I will be installing my Attitude tonight and i seen that edge says to drill into the passenger side manifold for the egt probe. Has anyone put thier probe on the downpipe? And what advantages/disadvantages are there to this. THe reason i ask is if something goes wrong i dont want to have to explain why there is a plug in the manifold. Ive had friends that had problems and ford voided thier warranty because of guages. Just wondering how GM handles it. Thanks

I forgot to add that i would be installing the probe in an aftermarket downpipe so i could replace with the factory exhaust if needed.

You wont get a true temp reading in the downpipe, If you need better instructions go to the do yourself section and look at the hoot method.

Maybe look into this thread.
http://dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20619

They appear to have in-line manifolds, with ports available for LB7 and LLY motors. Check with them to see if there is a port available for your EGT probe or if there is some better place for the install.

thats for the intake..ie boost, not egt.

my bad. i would like to know if they come up with something to make the install any easier for the return to stock if needed.

not if you want a true exaust gas temp. the manifold is it, you could do the down pipe, but its not going to read the same as the manifold. I dont see why you would want to reverse it anyway, if its the warranty work your worried about, just rig you up a dummy gauge to put in place of your attitude, doesent have to work, there's nothing wrong with having a pyro in the first place, they should come stock.

You really need it at the flat spot on the passenger manifold to get the proper temps. You want to check the DIY forum for Hoot engine on method. It works but you need to take your time and rush when tapping the hole.

http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=892

You can always get a cap for the fixture and pull the EGT probe when it needs to go in. It's hard enough to see that they are unlikely to stop warranty work over it. Or you can simply buy another passenger manifold and put it on when it goes in for work. That's about 25 minutes of work to swap it. :)

I'm having a performance shop install the EGT probe on Friday. I mentioned the hoot method. They prefer to loosen the manifold without pulling it off, supposedly there is just enough wiggle room there to drill it, tap it, and put it back on. They shove a rag in there to keep bits from falling in. They quoted me 2 hours labor @ $65 per hour. Not bad for hooking the whole thing up.

Does this make sense? He hadn't done an LLY, but had done a couple of LB7's. I told him I was pretty sure it was just like the LB7's. Was I correct? I hate being "meck-a-nickel-ally" challenged! JJ :)

JJ I think your gonna find two hours labor is flat out ridiculos. A well known tech on this site (Max Payne):ro) did mine in about 15 minutes, if that. I think you might want to check else where.

Eric

JMO but drill it while running. back it out often. dont bottom out the tap, test thread the probe in there before you get that far to make sure you didnt thread it too big. Make sure you pick a spot were you can get the probe in there, dont drill your hole close to the manifold nut for instance and then relize you cant thread you probe in becasue its too close.

"JJ I think your gonna find two hours labor is flat out ridiculos. A well known tech on this site (Max Payne):ro) did mine in about 15 minutes, if that. I think you might want to check else where."

1sast, the old adage "you get what you pay for" holds true especially in J'ville. :o: Finding a shop that knows WTF they are doing is ridiculous! These guys are the only ones I talked to that knew anything about WI, programmers/tunes, exhaust, etc. While I would love to "get er done cheaper" I want "smart hands" on the beast! ;)

My main question is does their installation method sound logical? He told me they can loosen things up enough to drill/tap the hole without risking getting debris in the turbo. Having never pulled one I'm in the dark. :( Plus do the LLY and LB7 have the same exhaust? JJ :)

If its done while the truck is running it will spit em out. Wear your safety googles also:bigglasse

Ratlover, for some reason this guy didn't want to do it while the engine was running. :o: Maybe he just hasn't heard of the "hoot" method. What he explained to me is he loosens the manifold, gets enough play in there to stick a rag in to keep things from falling in, drills/taps the hole, installs the probe, good to go. I'm just wondering if there really is enough "play" in there to do this.:confused:

The hoot method does sound awfully easy and I plan on taking the instructions with me for doing it that way.;) If he is comfortable doing it then away we go. I don't have any personal experience with tapping holes and being "meck-a-nickel-ally" challenged I'll pay for someone that has experience to do these things. JJ :)

If I were getting paid by the hour i wouldn't mind taking a more lenghty approach;)

JJ I gotta agree with Ratlover on this one, by the hour pays pretty good. Max Payne popped off the splash shield inside the fender, tapped the hole, drilled it and had the probe in, in about fifteen. Hes GOOD! Maybe another Diesel Place member in your area might be able to give you a hand?

