Has anyone ever done this before. I've done a lil fab work and dont know how hard it would be making up the headers. Found this kit. I cant justify paying $800.00 for headers let me know what you guys think . http://www.speedwaymotors.com/p/6600...ader-Kits.html

 

I've given some serious thought to doing that as well - In my eyes, $800 for a set of headers is starting to go beyond "ridiculous", & beginning to approach "criminal"... I guess it just depends on a person's welding skills, & the value of their time vs. how long it'd take 'em...

BTW, thanks for the link, I might just give that a try!!

 

for the price, i would be inclined to give it a try, but the engine bay is a little tight in a 3rd gen and i dont see how you could make the tubes in that kit work

 

I have not personally made headers but a close friend did on a 38 Ford BB Mopar swap. Tricky, fiddly, and still not the best solution but it worked. Lots of time to do a nice job of it but if you have the time and not the coin its certainly doable. Good link to post though

 

It seems like alot of work to me. And 1 of the problems I have is that is isn't stainless. I tried to make header for my swap and it didnt work out so well. It just had tiny leeks everywhere that were really annoying and you could even tell by looking at the weld. I droped $1000 on headers and y pipe. It was well worth the lack of frustration. Good luck.

 

Yea.. Maybe i'll just bite the bullet.

 

The problem with that kit is that it is only 1 5/8 or 1 3/4. I need a minimum of 1 7/8, and would really like to do a stepped header to 2 inch. i am probably going to just buy a kit for a big block, or two separate kits, and then buy ls1 flanges. I would have bought the $800 variety, but they are too small. Plus, I have seen how they fit, and I am NOT impressed. I will just make my own, and then have them coated. I have not yet decided on stainless or mild steel, but I am leaning toward mild steel.

 

I keep hearing about the BBC headers or fox-body headers but not sure which would work better. I'm tempted to try a set of bbc ones since you'd be slicing off the top of the tubes at the flanges anyway. I'm mostly wondering about the difference in deck height and angles(which will be changed anyway I guess) The BBC tubing should be 2" anyway or is it 1 7/8"? I damned if I'm going to bend over for $800 because they think they're special. I may be wrong but I think I'm pretty damned special too!!

 

Most of what I have seen is 1 3/4. But I'm sure different companys make bigger one. I am really happy with the way mine fit. What don't you like? I know it was alot of money, but I think it was well worth it. I don't have a whole lot of time to make a set.

 

They ARE special though... They are the only long tube swap headers on the market right now. And they are STAINLESS. Not to mention they flow great, look great, and fit great. They are 100% worth the price in my opinion. I dont like the idea of coated headers...certainly not painted headers. The potential for rust sucks.

And on the subject of primary tube size... My donor car had a set of 1-7/8" headers on it. I went down to the 1-3/4" headers, and gained some low end, and hardly lost anything in the top end. You'd be surprised how much a good flowing set of 1-3/4" headers, along with a smooth well built y-pipe will work.

Most of you guys know the issues I had with the stainless works y-pipe... If not, check my threads. So you know Im not just a "fan-boy" of stainless works. But those headers are so nice... Its the only area of the build that I always recommend splurging on. If you are good at TIG welding, and have the patience to fit a set up...go for it. More power to ya if they come out good and leak free! Ive seen people do it plenty of times. But Ive seen people spend tons of time on a pair of leak ridden ugly ones too.

J.

 

Amen to that. I agree with you. I love my headers. Did you go through f-body motorsports, or hawks? I went through f-body, I know they have different y-pipes. I was just wondering how the hawks y fit. Got any pics of your car?

 

I went through Hawks. I wasnt even aware that f-body sold them...? There are tons of pics of my car on here. In fact, I have a whole thread on the y-pipe mishap and what I did to fix it. And even after I fixed it, I ended up building one from scratch and throwing the hawks piece in the dumpster. Just do a search for threads started by me and you'll find lots of pics.

J.

 

I looked after I asked the question. F-body get them through stainless works as well.

It took forever to get them though. I got the run around so many times. I don't know who's fault it was. Stainless works said they didnt even get the order from them until a month after I ordered them. Then f-body said they wait to get multiple order to make it worth while. Something I was not aware of. Then they didn't send the cross member and that was another month or two until I got that. But I love the fit and ease of installation.

 

Thats DEFINETLY not what I got. That looks like it might actually work. Is that a double hump x-member??? My y-pipe was in 4 ugly pieces. None of which fit what soever. Glad to hear that yours worked though...

J.

