http://www.ssautochrome.com/level.itml/icOid/1354

both kinds built for our cars, you can have a front mount or top mount...

all for $350 what a deal ive heard good things about this company especially their customer service.

 

headers by them are garbage, i've seen two seperate applications where they litteraly fall apart at the welds, the tubing is too thin and the welds are crap. don't even think about their turbos either, they are also garbage, they either don't work when brand new or split apart. Don't waste your money

 

who are you to make your first post dissing on that company?

 

saw the same headers on e-bay for les than a hundrer

gb


rick

 

they sell them on ebay yes...

if you try hard enough you can get them for $195..

and first off about the turbo's falling apart they only sell turbo's they dont make them and the guy that that happend to got a better turbo and a good deal...

and too thin the metal is i think not...

your first post is bagin on something you havent even boughten or seen...

 

relax,
I never knocked the product it was someone else so pop your head out of your you know

 

***?

 

I dont seem to see a crossover provision on either of them!!Id rather have a crossover.But thats just me!!

 

i wasnt knocking on you since that wasnt your first post i was knocking on the other guy so you get your head out of your
...

 

***?

 

Take it down a notch fellas. I too have heard a lot of questionable comments about ss auto and not from just f-body guys. A lot of mustang and honda guys complain about their products as well.

Keep this conversation clean and Ill let it stay open. its a relevent discussion.

 

Hmm, once again someone releases manifolds for our cars and doesn't show any installed pics. I will never understand that. Not to mention the two pics of the top mount version are different designs.

They also claim to be stainless, but I would think the raw materials alone would cost more then they are asking, I wonder how that works?

...so who's going to be the guinea pig?

 

I've never heard anything good about this company. Lotsa bad though..

Buy em and give us a review on them.

 

My thought also.. I bet the ONLy thing SS are the flanges.

I wonder what the return policy is. Id almost be tempted to buy a pair just to snap some real pic's of,See if they fit on a motor in a car mocked up. etc... check em out and ship em back....

2.9mm Thick? what gauge metal is that?

 

Scratch that idea...

 

http://www.ssautochrome.com/images/aaaasbchevy3_a.jpg

i will be buying a pair i can tell you that, and i know people who have their stuff...

on ebay they have a 98.5 percent feed back with over 24,000 feed back...so you decide and so will i when i recieve them

 

Is this going to be anytime soon? I would be real interested in hearing how they work out for you.

Also, you posted larger pics of what looks to be these same headers a while back (here). How/where did you get the pics...and are you/do you know the people behind ssautochrome???

 

Wouldn't you be better off having everything made out of the same material...I'm thinking along the lines of thermal expansion issues.



BTW, I am going to give ssa an email and see if I can't get him to come over here and post up about this new offering.

 

here's mine....

tubing is stainless, flanges are 1/2" mild steel. nice thickness it seems... they weigh quite a bit.

 

another....

 

WOW!! those look nice..how does the welding look? I'd be willing to give that a shot for $350! if they are cheaper on ebay I'll get a set. 42mm pipes = 1.73" hmmm.

 

welding looks great. looks like some sort of electric welds... maybe really deep tig?

 

NICE!



What are your plans for the down pipes?

 

I'm guessing the front mount brackets wouldn't clear a serpentine system.

 

doubt ill be running these turbo's, but there is a 6" hole in front of each inner fender.... stock batery location, and on the opposite side of the car.

actually, im most likely going to build a pair of "adapter elbows" since the flanges on the headers are a t3 and the turbo's will be t4 flanged. my wastegate flange will be mounted in the adapter elbows. the turbos will be rotated upwards to sit on the elbow, and i could rotate the exhaust flange towards the rear of the car. downpipes could go back over each header and down.

 

If you plan on buying some you had better listen to JamesD.
I've also read plenty of bad stuff on SSAutochrome and I've been ripped enough in the past that I take into account ,even if it's rumors ,rumors are usually based in fact.I bet a buck all that great feedback is from people that open the package , look at there new no name turbo and say WOW! Thanks SSAutochrome.Go over to Turbomustangs.com and do a search.If You can get them for 200 bucks ,cheap enough for a test I say unless you get stranded.

 

what have you heard about them? going to do some searching myself...

my car is basically a track toy only, so its good for testing. i had a set of stainlessworks headers that i wound up not being able to use so i sold.

it would be nice if these would hang in there! they sure do look good, and even well made. i cant find any obvius failure points.

 

What difference does it make that it was my first post? The information is still relevant. I have been on this board lurking for a while, I have just not had anything significant to contribute. I am not one of those people that just type replys to see their post count go up. This is why the headers are trash:

http://www.dsmloggers.com/stuff/aas.jpg

and another:

http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/we...MXk1NDE%3D.jpg

These are not isolated incidents, just type SSautochrome in to a search engine and you will see what all the honda and mustang guys have to say about their headers and turbos. You get what you pay for. I know some people have their manifolds and havn't had a problem yet. However, the majority of people that deal with them say the quality just isn't there.

