SSV1 System Install Questions - First Timer

[Bry5on]

Grrrrr. This is exactly what I will need to do -- install a wideband sensor after headers were installed.
Hard to tell from the photo, but is there enough room to swap sensors without taking things apart?

There is indeed enough room, fishing the wire harness is tight but doable. Installing the sensor itself isn’t too bad if you use an O2 sensor swiveling 5-point tool. Might be hard with a combo wrench, and I don’t think it’s possible with a regular length crow’s foot.

[elbert]

There is indeed enough room, fishing the wire harness is tight but doable. Installing the sensor itself isn’t too bad if you use an O2 sensor swiveling 5-point tool. Might be hard with a combo wrench, and I don’t think it’s possible with a regular length crow’s foot.

Awesome, thank you! Yes, I'll def order one of those sensor sockets.

[bigjae46]

It’s a good time to install a wideband O2 sensor instead of a bung or two! You’ll thank yourself later when you inevitably want a tune.

I have the BW exhaust with the Y right after the headers. Would you recommend two widebands, one for each bank or will one wideband work in the Y?

[Bry5on]

I have the BW exhaust with the Y right after the headers. Would you recommend two widebands, one for each bank or will one wideband work in the Y?

If you have a pre-cat Y, I’d just use one wideband personally.

[Tbonem3]

You just need one no matter what mid section you have.

And for many of us, you don't need an extra bung, just put it into a secondary o2 sensor location since many don't run post cat o2s (and/or tune them off).

[Cubieman]

On the Ssv1's one bung is accessible through the wheel, literally. I installed a wideband O2 without even removing the wheel, just ran a very long extension through the spokes of the wheel and using an O2 sensor socket pulled out the plug/installed my wideband.

This of course may not work for you depending on where the the other O2's were placed and worst case you may need to remove the wheel.

[ldmiller78]

im going to subscribe to this one. I should be getting my 63,5mm step design full race exhaust (none catted) in the mail sometime this week or next. I may heat wrap my full system to prevent from rusting over the years. I've came across old SS setups and noticed how they rust significantly around the flanges and wield locations.

[Tbonem3]

Don't wrap them. Either have them professional coated (I wouldn't bother) or just leave them alone.

[SQ13]

My V1 headers and sec 1 came with plugs for the O2 and EGT sensors but no crush washers. Should I add add copper crush washers, or should I just tighten the crap out of the plugs without any washers?

[Tbonem3]

I added a little copper paste and then gutentightened them. No washer necessary imo, since there's no oil pressure or other real sealing needed.

[Bry5on]

Mine came with crush washers, weird. I’d put some in if you hate vacuum leaks.

And if you’re like me and you hate unnecessary vibration at idle, make a little plate to attach to the header bolts:

[SQ13]

I noticed the sec 1 O2 plugs came with a crush washer, so I’m doing the same for the post-cat O2 plugs on the headers. Looking at the EGT sensor on my old headers, it looks like no crush washer is used, so I think I’ll be fine without some kind of o-ring or washer on the EGT caps. Will use some copper paste tho.

[SQ13]

The car works! No rattles or vibration at idle without the small plate. I knew the car would sound different with the new setup, but I wasn’t expecting it to sound like an E36 M3 below 4-5k RPM lol. These headers were really easy to install, about as easy as installing Euro headers.

In case anyone wants to know, I used the tools pictured below to remove and install the 18 nuts (don’t think I used the longest 1/4” extension tho). To minimize back pain from reaching over the engine bay, I removed as many nuts as I could while the car was on the ground; with the old CPI headers, I got 17/18 nuts from above. Nine of the long studs came out with the nuts, thankfully. The Milwaukee ratchet helped save a ton of time when I was removing the old hardware (10/10 would recommend), but I chose to not use it when installing the new hardware to reduce the risk of cross threading anything.

To install the new stock/short studs, I grabbed two of the old nuts and used the double-nut method. Given how short the studs are, you’ll want to use as little threading as possible to allow the stud to bottom out on the motor. Two to three visible threads were all I needed for the second nut, and I lightly snugged it up against the first nut. This worked really well for me and only took about 45 mins. IMO you should stick with the stock length studs. Longer studs will make you hate yourself - those N55 studs may be easy to install, but tightening the nuts will be difficult.

I was able to tighten 16/18 nuts from above. Took me 40 mins to tighten all 18 nuts. There was one nut on cylinder 4 that was a little difficult to tighten bc a hard line was in the way; a little patience and my wrenches helped take care of that.

With standard exhaust, I could remove the midpipes without removing the muffler. With the V1s, the slip on design doesn’t make that possible. Also, installing sec 1, sec 2, and the muffler as one piece doesn’t seem like a fun idea. So I installed the muffler and sec 2 (and loosely mated them), slipped on both sec 1 pieces to the headers, then rotated the sec 1 pipes into position together. I initially tried to install one sec 1 piece at a time, but I had clearance issues. Tightened sec 1-sec 2, sec 2-muffler, then sec 1-headers.

Hopefully this helps someone! 🤙

Edit: I lied. There is rattling under the pass floor, so I’m going to see if adding a small plate helps.