DIY Porting a 1ZZ-FE Exhaust Header.

Porting a 1ZZ-FE Exhaust Header.

*Make sure you have a breaker bar and a 12" extention with a 15mm socket ready for removal of header/downpipe flange bolts.

*Dremel tool with the handheld extention helps get into the collector pipe.
*3/8" Tungsten Carbide bits. (2)
*Cylindrical sanding bits. (2)

*Floor jack and stands or other means of underbody access.

STEP 1

The first thing you want to do is remove your plastic engine cover if applicable.
Then remove the heat shields. There are two, one that bolts onto and covers the exhaust header, and one that bolds to the firewall.

On the header, there are 6 bolts, two of which are tucked down behind on the bottom.


On the firewall. I beleive there is one bolt, and two nuts that mount to studs.



STEP 2
Now that you have the shields off spray some WD-40 or penetrating oil of your choice on the 5 bolts that hold the header to the engine. Spray the 2 bolts connecting the downpipe to the header, and the 2 nuts on the pre-cat oxygen sensor. Let em soak a few minutes.

On the header bolts...


STEP 3

JACK IT UP!

Take the nuts off the oxygen sensor. Remove the oxygen sensor and seal. Tuck the sensor aside so it doesn't get damaged.



You need to do this before removing the exhaust connection bolts because the o2 sensor blocks one of the bolts. See here...

Before sensor removal...


After sensor removal...


Then have at it with the breaker bar and remove the downpipe connection bolts. It came loose easily on this car.



The last bolt to remove underneath is on the underside of the header.


Then finally, remove all of the bolts connecting the header to the engine.
Wiggle the header loose, don't loose your exhaust seal from your downpipe connection, and pull it out!

Here it is....


and the other side...


The collector... Look at those welds! There's some restriction there.


The port... See the lip from the pipe. That creates turbulence.


How far do you have to go? Look here... Not much at all, the gasket, head, and header all line up well. We just want to take out that lip and open up the port a little, not too much.

The header with the gasket matched...


Exhaust port. Look you can see the exhast valves.


STEP 4

Use your dremel too with the handheld attachment and the carbide bit to remove welded metal from the collector. You'll need to put some force on it to really get the metal to shave off. This will take a bit of work and it doesn't have to be perfect. Then use the sanding bit to finish it off, make it nice and smooth.

Here's a before and after shot of the collector... Sorry it's not quite in focus.

Before...


After...


Now make the ports bigger. Use the carbide bit again to shave off the metal. Hold it at an angle so you bevel the flange and the inside pipe at the same time. It takes a bit of getting the angle just right.



Then use the sanding bit the same way to take out the roughness and remove extra metal. Use the sanding bit to make a nice finish. Run your finger along the edges, and up into the pipe, it should feel very smooth. You don't want any turbulence. Think aerodynamic.



Here's a before and after of the port...

Before...


After...


Before...


After...


STEP 5
Blow out all metal shavings from the header. Clean the header gasket.
Replace all parts in reverse order.

Start it up! Take it for a test drive. If you used penetrating oil you'll see and smell some burn off for a little bit. Check for leaks after you've burned the oil off the header.

***Please, if you can, pre-arrange before and after dyno testing and take some good pictures of your port job. It would be valuable for all of us.

-Statik

wow really good DIY.
im thinking about doing it

Don't have a dremel and just don't trust myself to do the job right. Otherwise, it is a great DIY.

That looks aweful familiar!

I actually cut off the collector so that I do a better job and then weld it back on.

Thanks y'all.
Yeah if you cut the collector off it would make it sooo much easier. It's hard to get into the far corners, even with the handheld dremel extention. That would be great if I had a welder to do that. I was thinking about buying a spare header and experimenting with that. Use it as a template for making my own header. Then cut the collector off and clean it up.

Well, I had fun doing it. It's my first real DIY and my first porting job. As you can see I slipped a couple times with the dremel, its not deep enough to cause a leak though.

I'm almost positive I can notice a difference in power, maybe a very slight difference in sound. It seems like the tone is pretty much the same, but it gets louder at different engine loads. It's hard to tell exactly though. The other guys who dynoed their celicas have the solid proof.

hello this is my 1st post hehe.

im sebastian 19 from the netherlands and i have a 2000 toyota celica vvti

and i think about doing this to my celica is it possible ? the pics i see here is from a different car is it the same for me ?

so you say u gain hp's an tourqe.
sure you lose no trourqe

pretty good DIY, i have a similiar type only with bigger runners,flushed welds and no collecter, i have a 3 inch solid weld with a flex pipe, no donut ( the 02 seneor was intalled right in the area where the donut was though.

Yes you can! someone in newcelica ported his stock header for his 00+ auto celica GT and showed around 9hp and tq gain on dyno.

can you give me a link to that thread i can't find it.
or some pictures and stuff ?

http://www.newcelica.org/forums/showthread.php?t=190757&referrerid=0

Got a question about Dremel'ing the collector area: would it be beneficial to just cut away as much of that little + shaped piece (where the 4 meet) as possible instead of just smoothing it down a bit?

The + is there probably to keep down on turbulence. I don't know enough about engineering to give you a sure answer. It may get kind of crazy in there with out something to guide the exhaust along. Like Tweak said, he cuts his off to access it better then welds it back on. You might want to do that to get a real smooth finish. It was hard as hell trying to get the dremel tool down inside of there.

Too much, unless you or a friend has one of those g-tech's (reliable?). But if you want to dyno the before/after, DO IT. We will appreciate it!

Well the dremel shaft is maybe 1/8" and isn't very long. The problem is reaching into there and getting the right angle. You can only go so far until the shaft is rubbing against the outside of the collector pipe.

Buy a Rotozip from Sears with the extension carving attachments. Its like a dremel with 1000hp

would this work on the 93-97 1.8 header also?

I can't imagine that the gains would make it work pulling your head off though But it is a neat mod I haven't seen done that many times so Kudo's.

Wow, 9hp would totally be worth it. Who would have thought such a simple mod could yeild so much HP. Cool.

butt dyno or miscalibrated dynojet? I barely see simular gains on equal length headersss when compared to baseline under simular conditions.

this is going to be my little project during winter break...i need to get a hold of a dremel... with the required dremel bits..

is there a better tool for this job?

THere is a guy on Newcelica.org that does this. He claims to make gains that one can not do with from home. http://www.newcelica.org/forums/showthread.php?t=204266

isnt that a different header?

Those pics are from the Celica GT-S and GT header.

GT has 1zz-fe. The header is different, but since you are sending him YOUR header anyways it does not matter.

i gotta see how much it will cost..

got your pm, couldnt send ya a reply so i'll just say it here.

did you get yours done? if so, how much did he charge you for yours?

I got to bump this thread, maybe gets some more traffic but anyways...

I did this to my corolla and i also heat wrapped the exhaust manifold...
I feel the corolla like its driving early in the morning through out the whole day, it feels a hell of alot better, i also noticed a small increase on my MPG....today i got about 350miles and the gas light just turned on so i could of added some more miles.

but what is ticking me off is that after ive done this to my car my CEL turned on...i guessing because the air is flowing more better it kicked in the CEL...ill get the code 2mrw but i just wanted to see if anyone else got a CEL after doing this...