1999 Chevy Camaro SS Intake & Exhaust Upgrade - Bookin' By The Book, Part 2

A shirtless hobo and his red-haired friend pose for this shot of the Y-pipe coming out. On this model year F-car, the passenger-side cat is part of this pipe, while the driver-side is not. Be prepared to break some studs here, and don't forget to unplug all applicable O2s!

The driver-side cat pipe then comes out via three 15mm nuts. If you manage not to break them all, phone the Pope--it's a bona fide miracle. As you can see, there's not much else to get to down here, so we head up top to tackle the manifold bolts.

The passenger-side manifold is a bit cluttered: like the driver-side, it has an AIR fitting, but this model year Camaro also has the EGR system seen here. This system comes off the manifold via two 10mm bolts, and two 15mm bolts secure its bracket to the head. A final 10mm bolt holds it to the intake just aft of the throttle body.

Even with the EGR out of the way, the passenger-side manifold's bolts are difficult to get to from up top (there's virtually zero access from below, so forget that idea). We opt to remove the coil pack, which will afford a whole lot more clearance for the hands. Five stud-headed 10mm bolts do the trick on the coil bracket, noting that the rearmost one is a tough job and will require an open end. The dipstick tube also has to come out on this side.

Six manifold bolts come out on each side with a 10mm, and the manifolds drop out the bottom (contrary to the Edelbrock instructions). The spark plugs can even stay in--nice. On the driver side (not shown), we were able to leave the manifold's O2 sensor in place; with some delicate angling and slight bend to the clutch line heat shield, it came out just fine.

The Edelbrock TES proudly proclaims its hard-earned CARB E.O. (#D-215-67) as well as the fact that it's a domestic product. (Insert national anthem here.)

The driver-side header (or "TES manifold" in Edelbrock speak) goes up from below. The company makes it easy by having the front and rear boltholes of both headers open (i.e., semicircular). This way, one can get a bolt started in the rear hole of the head to hold the gasket in place and help get the header lined up. We then install the front O2, being sure to use some anti-seize on the threads.

The passenger-side header also slides in from the bottom. For this one, we opt to put the O2 sensor in first.

We were happy to see that Edelbrock provides new manifold bolts, each with a black flat washer and a lockwasher. We experience no problem getting them started as long as the header is held at the correct angle--there's plenty of clearance around the primaries, too. They are torqued to GM's spec of 11 and then 18 ft-lb. Here's how things shape up on the passenger side.

We find no clearance problems around the headers whatsoever, including with the steering shaft here on the driver side. After this photo is taken, the spark plug wires go on, followed by the AIR fitting--slight bending required.

Back on the passenger side, the plug wires go on the spark plugs, followed by the coil pack being bolted back onto the valve cover. While the AIR fitting (left) lines up easily on this side, the EGR (right, shown being tightened) does need a good bit of bending to its lower pipe. As with the AIR connections, a new gasket for it is provided.

Underneath, the stock cat is bolted to the driver-side header using three new bolts and accompanying washers, nuts, and lockwashers, along with a new gasket (all of which are provided by Edelbrock). Note that one of the studs where the cat pipe connects to the Y-pipe snapped off during disassembly; you can see that we've drilled it out for use of a bolt instead.