Exhaust Hanger & Wiper Motor – 3 Hours

After a successful installation of the drives side exhaust it was found that the passenger side flared out by approximately 1” from the chassis, as the driver’s side was parallel this could not be adjusted by off-setting the engine.

Breeze sell exhaust pipe / header wedges which go between the header and exhaust flange, installing two of the ½” wedges (1/8” thick insert, tapers to 1/16”, swings pipe tip in or out ½”) resulted in the passenger side exhaust pipe being parallel to the chassis.

With both exhausts parallel to the chassis and ground the exhaust hangers were mounted, these provide additional support to the exhaust pipe, and reduce potential vibration stress fractures at the header.

Before installing the EFI computer I decided to mount the wiper motor so that the bolts for the mounting bracket would not interfere with the mounting position of the computer. A simple oversize cushion clamp holds the wiper motor in place. Located on the outside of the passenger firewall with the cable nose facing towards the driver’s side, and angled to follow the curve of the firewall (see picture).

Passenger Side Header, Exhaust and O2 Sensor – 2 Hours

Earlier in the week the O2 bung was TIG welded to the passenger side header, per FAST EFI instructions the O2 sensor need to be at least 20” from the cylinder head and at an angle greater than 10 degrees above horizontal. This is to stop moister collecting and rusting out the sensor.

A ¾” hole requires drilling in the header prior to welding in the O2 bung.

As with the driver’s side, the header was mounted using Stage 8 bolts and fasteners. When the exhaust was mounted and checked for parallelism to the frame and horizontal to the floor it was found that the passenger exhaust flares outwards by 1” over the length of the exhaust.

It was too much to expect that both would be perfect. This alignment is easily fixed with a tapered wedge from Breeze Automotive (see web links).

Header and Exhaust – 3 Hours

Installed driver’s side header and exhaust, the passenger side header requires a CO2 bund to be welded in place before this is installed. After checking the EFI wiring harness and the fact that the passenger foot box is smaller the decision became easy to select the passenger side header as the location of the CO2 sensor. The headers are manufactured by BBK.


Many Cobra owners complain that header bolts come loose and even fall out, determined that this would not happen this installation is using Stage 8 locking fasteners, basically a grade 8 bolt uses a retainer which slips over the head and is held in place with a snap ring.

With the header installed the exhaust pipe was bolted in place, although the exhaust pipe is self supporting the vibration hanger still requires installation.

Again many Factory Five owners have complained that the exhaust pipes don’t mount parallel to the ground or run parallel to the chassis, after installation simple checks found this not to be the case with the driver’s side exhaust pipe, being zero degrees to the ground and parallel with the 4” main chassis tube.

Here’s hoping the same can be said when the passenger exhaust pipe is installed.

The first of 2 grounding straps was also installed prior to installing the passenger side header, the engine mount has a pre drilled hold to mount the strap to the frame, prior to installation the powder coating and engine block paint was removed with a Dremel to provide good continuity, once attached the area was then coated with dielectric grease to stop corrosion.