Maxwelhse

On page 6 I see some rusty headers with a discontinuous flange and crushed primaries... Looks like BBK quality to me!

I'm essentially reading that BBK is as good as any other junk header, but not good enough for serious applications... That's pretty much the exact point I was making; overpriced junk. You can buy a SS header with a full flange for 1/2 the money.

I was also ASKED for my opinion on what to buy other than BBK. $89 stainless ebay headers, with a full flange, beats the crap out of taking rust-o-matic BBK headers to the shop to have them planed flat. Unequal length shorty headers are going to be pretty much the same across the board as far as performance.

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To the OP, even with the pissing match going on above, we BOTH recommend good gaskets. I have experience with Percy's and they're not expensive, hence my recommendation. Generic may be fine too but if you can't find the part number...? The very last thing I would do is screw around with having them machined.

bluebeastsrt

Right!!!! Your 195WHP IS NOT a serious aplication. So the BBKs are fine for any 25 year old street car. Look under your car! The exhaust pipes are rusted are they not? But they still work! Even the OP has said he had several sets of the BBKs with no issues! I'm sure you've heard the old saying. You get what you pay for. There's is a reason Chinese Ebay headers are $120 dollar a pair! But the up side is you'll use the most expensive gaskets and bolts you can find to hold them togetherDo you even see how ironic your advice is? Use the absolute cheapest header you can find with Expensive ARP bolts and gaskets! I'm done with this nonsense. Good luck with the leak OP.

Maxwelhse

My exhaust is NOT rusty because its all stainless... 100% of it. Every bolt, every nut, every washer, every band clamp, and every hanger. You just proved my point for me. Throw money away on junk or buy intelligently the first time. That's why it has ARP bolts = stainless bolts that fit. Not because ARP has some magical sealing property that other fasteners don't have.

The gaskets were recommended by literally every person on this forum in 2007 which is why I'm running them (never even bothered with cheaper gaskets as the Percy's were so highly recommended). Which is what I just told him to do.

This is apparently what I get for answering a question I was asked... The same shenanigans I got years ago when I originally went this direction with all sorts of doom and gloom predicted for me. Absolutely no problems, none, ever, with my headers. If you want to be done with it, then be done.

bluebeastsrt

Oh my god your equating surface corrosion with not working. Wonder how long the original ford exhaust would have lasted if I would have left it alone. The factory exhaust wasn't stainless and my exhaust didn't have any leaks when it was removed. It was almost 20 years old. I simply removed it for something that allowed more power. Your so worried about something being pretty and shiny your missing my point that you don't have to have stainless for a daily driven street car or even an inexpensive track toy. It's awesome your exhaust looks brand new on your 200 hp daily driver. But it you absolutely must have stainless. Don't trust some fly by night Chinese eBay vender. I guess it's all a matter of prospective. I'd rather have a performance car with actual performance. You like shiny exhaust parts. I built a car that would lift the front wheel off the ground. And not a stainless item on the entire car. To each their own. But how your trying to call no name Chinese eBay headers a wise purchase is silly. There is a very valid reason the majority of people on here are against that Chinese garbage your promoting so hard! For every one that works there is ten noobs crying the blues about how they can't get a proper seal! Why don't you buy a nice set of no name eBay Chinese heads to bolt those headers to. Make sure to use ARP bolts on everything!

dawson1112

Im going to give my take on ebay headers, because I bought a set for my 94 a couple years ago. They were long tubes that came with an off road H pipe full stainless . While the headers looked good and the price was very reasonable at $350 bucks , and they had a nice thick flange. However upon the installation process, I soon discovered that the Chinese pple do not know how to properly set up a jig and maintain specs.
First the flange holes were all off by about 1/4 inch and I had to slot them so I could get all the bolts to line up, luckily I have an end mill with tungsten carbide edge and a very powerful drill motor. Ok first hurdle down, got them in and the bolts started, now for the next hurdle directly contributed to the manufacturing company. One side was fine and bolted up ok, but the other side when starting to bolt them up was hitting the frame at the k member. So out it came and over to my buddies shop who has a portable hydraulic frame puller. If you have never seen one of these , they are like jaws of life x10 . Rigged up a way to hold the header and bent it enough to clear the frame, ( a day wasted ).

Next up was the fitment of the H pipe, it was immediately evident that something was very wrong here, the header end was way to spread and the intermediate end was far to close together, Another trip to my buddies shop and some tweaking and it was good.

