Stainless Steel Works, a stainless header company that does amazing work. someone needs to source this knockoff company and buy a few hundred sets, and put hawks out if he's doing this dishonestly.

 

I was wondering if we'd be seeing those knock-off headers hitting the market (since there's been a few new styles recently), guess that answers my question....

 

Well I don't see anywhere on their website that it says they are made by SSW? But its good that someone has finally proved that they are selling cheapos at a serious markup.

 

so the headers arent made by stainless works like it says on the site?

im so getting the popcorn for this one..

 

1 ¾ primary headers are made by SSW. The 1 5/8 primary seem to be the Taiwanese knock-offs.

The extra $$ for the SSW make the headers worth it in material and build quality(fitment is debatable.) The Tawainese headers are probably cost under $250(similar to other ebay headers) and sold for a hefty profit.

 

Heres another example. Hawks even welded the fake name plate on there

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/82-92...item4cf611d087

 

Hmm... This may explain why there is the beginnings of surface rust on the flanges of my headers. I think I'm going to be sending Hawks a PM shortly...

 

Well...glad I didn't buy a set of Hawk's yet after all. That's an interesting discovery.

 

Bought my SSW headers from Spohn. Cheaper too, not by much, but cheaper nontheless.
I always found Hawks to be kind of fishy, don't know why but never got a good vibe. Hope they make it right.

 

well my 2" headers seem to be very quality!, thats too bad you are having bad luck with them. Still way overpriced.

 

I sent Hawks a PM on my lunch break today, hopefully they do something about it. Check out my rusty flanges

 

stainless does rust

hit it with steel wool and move on with ur day

 

Maybe cheap stainless, but not the stainless that the SSW are used with. Ask me how I know.

There is a member here who lives close to me, he was one of the first people get buy the SSW headers back in 2005 or 2006, he's got a LOT of miles on his car and his didn't do this.

So thank you, but I'd rather not have to just move on with it, if I feel that there is a better way to resolve the issue.

 

Man those are some nasty looking stainless headers. I can't recall seeing anyone with stainless headers rust like that. When they oxidize they turn a dark bronze/blue color, but they should never rust like that, even if you drag them through salty puddles daily!

 

MY SSW headers hadn't rusted before getting them coated and I've ran them for over 2 years(turned a little blue). I regularly 'detailed the engine bay at the coin-wash leaving the water dry on the headers without any rust. I bought mine back in 2008 and the quality is evident (SSW makes perfect welds on their products) vs. the more recent "shinny finish" headers which I suspect are the knock-offs?

 

Exactly my point. I'm going to give them one shot to fix this, I'm not going to make a post in the feedback section until I hear back from them.


I texted my friend that has the REAL SSW's if his flanges ever rusted and his immediate response was "...stainless doesn't rust".

 

And Jon, I appologize for taking your thread off track. I saw you were bringing up an issue with these headers and couldn't help myself. I hadn't noticed the rust until a few weeks ago actually, and just never said anything.

 

Stainless does rust. Plenty (ask me how I know). WD-40 was developed to help protect stainless steel rockets from rust (ask me how I know).

If you use steel wool, it has to be stainless steel wool. Plain steel wool will embed in the stainless surface and, guess what - rust. Right into the parent stainless steel material. In fact, when I first saw Nick's photos, my first thought was, "Looks like they were cleaned with plain steel wool."

 

I haven't touched them with any kind of cleaner, for two reasons.

1) I want Bruce to do something about it, and I don't want to try and cover up any imperfections with these "stainless headers"

2) Building on my first point, nobody with the REAL SSW headers has had to use steel wool on their flanges to keep them looking sharp

 

^^Like five7 said. Pretty much every vehicle coming out of the factory these days has stainless exhaust and it rusts. Mostly just surface but its there.

And whether they are distributed by Hawks or not I doubt SSW would allow anyone to alter or remove their signature badge?

 

quality stainless(more nickel and chromium IIRC) takes a very long time if ever to show any sign of rust, ex; gateway arch, chrysler building cheap stainless will rust much sooner.

 

knockoff headers which cliam are 316 stainless will rust, hell they are even magentic due to the iron content in them.

304 stainless will get some surface rust
316/316L and 321 stainless should never rust, the only exception to this is if when welded the improper filler rod is used it will rust at the weld or if somone used a grinder on said stainless that was previously used on steel

 

btw does ur header flange have a ground finish on both the head and header side ??