Here's some more links if you don't beleive me:

http://92civic.tripod.com/

http://www.turbomustangs.com/forums/...t=ssautochrome

 

I've heard the same on Mustang and RX7 sites as well. I'd be tempted to get the headers for the material and re-weld them myself if I didn't already buy everything to make my own.

 

welp... that changes my decision. I'll just buy parts and have it fabricated.

 

wow....first off all that information is old...
yes their quality use to not be good...they ahve stepped it up and the guys turbo who broke got a bigger better turbo for the same price....

geeze i hate when people bad mouth a compnay with no firsthand experience believe everything everyone says on the internet

 

They're welding stainless to mild steel. If you do the research you'll find a lot of their headers break at the weld on the flange. Wonder why.

Some of the links posted above are only a few months old. That's hardly old news.

When there's a number of people on the net, with photos, showing the quality of their parts.. that's plenty of related information that should be taken when purchasing products from someone. Would you buy a car and ignore all the reviews you read on the net and see on TV?

 

I've never done heroin, every one says that it's bad, I should probably try it for myself so that I can make up my own mind. I realize that that is a rediculous analogy, but when so many people have problems with a company its easy to see a general trend of crappyness in their products.

 

if this were true they wouldnt be in business and growing....hmm...lets think about this...

 

Care to back this up with some tech? do you work for them?

 

I've been burned on ebay one too many times to give anyone a second chance.

You're right, I do believe everything on the internet.. I almost believed you. lol

 

didnt mean to sound snobb nosed or anything JamesD, just curious on your standpoint. thanks for the links

 

Ok, I have really no loyalty to either side of this argument, don’t really know much about the company and don’t really care, but the fact is that most of the arguing back and forth here is about misconceptions, not about true statements.

First, most grades of stainless can be welded to mild steel without any problems. Lesser grades you can actually get away with mild steel filler rod, most “good” (low 3xx series) stainless can be _properly_ welded to mild steel or even other grades of stainless using some 309 rod.

Second, given the choice in an application where all out durability is the issue I’d prefer the best grade 3xx tubing that you can afford/justify welded to mild steel flanges. Mild steel flanges will expand and contract less then stainless and will match what the heads are doing better preserving the exhaust port seal longer and preventing the flanges from warping.

Sure, think about it… done?

Market desperate for turbo parts, most people feel what is available is too expensive and even most of the “knowledgeable” people in that market have little more then a vague clue of what is really good or bad without actually trying it, and probably the majority of the market really doesn’t know even if they try it and fail. Throw a bunch of cheap parts out there, good or bad and they will flock to you, even with “rumors” of problems and little or no warranty/service.

(I’m not saying that this is what they are doing, I don’t _really_ know what they’re doing without seeing the parts in question myself, but the way SS autochrome discussions tend to go I wouldn’t be surprised. Hell, their prices are cheaper then a _good_ set of normal headers in mild steel; their parts should cost 3x as much as someone else doing the same scale of a job in mild steel and their labor should be more then someone doing NA headers, again on the same scale… unless they’ve found skilled children in some S E Asian sweat shop welding for pennies on the dollar with no welding hoods… something is up, and if it isn’t then the rest of the market should be scared…)

 

Diggler, are those the same headers that ssautochrome is selling or different ones?

 

I shot SSA a email through ebay w/a link to this thread.. lets see if they answer a few questions etc..

 

I had 2 out of 3 of their turbos fail for me, and one Tial replica 38mm gate that leaked. The products I recieved were of absolutely horrible quality, but those headers sure are pretty.

I could write a book on the crappy Garrett knock-off turbos they sell but this pic is worth a thousand words. As you can see, there is no oiling 'wedge' machined into the bearig journal. This 'wedge' is needed to pump oil through the holes in the bearing to overcome centrifical force (the bearing spin about hald as fast as the turbine wheel, so it can actually act as a centrifical pump). The absence of this wedge is probably what caused my turbos to fail. Read more about this bearing design in Hugh MacInnes 'Turbochargers' book, turbo design chapter.

Just take a quick look at the pic below- nothing is really the same between these two bearing sections. The SSA is some kind of cheap replica made to look like Garrett (dare I say China?- read the latest HOT Rod Magazine editorial pages, you will get what I'm saying).

Junk is on the left, the real Garrett on the right:

 

WOW! I did not THINK the SSautochrome would infect the thirdgen community.