Eric

Anyone within a 2-3 hour commute from J'ville willing to help? I'm game! Buy you some beer and wings, obviously afterwards! JJ ):h

JJ, I too was nervous about doing it myself. I did, however. I used a 9.6v cordless drill (keep the power down in case it got away) and used the hoot method. I went slow. Really slow. I did it in an hour and a half. I am not "meck-a-nickel-ally" challenged as you say you are, but it was my first time using a tap. If I were to do it again I could do it in about 30 minutes. I don't think your mechanic is trying to rip you, though. I am a serviceman and I always tell customers it will take me longer than I think it will in case I run into problems. Better a customer happy you finished early than mad you finished late. Even so, $130 for peace of mind on a $40,000 truck ain't bad in my book. good luck. you'll love the juice.

When I drilled my manifold, I magnatized the drill bits and all of the shavings stuck to the bits. I drilled slowing with a cordless drill, pulled it out often to clear the shavings. I did use the hoot method of idling the engine while drilling, however did not get any flying shavings as all stuck to the drill bits.
I was faily easy and took longer to get the inner fender off than drill and tap the manifold.
One of my local shops said it would take them a half hour to install the attitude including drilling and taping, they wanted $55 to do the job and that was if I bought the juice attitude from them!
I got mine from John Kennedy at a much better price than I could locally, so I did the install myself.

I really don't have a problem paying the shop 2 hours labor, even if they can or do get it done sooner. :) IIRC this is pretty much standard operating procedure in the automotive repair industry. There is a specific number of hours charged to a particular repair, if the tech finishes it sooner they head to the next job, but they are paid for the specified rate for that repair. Downside is if there are problems with their repair they have to eat the rework time, not a bad thing though since it keeps them from pushing out crappy work. :o:

I figure by the time I buy a set of magnetic drill bits, a threader, pull the wheel shroud, drill/inhale exhaust and metal chips, burn hands, bruise knuckles, etc., I'm likely to be into the job for $40-$50 worth of stuff and a pound of flesh.):h My medical deductible is $250, so an additional $80-$90 to have it done doesn't bother me. ;)

FWIW, when I owned a water treatment business (cut throat business BTW) I billed the first hour into the job before the service tech ever got to the site. This was to cover driving time to/from the job and overhead. Customers don't see this time or have any appreciation for the overhead it takes to get someone to their house for service. The cost is there though. :rolleyes:

The only question I really have is does the method they are describing make any sense? Is there "wiggle room" with the exhaust manifold if you loosen it without detaching the exhaust? The guy sounds like he knows what he is doing, and being a performance shop I have to believe they do. Just checking with my DP buds for assurance. :grd: JJ

did mine in about 10 minutes, incl takin of the finder liner. not hard at all if you know the stuff.;) do it your self and get it over. you can also put grease ont the bits to help keep the shavings from falling in on ya.

JMO but drill it while running. back it out often. dont bottom out the tap, test thread the probe in there before you get that far to make sure you didnt thread it too big. Make sure you pick a spot were you can get the probe in there, dont drill your hole close to the manifold nut for instance and then relize you cant thread you probe in becasue its too close.Don't "bottom out the tap" because it's a pipe thread and it's tapered? Run it in too far, and risk it being too loose? Thanks.

For those squeamish on the drill/tap operation:

It's soft cast iron only about 1/8" thick (.125).

The chips are softer than the exhaust turbine by a bunch.

I was real nervous at first, but it proved to be a simple, painless operation, and the patient lived. If a professional mechanic actually takes 2 hrs to do it, check to make sure he brought his seeing eye dog with him that day. Now BILLING 2 hrs would be fair. Many shops have a 2 hr minimum, because of paperwork, moving vehicles around, cleanup, etc.