it has to do with the material that the header is made from, its not as thick as the stock manifold so more sound is leaked through.

other ecotec owners with 2.0 and 2.4's have reported similar issues with other brands of header. its just the way the thing is made is the conclusion I've come up with...

you can try another manifold gasket or playing with the ball joint and seeing if it helps some...

 

Ok one question..... Were you redlining it in those 0 - 60's? because you hit the 55mph(60mph irl) approximately 2 seconds after shifting to third gear. My 07 would hit 60 at the exact time I was shifting into third. And had a much quicker 0 - 60 then yours. I stopwatched the instant your speedo came alive until you hit 55 and it was almost 8 seconds. like 7.5. At Kennedale mine did 0 - 60 in like 6.5 bone stock. Imma try to find my timeslip and Ill scan it in.

 

The ticking noise you are hearing is an exhaust leak. I had one after reinstalling my engine. It scared us at first because it sounded like something was loose in the valvetrain. My leak was at the gasket between the header and the downpipe. It sounds like ticking metal, but it's exhaust.

 

i shift like just before the redline.. plus i'm not TOO good of a driver, and i dont know exactly how behind my speedometer is, i know that going 35 its anywhere up to 38, and when i was just cruising on the highway about 70, i got pulled over for being clocked at 80. i've also got 17s. but i'm not trying to make excuses.

and tomorrow morning i think i'm going to go get that ball joint welded shut, and add a flexpipe after the second o2 sensor. does that sound like a good idea?

 

ok update:
went to the shop, we decided it would be better to not weld the dp to the header , in case i needed to take it off, so we took the springs off of the ball joint, and just tightened it together really tight, then added a flex pipe right after the second o2 sensor. i mainly wanted a flexpipe, because i trust that more than the ball joint, and it didnt make the noise go away. they felt all around and they said they didnt see any residue that would show it was leaking. they said its just some weird ticking sound... although the sound got -slightly- quieter. so maybe it is just a sound like ninja said, or i suck at putting gaskets on .

ninja did you put the permatex stuff on your gasket like it said, and did you do it to both sides of it? it wasnt specific so i just put it on one side...lol.

 

actually I didn't use anything

I heard that it wasn't really necessary...I just re-used the stock gasket and bolted it on.

 

You don't use sealants on exhaust gaskets. You should use anti-seize on the hardware however.

 

what is anti-seize? the only reason i used that ultra copper stuff is because the instructions said to.

 

anti-sieze is just stuff u put on the bolts to stop them from locking up and being hard ass a bitch to get off.

the instructions I think do say to use sealant around the exhaust ports on the header gasket but I didn't.

I'm fine but my "leak" sounds like its coming from somewhere by my feet so if its leaking from anywhere its definitely at that ball joint. But just like u, no residue whatsoever showing a leak.

At this point I've just excepted it and turned my music up

 

Sry I was wrong my original 0-60 was 7.4 stock. On my last trip to kennedale I was at 63.25mph at the 330 mark in 6.8 seconds.

 

i'd probably be a lot faster if i knew how to launch good. my best time was 10.37 at kennedale with a 2.39 60'. tell me your launch secrets:P and also what tires do you have? i have some pos ones.

 

update::

halfcent was right, it was an exhaust leak. i took off the header(unbolted it and pushed it back, didnt feel like taking it all off) to take off the permatex, and as soon as i took off the gasket i knew it was, it was all black where the third hole is. i had to go to work soon so i didnt have enough time with the room i had to get all of the crap off, but i got like 65 percent off, mostly around the third hole. bolted it back on and everything, sound completely gone. if there is still a leak from there its very very tiny and you cant hear it. it made my exhaust sound even more awesome. its so quiet yet aggressive. i love it. if my girlfriend made my exhaust sound during sex she would be perfect.... but anyways. yeah.

ninja maybe if you are up to it you should try taking off the header and checking out your gasket? i dont know what you could do about it though, i took off the pacesetter gasket and reused the stock one.

 

i was gonna go and buy a copper gasket for the header, possibly helping the leak situation. BTW, nomoreavril, could u post a pick of how you did the down pipe, i was thinking of doing it the same way, and using flanges so they could come off.

 

Glad you found it. Anti-seize compound is a common paste used on hardware in corrosive environments. Its protects them from corrosion and helps them to maintain their hold better over time, and yes, to remove them better if you need to. Spark plugs also use anti-seize on the threads. It's cheap, easy, and available at any parts store.

 

hmmm...I'll have to take a look at mine.

What did u do to the gasket though? I'm already using the stock gasket...

maybe I should try a new gasket and some sealant?

 

yeah thats what i dont know about yours. i am using the stock gasket but there is a thin layer of that ultra copper stuff still on the head, so i dont know if removing it all would help more or if it would still leak. but iyou can try it, but if you do make sure you put only a thin thin bead of it, and make sure its a full line around the gasket with no spaces. i think i put a little too much on mine, and i would put down 50 bucks on some of that crap clogging up my cat right now.

 

God, you look like you're about 12. How do you pay for this stuff? can I borrow your parents?

 

lol wow. nice comment. im 19 and im paying for my 06 by myself. Im gonna be moving out in 6 months. Its not hard just gotta know how to manage your money.

 

lol i'm 19. and i work my ass off. you know how some people choose to move out and be "independant" because its cool and other people wont make fun of them w/e?? well i chose to stay home a little longer and just buy a bunch of cars. i've owned a dodge stealth, 2 cobalts(including this one), a focus, and a civic.

 

hell yea. i wish i could stay home. my job is requireing me to move. I wanted to do up this old volvo wagon i got layin around here....oh well

 

and i got really ****** lucky too..my moms engaged to some rich guy now. together they will be making 11k a month(i know some people might not think its that much, but my moms a teacher been making 40k a year)
they're going to buy me a house and pay for college this summer. so lol. good thing i waited

 

good to here. ive been thinking of doing the college thing. But i cant stop buy parts for the pursuit lol

 

lol yeah. i am constantly buying crap for my cars. i want to paint the civic a two tone setup(its a 500 dollar beater so i'm not gonna bother trying to make it a good job)

 

thank you for this thread....im goin to be buying the pacesetter within a month....and now i know what to look for while installing it to avoid such noises.....and btw....im 21 and still at home.....living off the parental tit is not a bad thing as long as you still work and support yourself.....plus, it allows me to build on my car

 

i think i still have an exhaust leak, but i'm 90 percent sure that its coming from where the dp meets the catback part. and i think my cat might be clogged because of that freaking gasket maker ****, i want to take a saw and cut it off:P