pacesetter lts
 

so today i decided to buy a set of pacesetter lts from a kid at school for 250. they have less then a half hour run time on them and he said he pulled them because they leaked and decided to go coated. i have 2 questions...
1) he told me to cut the flange in 2 places to relief the stress of the flange and it will seal perfectly. is this true? it would pretty much be like...
D + DD + D The d's being the ports of course and the +s are where he said to cut. opinions on that?
2) i need a y pipe and my car is a 96 with dual cat, can i run one cat? what do i do with o2s? pacesetter ory?
any help is appreciated

no one has any thoughts on this?? :(

the gaskets that come with those headers supposedly suck. he may have tried using those and just had bad luck or didn't torque them correctly causing the leak. get some good gaskets and you should be fine.

this is all based on reading, never had any first hand experience.

My thoughts are Pacesetters are hit or miss at best and used pipes tend to be a giant PITA to fit. Knowing that they are chopped up on top of everything else, big red flag.

Save your money for something non-abused

if they are like new, you can make them work. watch your steering shaft. i would get different gaskets, though mine are fine and don't leak. i would suggest locking bolts, as mine work loose over a few months. dual cats is your set up so stick with it or tune the rear o2s out. they make o2 extensions for a reason.

That ain't "like new"

he told him to cut.........he didnt say "he cut the flange"

im about to ditch the pacesetters and go with Kook's

Other than mine being black and fugly, my coated pacesetters don't leak and are holding up nicely. If you don't have a grand to drop on headers, then pacestters are a great alternative. But LPE has those stainless headers out now for 450 I think, may want to look into that.

yea they're not cut , he put them on brand new out of the box and they leaked, maybe 30 mins run time. took them out and bought coated ones. this kid has money. but anyway he read somewhere that cutting the flange will seal them up. i'm not sure if i want to do it. any suggestions on good gaskets? he said mr. gasket ultra seals

I would say get em in, thats the hardest part, get some felpro gaskets, and make sure you get all the bolts tight. Then tighten em religiously for a month. You should have no probs.

im pullin my pacesetters off the t/a but they are probably 8 years old and starting to rust away

Before you install them lay a straight edge on the flanges to see how true they are. You really should have done this before you bought them if he said they leaked, but no biggie. If they are true, don't cut them and use a good gasket (ultra seals worked for me). If they aren't true then post up and we will see what we can come up with. Some brands of headers have individual flanges for each cyl so cutting is no big deal but it shouldn't be necessary.

Gaskets don't make bad flanges magically stay sealed. They may seal for a little while, but they can't eliminate a weak spot.

-Tim

pacesetters are pretty nice on LS1 cars. we use our stock gaskets and they seal just fine. and fitment is good as well

i know that but I'm thinking he used the gaskets that came with them(which I'm hearing more and more are crap) and they leaked. If they have 30 mins run time on them like he said with a good set of gaskets they shouldn't leak? hopefully? right?

The fact he had a leak does not mean the flange is warped. If they ran them hard without a retightening of the header bolts, then that's asking for a header leak. But check the flanges to see how straight they really are. If you do go with Felpro gaskets, don't get the oversize gaskets. I blew out a set of Felpro's on my 96 SS and switched to those Percy carbon fiber and never had a problem. I have the same gaskets on my 2000 SS and no leaks. Get locking header bolts or make sure you check them often. Run the car for a while to get everything hot and then come back and retighten them before taking it for a drive. Are they emission's headers with EGR and AIR fittings? They can be a pita to install.

i used the gaskets that came with my pacesetters and they are fine. he might have left the headers loose then installed his y and somehow messed up the alignment. could have been saggy motor mounts too.

another reason why ls1s are far superior haha