New Caprice - Discussion forums

So, I was reading the instructions and Kooks says to not reinstall the cross brace as it is only used to hang the exhaust at the factory. Sound right? Also, I've been told that there is enough slack for the O2 sensor on the drivers side. Apparently there is extra taped up behind the head within the loom. Sound right? I hope to start on this tomorrow with jack stands. Thanks.

I re-installed my "plate" with 3/8" spacers. My Kooks thread is on here somewhere. The plate comes in handy when you have to remove the headers without dropping the whole mid-pipe as it was recently when I did the DOD/CAM mod.

Yes I was able to plug the primary O2 sensor in on the driver's side without an extension. The passenger side needed an extension in my case.

Thanks. Seems like the o2 sensor extensions vary.

if you push up the exhaust before tightening it up , then heat cycle the car a couple times , and readjust it it should stay clear of the brace with no spacers or leaving it out

just most people never take those steps

Thanks

Hzgray wrote:So, I was reading the instructions and Kooks says to not reinstall the cross brace as it is only used to hang the exhaust at the factory. Sound right?

No way. It's a structural piece. There's a color-coded drawing of the structural components of the chassis somewhere, which I can't find right now, that it's shown on.

The Kooks system must be pretty poorly designed if it comes anywhere close to the brace. I have all of this 3" stuff shoved up in my tunnel, which is huge, and nothing comes close to hitting the driveshaft, tunnel, or the brace.



I have Kooks full length headers and I needed an O2 extension on the driver's side only. It's pretty weird how some people need an extension on the passenger side. The driver's side harness is bolted to the rear of the cylinder head. If you unbolt it, you may be able to get the additional length you need, but that might cause other problems... not sure. Mine was only an inch or two away from connecting.

Found it:

http://www.arro.org.au/_dbase_upl/iresc ... 4jul10.pdf

Mine was able to be pushed up then tightened down to clear the brace.

Be careful tugging on your harness to plug in the driver side oxygen sensor. You may find yourself soldering a new eyelet on the ground wire that got broke off the rear of the driver cylinder head (in a very tight place) and still needing to go out and buy the oxygen sensor extension

Thanks. I think I managed to get enough length without breaking the ground wire. We'll see for sure tomorrow! Appreciate the structural info. Kooks instructions say to not reinstall the brace but I will.

like i said use a jack or something to push the exhaust up in the brace area , up as high as you can , then tighten it the whole exhaust from header connection to the mufflers

then you can let the exhaust hang down , and you will notice it does drop some

which is why after a few heat cycles you readjust it and tighten it up , do that for a week or two and it should stay put