When I first Started researching the turbo upgrades for my SR20DET motor (4 cyl) I read ALOT about the different manifolds available. SSauto makes a manifold 321Stainless for under $250 for my motor, a real deal considering the next best thing is over $700.

But. But. But. Do some research and you will find that EVERYONE. Everyone. Not some people, EVERYONE with SSauto manifolds has had a crack in it appear. Do some more research you will find SSauto has ruined more $$ in turbo's because of broken manifolds than any other company

they make money and grow because they sell volume. literally thousands of things over months.

The welding in their manifolds is all identical; its like that because its all robotic TIG welding. The metal is thin, always too thin for the application, and never done from the inside, and while penetration appears good in person cracks are inevitable.

I have a friend who broke a flange on a manifold from them, replaced and re-welded the flange only to have a broken weld at the collector, he re-welded the collector flange and it proceeded to break in one of the runners.

Finnaly, he broke down and re-welded just about the whole thing, adding braces that connected it to the engine block, and supporting the turbo to the engine block via dual bracing. The manifold still works in this condition, but it cost him well over 40 hours of time and effort, and almost cost him a $1100 ball bearing turbo.

Me, I am going with a Company called "full race" they charge $700 for a equal length runner bottom mount manifold, fully inside and outside Tig welded without a single one ever breaking on any of the members of "freshalloy.com" SR20DET motors.
I will not touch SSautochrome manifolds. Its not worth the risk just to save $$, it will cost more in the long run.

 

Im always trying to find a deal. But they say you get what you pay for.

Im not knocking SSAutoChrome for any reason. Ill prolly never in my life even own anything with forced Induction. But reading a post and then anothe and another led me to TurboFord.org where i found 25 results for this company. Anyways heres the link if anyone is interested.

Turboford.org Search Results

By the way this is a bipartison reply.

 

I'd rather just build my own ****. Then, if it breaks, I can only blame myself

 

Hmm... can the bearings be replaced with real Garretts, then?

 

Wont help. Another major issue with these turbos is the housing are cr@p too. Buckle and malform under heat. You can have teh best internals in teh world but if the casing is the wrong shape... *pop*.

 

This is waht I kept reading was required to keep this manifolds together. That, and adding a flex portion to your downpipe.

I installed a couple of this manifolds per customers request when I was working on Supras and none of them have failed to this day. Noen of the ones I installed had extra bracing but the downpipes did all have flex portions in them, which should alleviate some of the stress on the flange area.

Another local is using this and has a couple of portions of bracing that run from the turbo flange to the manifold flange and after a few thousand miles his is still fine. When you consider the cost of this manifold to most people is under 300 dollars, you throw in under 100 dollars in bracing and have a manifold that seems last fine, you're still almost 1000 dollars under the next cheapest manifold's price.

When it comes time for me to do my mock up in my vehicle I'll probably pick up a set and build my setup around them to begin with. But, I will go through the trouble of adding some extra bracing.

I have heard tons of bad things about the knockoff turbos they were selling so, I guess buyer beware all around as I can't really tell you a way to keep those together. Master Power would be a better choice then these turbos for the budget turbo crowd.

 

No, the problem is in the housing, not the bearing itself.

 

I have an ssautochrome header on my sr20, and I have to say that the quality is great. My friend here in beeville also has one. Both have held up well. There are no signs of cracks, or leaks. The welds are strong looking and very thick. Better than I have seen on others. What really impreses me are the flanges. They are huge.

I have the full ss with ss down pipe, and I have no signs of rust. It did rainbow, which might be a concern for some, but I really kinda like the look. Overall, I feel that it was a good purchase, and my friend likes it too.

That is not to say that all of their headers are good though. We could have gotten a lucky batch, or something. I have heard many bad things, but to me these claims are unsubstantiated. I don't know what to believe on the internet, but the header, and down pipe I got was decent quality.

 

How long have you guys had them, and are you running the stock turbo? I am beginning to see a trend in these things. And I am about to buy one, just so I can do some more experimentation... the last one lasted one time around the track. the one after that (321 stainless this time) I put on my car, and it was ok for a few weeks, but I managed to crack it at the flange, going over a speedbump real fast... I suddenly hear it hissing. I do 99% street daily driving with my 240, how about you guys?

The quality as far as design and principle is THERE. I mean, personally, I have never SEEN a better looking manifold for the price, and they DO APPEAR beefy... and I beleive if it would just stay in one piece, SSautochrome would be the best thing to happen to a turbo, for the price.

But I have seen them fail when they should not have, and I have seen them hold up under the worst conditions when they should have turned to dust. Thats what scares me, inconsistency like that. But they DO SELL alot of them, which when you begin to consider the percentage sold VS people who complain about cracks, well, I just wish their feedback reflected long-term durability of their products.