Remember this when purchasing off of ebay, in order to send anything back you must pay for return shipping, so it was just better to fix the problems my self. While the headers did look good and function as intended , the install took me about 3 days longer than necessary , just for the fact that the Chinese do not hold the same standards of manufacturing as the name brand companies do.

mjr46

Oh my gosh, are we seriously arguing ebay quality headers?? One pic to sum it all up...........

bluebeastsrt

Maxwelhse

I thought you were done? Guess not...

I'm equating surface corrosion (and interior corrosion... don't kid yourself) with rotting out.

Now you're questioning my purchasing decisions based on the power of my car? I wasn't questioning how fast your car was... I was questioning buying a name, that every single time has disappointed me personally, over longevity... I took the risk of the headers being crap (which they are not), but made from 304 (which they are), against the risk of an extra $100 at a shop to have them repaired new out of the box if they needed it (which they didn't) and a net savings of about $200 (if I had to pay the repair bill, which I didn't) over comparable SS headers... The OP was talking about taking his mild steel headers in for repair... Sounds like a great plan to me? He also ASKED ME, and you attacked the F out of me.

Silly or not, and as much of an assbag as you want to be, my headers are fine and are sealing. You first attacked me on the basis on buying the most expensive gaskets on the market (wow... $30 over, what? $15 for the cheapest?... that you recommended the generic of but didn't provide a link, thanks for the non-help), then somehow thought that buying ARP bolts had ANYTHING to do with my header selection or sealing (I WOULD have used generic stainless bolts if they were available... the head/washer combo required from hardware store bolts don't fit), and now you're attacking the performance of my car (because BBK brand unequal length shorty headers will no doubt add 100hp over anything else)? What's next? What to make fun of my hair cut or underwear? Gonna pin me down in the locker room showers and get some rage worked out?

I don't remember claiming BBK would slow your car down... I remember claiming they're crap quality. My opinion hasn't changed. I don't like them and you didn't say ANYTHING about any other brands to look at, just attacked me for making a decision that worked out fine.

I buy stainless exhausts because damn near every car I've owned has rotted off its mild steel systems (in some cases more than once). For the $700 price for the full stainless system, why not? To answer your question, it took less than 14 years for my '91 to rot its system off. Is that bad? No... Do I plan to own the car for more than 14 years (7 so far after exhaust replacement) yes... So I'm still the idiot I guess?

I'm reminded of a time, in fact MANY times, when AdderMk2 was screaming at people that a stock SN-95 70mm MAF housing was exactly as good as any other 70mm MAF housing (other than "calibrated" housings... I'm sure you remember the rant) and people jumped up and down that it wouldn't work or was useless, or whatever... Got one of those on my car too.. I guess I'm just getting dumber as it goes? I just invoked the mighty and banned AdderMk2 so I'm probably ready for the turnip truck again... Believe it or not I even respect your opinion, you're just acting like I'm a total loon for telling you about what has been working JUST FINE for *7* years with never a problem, then you attacking me for recommending it when *asked*, and getting pissy when I tell you that my headers are going to outlive me. I just don't see the fault in my logic.

As far as ALL OTHER experiences, I can't comment. I know what is on my car, I know it works, and I don't feel bad saying that it does. I know I've seen plenty of crap on other cars and went a different way... and when I say crap, I mean BBK in this instance. Long tubes, short tubes, unequal or equal, all not so great in fitment or longevity.

Whatever... At the end of the day I've been on the opposite side from the pundits before and I've always managed to work it out. I'll be curious to hear the thoughts of the crowd in another 7, 15, or 30 years about my car... Will the headers ever leak? Will the car ever make more than 200hp? Stay tuned, I guess...? I'm pretty proud of the power gain on a basically stock vehicle outside of E-Fan, MAF, and exhaust. My god, I must be cRaZy for even taking my car to a dyno to verify those results so I could share them with others. No doubt I would just be ridiculed.

Dawson: I'm aware of Chinese standards of manufacturing and I rolled the dice willing to face the problems you faced for the money. I won. I'm sorry you lost. I can't even promise the same Chinese people are making the eBay headers I bought 7 years ago as today. Obviously I have absolutely NO experience with the long tube system you bought. I appreciate you respectfully adding your experience to the conversation.

Js88lx

LMFAO!!!

Js88lx

Soo after trying to figure out why my drivers side header leaked at head I finally got fed up and swapped them out for my stock. What a difference it made to the power (less) but I think worth it sense I don't have that leak anymore. They look fine but im thinking the header flange is warped maybe. Anyone want some headers?


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