Alright, so I have a friend that is currently building my rollbar and Ford 9" setup in my car. His family has been in the fabrication business for a very long time, and he learned everything he knows from his dad; both of them work on many cars around here in the St.Louis area. I've been thinking about this over the past few weeks, and I'm considering asking him if he would be willing to start building BBC swap headers for Thirdgen.org members.. particularly because of the demand in a good header for a decent price. This guy does VERY good work, but I've never had a set of headers from him so obviously the first set would be mine. His fabrications skills are by far excellent, though to say the least.

My question is simple: how many of you would be interested in a set of nice longtube headers for $600 shipped? The reason why I am asking is because I am considering guinea pigging my car for him to build the headers out of and selling my 355 since it's already out of the car (and thus building a BBC). I won't be making any money off of this, this is moreso for the rest of you guys. He hasn't approached me about this. This is something I thought about since our only options are headers that don't feed enough, nor do they fit properly and I know he'll ensure both of those are covered.

What do you guys think?

Header prices really depend on sizes. The Hooker swap headers are really just a street header with only 1-7/8" primary tubes and 3" collectors. Not good for much above a 454. They're also worth $550 from Jegs or Summit.

I have a set of coated headers from Ed Quay. 2-1/4" primary tubes with 4" slip on collectors. I got a good deal on them but they're probably worth around $1500 which is around the average price for such large headers.

If you can get someone to build a custom set for $600 plus shipping then go for it. The cost of the header is mainly in the hours of construction time. Material is cheap.

Right, I know it's time that is the expensive part. For reference, though (and no this isn't because we're 'buddies' because I don't know him like that) I paid $2200 for the 6-point AND the 9" made, cut, sized, and installed. I didn't pull the interior, and I also didn't pull the 7.5 rearend out. The only thing I did was drag my car over to his shop. For whatever reason he just doesn't charge much at all, and he could if he wanted to. I think he just enjoys what he does, heh. He doesn't do it as a primary job, though. Just on his weekends.

The LSx guys have proven that 1.87" is plenty for 650 HP, and to get that from a 454 you need heads so costly that header price no longer matters. $600 doesn't qualify as affordable, no matter what size primaries. Offer something that fits well for around $250 if you're going to do it, even if it means 1.87" shorties. More importantly, if you're gonna fab rat headers, also figure out a good y-pipe to use the Mufflex 4" single exhaust.

Well, ultimately it's $600 or $1500 for the same quality work on custom headers. $250 isn't going to happen any way you slice it.. not for hand-made headers. Remember - I'm not the one building the headers, and even I think $250 is just asking for too much for giving back entirely too little.