Alright. With a little more time tonight, here’s more detail.
PLEASE NOTE. I make mention of other performance mods in this post, HOWEVER, this post is about header install. If you have questions or comments about Vararam or Pulsar, please send me a message or a new/ seperate post. I think we would all agree that when researching the hijack posts make it exceedingly difficult.
I bought the OBX catted from eBay. If folks have opinions about OBX, please save them. Thank you.
OBX Stainless CATTED Exhaust Header Manifold For. Catted system. OBX Racing Sports™ Stainless Steel Exhaust Header (4pcs). 2013-2021 Ram 1500 HEMI 5.7L V8. Header Type: Long Tube. All United States Military Bases, AA, AE, AP etc.
www.ebay.com
I also have the Vararam Air Grabber and the Pulsar PCM piggy back. By themselves a badass combo. Trust me. Lots of folks seem to want to doubt the Pulsar, but if I was going to do one performance mod, that would be it. Period. That was my first mod so I am confident in my statement.
As for the headers, it’s been 24 hours, but after driving 50 miles It’s better than it was yesterday and it was pretty darn good yesterday. I have had zero engine check lights/ codes. No spacers.
The sound is GREAT. Not loud if that is what you’re looking for, but I would describe it as aggressive. It’s more engine type sound than loud exhaust. It sounds hot and aggressive.
As for level of effort of installation, It’s big. Not overly difficult (relative I know), but tedious and time consuming. Unless you have experienced help, its stressful to say the very least. Having done it now, its not that stressful, but going through it the first time was.
Not sure if necessary, but we removed the engine mount bolt on one side at a time and pivoted the engine one side at a time. To jack the engine we resorted to the pulley as a jack point. Scared me, but it was fine.
The 02 sensors. The extensions you see on line will not fit the 2019. 2019 are flat 4 like a GM, but the connectors are different. We resorted to measuring each of the 4 and splicing. Not ideal, but we discovered the lack of proper extensions after the tear down.
Pay close attention to what sensor goes where before you disconnect. The are two on each side. Don’t touch the sensor tips. (Pros know this. Written fior us newbies).
O2 sensor connectors. Unique. Hard to describe, but to disconnect them you need to stick a screw driver down the top of the femal side toward the male side after disengaging the red”stop.” In other words, take your thumb nail, pull the red thing down, then stick the screwdriver in the opening on the male side (on the same vertical side as the red part, opposite end).
Dip stick. There is a bracket down by the block that holds it in place in addition to the long bracket up high on the dipstick shaft by the manifold. You can’t just pull it out like you might normallly without creating two small holes in the dipstick shaft. Don’t ask me how I know this.
The driver side header is the easiest by far. No need to disconnect the steering or shift cable. I would try installing without polling out the dipstick. If not possible, pull out the header and figure out how to remove the dipstick bracket. It looked like it’s behind the motor mount...not easy.
Manifold bolts. The stock bolts are too long for headers. Could not find them in local auto parts stores. However, based on research, 8mm 1.25 35mm 8 grade are fine. Use gold anti seize on bolts and O2 sensors.
As far as exhaust, we had to cut the pipe. However, since the cut would be in the middle of the stock resonator, we simply reversed the pipe and cut the other end. Confirmed with local muffler shop resonator is bi-directional.
I’m sure there is more. The process was stressful but fun. It took us two + days. If we did it again it would take us a day or so...just like anything you do the first time...except, well, you know.
In the end I am VERY HAPPY. Hope this helps. Good luck.
