nice job.

[Jay Tee]

ok peps i have been asked a cuple of times (well how low do the cats hang down?) and the answer is 1.250"(1 and a 1/4 of an inch below the frame)see pics
the car is only 4 and 9/16" inches high from the ground

[Jay Tee]

well ppl with the headers and CAI and flash, Driving is much much more FUN!! I just installed the 4:10 gears this week,I will post a detailed write up on how i installed them (with pics too) installing the gears is NOT for everyone!!

[Scar]

I read your how-to on the kooks, awesome job! I wimped out and had mine installed. The driving is much more fun now but here recently, there has been a bit of a clanging noise or a vibration at certain rpm. Have you had any problems or unusual noises coming from yours lately?