 

It has one big hump where the exhaust goes under, and the other side slopes up to where it bolts on. I thought the one through hawks would be better. I can't believe it came in 4 ugly pieces. I'm glad I didn't get that one. It was more expensive than mine too.

 

I'm not even worried about a y-pipe either. I have a true dual setup with spintec's. I wish I had a set of bbc headers to look at just to see how far off the fit might be. The guys in the fab shop here on base would LOVE to tig up a set for me!!

 

I have to call bullsh!t on the they fit great part, that and I payed a grand for these headers and they shorted me a piece of the Y pipe and then didn't belive me when I called them and they sent me the piece, two weeks later and they didn't send me the the clamp that should have came with it, I was not happy at all with these headers they didn't even fit good I had to trim the damn crossmember that came with the headers to clear the y pipe, come on this much money for crap, never again I'll run manifolds turned forward with a turbo the way it should be hawks and stainless works can kiss me a*s

 

I'm surprised that no company (that I know of?) makes a y-pipe that mates the 4th gen fbody manifolds to a stock-ish cat/cat back. It seems like they'd be a pretty hot seller for those of us looking to go the budget route

 

or atleast new flanges for stock manifolds, I had to make my own out of stainless 3/4 plate with a plasma, and little mill. spent a day (350buck to me) on just flanges that fit 2001 trans am manifolds. then build the y pipe. off them.

I don't think I am ever going to spend 800-1000 bucks on any pile of tubes welded together, I will put that money into another turbo setup.

 

And how many people have actually had to replace a rusted out header? I never have nor seriously doubt I would ever need to. I just can't see the justified cost of an "unlimited lifespan" header.

Mild steel for me & a TGO member has already successfully modded a set of SBC headers to fit a LS1 in a 3rd gen.

 

Hedman header that came on my 1973 Stingray, and Hooker wrap around frame S-10 headers. Two or three sets of BBk Fox body rust holed.... those where just of the top of my head.... (Good) Stainless is waaaayyyy better, as long as they are tig welded or use stainless mig wire.

 

the roads you and I drive on are not covered in salt all winter, which may play into why people have them rust out. I have a set of headers that are 20 plus years old and still haven't rusted out, and they're on a daily driver.

 

Most mild steel exhausts on cars that do see salt all year round still dont rust out all that often. It takes many years. Plus headers shouldnt be seeing much in the way of salt anyway. Only the collector would have a chance at that from random mist of the front tires.

Its not all that hard to make headers just takes time to do it. Simple tools like cutoff wheel, sawzall, etc will be needed and you just go from there. Buy your J-bends and start with a set of flanges and cut/fit/weld as needed.

Do the mock up with plug wires in place so you can leave room to change your plugs.

I built my turbo manifolds and 2 different exhaust systems this way and it all worked out, but takes alittle time to do it. The better your "eye" for making the right cuts is, the more success you will have.

The problem I see with building longtubes is you MAY have to tack pipes together with the header out the car just because its hard to reach. That will require you to hand fit, mark with felt pen, uninstall the header and tack weld, then reinstall and refit to see if its correct. THis could get tedious with the uninstall/reinstall back and forth. This is the best and maybe the only way to do it though, so you can ensure your design can be installed into the car once it is done.

That being said, you may not need long tubes anyway and could create a very nice designed shorty header with GOOD quality collector that will MATCH performance of the longtube design. Thats the way I would do it because its been proven that a well designed shorty header does not give up much power to longtubes. There are guys with 400whp with stock LS1 exhaust manifolds with heads/cam packages so stock exhaust manifolds arent all that bad either.

I would make a shorty to mid length style header with a 2.5 to 3" V-band collector flange to easily mate to the Y-pipe or true duals. Theres the other bonus. WIth a shorty you can easily make a true dual 2.5-3" system in the STOCK location to get better flow and better sound without giving up power or ground clearance! Longtubes and y pipes on these cars never have great clearance unless running a T56 and a custom crossmember where you can run the pipes down the tunnel. AUto guys dont quite have that luxury.

Just my thoughts

 

Were the f body headers 1 7/8s? And the collectors and y pipe 3 inch?

 

Making custom headers = fun

 

those are looking good tommy.

 

The other side looks pretty neat, gotta get a pic of it soon, with the firing order of the LS1 the drivers side header pairs 1&5, 3&7, rather than the front two + rear two of the pass side. Doing 4-2-1 really helps a lot with space, i'd like to do a set for an LSx thirdgen sometime, i'm sure I could get plenty of ground clearance as well as great performance.