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I had a surprise engine rebuild and have spent way more money than I should so I was wondering if anyone has experience with the cheap headers and x pipes on ebay. Do they fit well? Sound good? Etc
thanks
Speed Engineering and XS-power seem to be the most popular cheap header kits.
I am using the Speed Engineering headers and am very pleased with their fitment and performance, To be fair I did convert the collectors to vband flanges.
I would not buy a random 200 dollar ebay kit but that is just me.
Cheap parts usually end up costing more than good quality parts in the end. Fitment and quality are key with headers.
Kooks or ARH will fit best and are the easiest to install as per my own personal experience plus they are made in Americahowever there are other good alternatives as per the experience of other Forum members. Ceramic coating along with wire and brake line insulation is very important.
Cheap parts usually end up costing more than good quality parts in the end. Fitment and quality are key with headers.
Kooks or ARH will fit best and are the easiest to install as per my own personal experience plus they are made in Americahowever there are other good alternatives as per the experience of other Forum members. Ceramic coating along with wire and brake line insulation is very important.
LG Headers are also great fitting and great headers.
You get what you pay for. If you can’t afford the ones listed, I suggest waiting until you can, and ceramic coating is well worth the money.
I went with Speed Engineering. They fit perfect and both headers installed easily from the bottom without removing engine mounts etc. No 02 extensions needed. Clamps are garbage - I bought better clamps and welded some of it. Hopefully they hold up!
I had a surprise engine rebuild and have spent way more money than I should so I was wondering if anyone has experience with the cheap headers and x pipes on ebay. Do they fit well? Sound good? Etc
thanks
I may be the only one saying this, but I bought that kit couple months back, and love it. Maybe I got lucky, but the headers went on, I did have to cap the air tube locations on the passenger side, deleted my cats, put the resonators, x pipe fit great, put a used axle back Borla exhaust, and I couldn't be happier. You will need O2 sensor extensions, but seriously couldn't be happier. I put the headers on myself to save some money, and took the rest to the exhaust shop so the could weld everything instead of using the provided clamps. I say go for it!!!!!!!
Speed Engineering has a good track record of fitment, but IMO, a header is a header for the most part - especially on a regular street car. I don't understand why people spend $1500 and more on these things. If it fits, it ships.
I've got a set of headers off of amazon on my car right now and they pretty much look the same as you've pictured. We encountered two minor issues.
1. The mounting tabs on the collectors didn't line up to the mounting points on the car. We solved this by cutting off those tabs and welding on a piece of metal to each one that would line up with the factory mounting locations on the body. The rear mounts are spring-loaded, so there's enough give in them to handle minor differences.
2. The bungs for the O2 sensors put the sensors at such an angle that the heat shield needed a hole cut into it for them to sit right.
We didn't have any issues with steering shaft clearance, floor clearance, or ground clearance. I'm happy to have spent the $1000 I saved over brand name headers on the heads cam that went in at the same time. Don't pay the Corvette tax on a 20 year old car if you don't have to.
Where are you in GA? I'll come show you what mine look like on the car if you're close to the north side of Atlanta.
Last edited by bradleyss14; Dec 28, 2020 at 11:17 AM.
I've got a set of headers off of amazon on my car right now and they pretty much look the same as you've pictured. We encountered two minor issues.
1. The mounting tabs on the collectors didn't line up to the mounting points on the car. We solved this by cutting off those tabs and welding on a piece of metal to each one that would line up with the factory mounting locations on the body. The rear mounts are spring-loaded, so there's enough give in them to handle minor differences.
2. The bungs for the O2 sensors put the sensors at such an angle that the heat shield needed a hole cut into it for them to sit right.
We didn't have any issues with steering shaft clearance, floor clearance, or ground clearance. I'm happy to have spent the $1000 I saved over brand name headers on the heads cam that went in at the same time. Don't pay the Corvette tax on a 20 year old car if you don't have to.
Where are you in GA? I'll come show you what mine look like on the car if you're close to the north side of Atlanta.
Ya, I forgot about that, I also had to cut a hole in the heat shield
I also purchased the headers and x-pipe from Amazon. They look nice and I am currently installing them now. I'll post some pics of everything when I get things finished up.
I also purchased the headers and x-pipe from Amazon. They look nice and I am currently installing them now. I'll post some pics of everything when I get things finished up.
The ones you ordered from Amazon, are they the Speed Engineering ones? Just curious as I was researching these for my C6.
been checking on those headers for about a month now. been reading about everything i can find about them. i'm about to make the move and buy a set. have installed many sets of headers in my lifetime (i'm 74).i have a welder and cut off wheel so i'm ready. mine is a 97 auto.
been checking on those headers for about a month now. been reading about everything i can find about them. i'm about to make the move and buy a set. have installed many sets of headers in my lifetime (i'm 74).i have a welder and cut off wheel so i'm ready. mine is a 97 auto.
It seems a lot of the budget headers are made for the 01-04 dipstick for some reason. I think I've read that you can bend the early car dipstick to work, or just replace it while you're in there with the updated unit.
It seems a lot of the budget headers are made for the 01-04 dipstick for some reason. I think I've read that you can bend the early car dipstick to work, or just replace it while you're in there with the updated unit.
You are correct. The bracket that bolts the dipstick to the OEM exhaust manifold hits the header once installed. You can use the original dipstick still. All I did was let the dipstick's bracket rub on the header to the exhaust shop that welded my xpipe on and they just cut the bracket off and bent a piece of metal, welded it to the dipstick tube, and bolted to the head. You could probably do it at home if you had a welder. Very simple.
I agree with the video. Always been a believer that name brand headers don't justify the extra $1000. I have bought multiple sets of different headers off ebay and have never had a problem. I'm not paying that corvette tax. Love my $400 header, resonator, x pipe set! Can't beat it!
i'm about ready to pull the trigger on a set of headers for my 97 base model. been doing a lot of research the last few months to make the install as painless as possible. how are you people making the transition from the header collector to the factory cats. btw i want to run my factory cats. the tubing sizes are as follows. into cats. 2.91,after cats 2.50,my spare 3 inch tubing 3.00. would like to go from collectors right into the factory cats,then to my borla x-pipe then into my ti axle over. thats the plan for now. i have a welder and cut off saw and have installed headers before. some of the headers i have seen are pretty close to the fac. cats and there is a short distance till you hit the cats. would like to make a nice transition from there. just like to plan ahead a little. into cats is a little oddball size.
Cheap exhaust
however there are other good alternatives as per the experience of other Forum members. Ceramic coating along with wire and brake line insulation is very important.