 

Nick, I see your header's are welded on the outside of the flanges and Z28FAST1's are welded on the inside, is this an indication of a possible knockoff as well? Or was there a design change?

 

Both of mine are welded inside and out. The hawks set was poorly ground down to lower the weld bead closer to flush. The 2010's laid down more and werent modified past the raw weld. The internal weld for the Hawks also had a small bit of welding wire still attached so atleast that much was MIG'd, not that its a bad thing

 

I doubt it was a design change. check out the pic's on there site

http://www.stainlessworks.net/cart/index.php

all of the are welded on the inside.



now lets see more of why jon shouldn't be left unsupervised, the header issue is for another thread.</highjack>

 

then do tell. pm would probably be best since i dont want to make pocket go crazier than he is



pocket/jon, how goes the header fitment and blower install

 

I went back and reread the last page and this page, and I still missed which cheap headers actually fit?

 

he hasn't posted that info up yet.

 

Because I havent pulled the engine yet

2010s are plan A. Since Im pressed for time I ordered the Hawks set as plan B and posted up because they were china made but lower quality than the <$300 headers in addition to being the wrong size

 

I have the good SSW 1 3/4 set on my car and yes, they do rust, nothing that doesnt wipe off with a rag, but they do, not much though, hardly at all.

 

Getting started. Please note the wheel dollies, they are well worth the cost. If not under a car, they fit under a heavy engine/trans and roll around the shop easily


Stout little 5.3 coming out


Big daddy going in


Header, header, on the wall, which of you will fit at all?

 

I'm so excited!

 

Good luck with the headers What are you doing with the old engine?

 

OOOO--WEE, can't wait to see what kind of numbers you put down. Maybe I'll see you at a track some day, so I can get embrassed.

 

Old engine is sold as a whole

 

Made good progress over 6 hours, had a buddy this time. Would have been less if I had remember to buy a pickle fork

Hoodless


Tear down, almost ready


Mr Spohn, your K-member blows. Tie rods bottom out pretty hard at full droop too. Main hoop is so low it drags on most speedbumps too



Stand on it


And it's out


Yeah, that piece of crap too


Time for a major clean up and reaseembly

 

Junk K-member noted. I have an airhammer from Cornwell tools that has Pickle fork attachments and it is AMAZING, can't imagine I ever lived without it.

Gotta love the LS motors in a third gen its so easy to get to all the bellhousing bolts it ridiculous. Good work.

Going with a 4L80E this time around?

 

Havent touched the bellhousing bolts just yet. Trans is attached in the pic, perfect angle to hide it

Yes, 6.0 is getting a 4L80E

 

Are you repainting the engine bay this time around?

 

Seriously considering it

 

Fast work man and nice to meet you over the weekend. Blower is seriously loud!

 

Are you modifying the trans tunnel or hammer to fit?

 

Hammer, saw-zall and welder. It WILL fit

 

I would Kind of a PITA but worth it.

 

looking forward to seeing how it works out.

 

They've been shoe-horned into 3rd gens before, its not a huge undertaking. Biggest thing is building a solid crossmember. I plan on building my own set of SFCs and mounting a new crossmember off those. Better exhaust clearance and less stress on the chassis

 

You're braver than me. I'm afraid to try jacking up the front by the main hoop on the k member. Are you not going to re-use it?

I dont recall having the issue you show in the pictures with mine. Its on jackstands too so I'll make sure I check on it and see if it looks any different before I put it back on the ground.

 

After it bottomed out the 50th time I said F-it and used it to jack up. Jack is nicer to it than concrete. Its not warped, dented or excessively marred. If it were chro-moly, Id be screwed, because CM is junk once it's nicked. Im reusing this until it fails though, which at this rate wont be long

Check the powdercoated area just above the tie rod notch for wear, then with the wheels at full droop turn the steering to full lock left/right. Youll see the nasty bind on the bottom of the notch

 

I'll check that out, thanks. However I have never needed to turn the wheels while it's in the air so if I did have the full droop issue I don't think it will be an issue.

I've also never scraped it on anything either. The y pipe I have is a different story though... First night back from the exhaust shop I hit the y on one of those filler holes where they pour the gas into at a local gas station... LoL