1075 308 GT4 header removal?

I'm having a hard time removing the rear header off the engine. I have the muffler out and the header is dropped but can't seem to get it out. What do I do?
1975 308 GT4

 

I did not have that problem. It wiggled out the top. But, where is it stuck on your car?

 

I'm trying to get it out from the bottom. How do you get it from the top? Is ther room, do i have to remove anything?
It has the shield around it and is a pain in the butt.

 

Actually, it has been a long time for me since I did it on the GT4 while I was trying to remove the engine. I did remember that depending on how you lift the engine, one of the header comes out with the engine while the other one stays behind in the car. When I did it, I left the front one in the car, and the rear one rotated out with the engine.

Therefore, now I am not 100% sure that the rear header can be wiggled out from the top. I do know that the GT4 engine compartment has more room than the 308gtsi. So, try it out the top to see if you can finesse it out.

 

On mine I had to wiggle it around like one of those brain teaser puzzles and push the aluminum wrapped heat shield in at a few spots. If you have the bolted on heat shields just unbolt them and the bare headers should be a twist and turn from coming out.
Ed China (Wheeler Dealers) unbolted the engine mounts and lifted the engine forward to pull the rear headers on the gt4 they did on the show but I was able to get mine out and back in several times without having to do that.
In order to remove the front headers the alternator, the dip stick tube and the right hand fuel tank have to be removed.

 

I started to push in the shield in a few spots. If and when I remove the header I;m going to have to cut some of the shield to repair it. Can I leave the shield off completely? I really don't want to put it back as it's going to be all bent

 

My experience on series 1 GT4,,
Rear header drove me crazy until an F mechanic told me to undo the rear engine mount bolts and jack up the rear of the engine a tad and the header will come out,,cant exactly remember if it comes out the top or bottom though..

Front header would only come out by removing the right hand fuel tank.

 

DID YOU KEEP THE SHIELD OR DISCARD IT AS i HACKED IT UP WITH MARKS. i WAS THINKING OF JUST PAINTING IT...THE HEADERS AND PLACING BACK I WITHOUT THE SHIELD. WHAT YOU THINK

 

I have done this twice and both time removed out from the top. It's a fiddle and tests the mind. Shields need removing first though. Jacking rear of end would help.

 

I don't think that's true, at least not at the back of the engine. I had a series 1 GT4 that someone had inserted K-Jet. The K-Jet distributor mounted exactly the same way with the same parts to reach the intake. In fact I bought one of the aluminum tubes for the intake and it fit perfectly. I'd bet the dog-bone is the same even.

The big difference is the engine lid on the GT4 makes reaching things WAY easier.

 

If your pollution equipment - air pumps, air injectors etc. - are all still hooked up and working you will need the heat shields as the exhaust will be extremely hot (glowing red) during normal operation. I disconnected, removed and plugged/capped all of the air injectors, air pumps and ports when I put the Ansa exhaust system on my gt4 because a tech at FoW told me I would overheat and burn out the regular exhaust if I left all of it working without refitting a thermal reactor type muffler.
I had to remove my rear header for a repair which necessitated removing all of the aluminum heat shielding and asbestos insulation. After I completed the repairs I wrapped the header in a ceramic blanket and reinstalled the aluminum heat shield by welding the pieces back together before re-installing it on the car.
I got really good at this so I can tell you, you can remove and re-install the rear header without unbolting the engine but if you have an engine lift or hoist do it the easy way.

 

Oh l forgot to mention,l removed the heat shields..it wouldn't come out any other way.

 

did you cut it off and did you reuse them or left without the sheilds. I was thinking of painting them and leaving the shields off

 

did you have to cut the shileds in chassis as I;m having a hard time.

 

dont forget thats is asbestos in there on the US version. Dont anyone be confused as I think we are talking about two totally different designs......

 

so what should I do if there is asbestos? I need to take it off and I'm in my garage at home?

 

It is asbestos. Wet it with a hose, and then cut the aluminum away with tin snips - that's what I did, worked like a charm. You need to get the stuff wet so that it doesn't get airborne.
Then you can decide if you want to wrap them with heat tape, or coat them with ceramic or something else.

 

where should |I start cutting them as want it to be as easy as possible.

 

My headers were bare and weren't wrapped with any type of heat wrap.
My heat shields were made from a sheet of aluminium but l made one out of stainless as the aluminium ones were damaged.

 

Man I finally got it off ad I did have to lift the engine about an inch. I couldn't see that lifting the engine would make it clear as the drive casing was in the way and it looked like if I were to lift the engine would make it worse but I guess I was wrong. Actually it came out in about 1 min after I lifted the engine. Live and learn LOL
So I'm going to get rid of the shield and have it ceramic coated.
Do you think that is enough as I don't have the air pump. Must have been removed and the headers are capped. No lines going to it so I don't or shouldn't have to worry about extra heat? Right? Also I'm keeping the original thermal reactor as it's it good shape and will have that also ceramic coated, silver......what you think of silver and then the exhaust grille behind it in black showing the silver through?
Any thoughts?

 

If you remove the air pump you must remove the air injector lines and injectors. And now that you have the manifold off is the perfect time to do it...
Once you remove the injectors, you will have to install plugs. Search air injector plugs and you will find either drawings to make your own or someone to buy them from...

 

OK here's what I did... The injectors in the heads are almost impossible to unscrew and after thirty plus years they are not coming out without a fight. As dhalter writes, remove the air injector lines but since I could not remove the injectors what I did was to drill and tap eight 1/8-NPT steel pipe caps to 13mm-1.0 (The cap are available at your local home improvement store but I had to buy the tap from McMaster Carr. Don't drill all the way thru, just make new threads over the existing ones) and I used 8mm ball bearings as plugs, you can get them out of an old wheel bearing. Smear some copper high temp RTV on the injector, stick the ball bearing in the hole and cap it with the pipe cap. All air/exhaust leaks are now sealed and everything can be returned to stock if you ever need/want to. Your headers will not glow red without the air pumps pushing air in to mix with the unburned fuel in the exhaust so the thermal reactor muffler can also be replaced with a lighter unit. I tried to find proper caps for the injectors but 13mm-1.0 is an odd size done on purpose to keep people from tampering with the emission control systems. More power to you if you can actually find eight proper hex caps.
DO NOT LEAVE THE AIR INJECTOR LINES OPEN AND/OR IN PLACE! They are made out of very thin steel and are designed to have cool air blowing through them into the exhaust system. When the air pumps are decommissioned (even by just removing the belt) exhaust back-flows through the injector lines and they rust out very quickly exposing the fuel lines that run across the firewall to exhaust gases which can cause a fire!

 

Mine were already capped and the person before me must have done it. So I do't even have to worry about ceramic coating then? Maybe High heat header paint will do? What did you do?

 

Zman,
I had already wrapped the headers in a ceramic blanket and re-welded the aluminum heat shielding back on when my thermal reactor muffler rusted out so I just bolted the new Ansa system to the existing headers. The front header is still wrapped as from the factory and the under-hood temperatures are now significantly lower. 475 miles a couple of Thursdays ago from Newport News to the FCA Concours and back through rush hour traffic caused absolutely no rise in the water temp and only a touch hotter in the oil. The best thing is the trunk is cooler! I wouldn't put chocolate in it though...