Last night my headers cracked and had to be rewelded. That small tube which connects from one pipe to the other totally detached itself. Car sounded like a truck. Over the winter I will probably have them pulled out and get the revised TPIS headers. Has anyone else had this problem? Feed some input.

 

mark, that was what i showed you a long time ago right? who did the welding?

 

I am looking to add headers soon. Coming from the C4 I had, I am searching for mods for my C5. I thought the Tpis header and a cold air box may be the ones to go with. Is this an isolated case or are there others? 900 dollars isn't nothing to sneeze at.

 

Mine are cracked at the air tubes(both sides) and I had a big crack at the bracket under the car where is bolts to the engine. Very poor Quality, I will go with something different when I upgrade my engine.

 

I have heard of another case of cracked tubes. I am sure he will post here once he sees the thread. :yesnod:

vetterdstr :chevy

 

How long have you had them? I heard some people mention there were problems with "early" TPIS headers.

 

Rob, Cartek welded it for me real quick.

Netjunkie, I've had these headers for about a year, I thought I had the revised ones. If this is so, I will be looking for a different brand.

 

I can't wait to see TeamZR-1's response, especially since I just told him my TPIS headers looked great! It sounds like it was an easy fix.....talk to TPIS about them or the vendor you purchased them from. :rolleyes: :smash:

 

I sure do like my TTS headers, 1 5/8 OD tubes and all.

Lots of low end torque, and no quality issues.

 

I have had a problem with TPIS right from the begining, one of the headers (right site) was liking air at the center of those 4 pipes coming in to one. So I could not weld it, nobody could just get to that tiny hole, but it sounded awfull. I had to mail it back and recieve new one. Thanks to the vender who took some of the cost of these extra expenses.

 

My TPIS are shippingright now!

I hope I will not have the same problems.

I wanted them because they would fit better for my future stroker project and ma heads/cam that I do this winter?!?!?!?!

I don´t feel good now
:cry :cry :cry :cry

Michael

 

Hi Mark,
Yeah my tubes cracked on both sides after about 2 months on the car. SLP is coming out with their version which will be a "TUNED HEADER" made from stainless and ceramic coated. They have looked at all the short comings of these headers and are addressing them. The tuned version should really pick up some performance. I stopped by their shop the other day and checked out the quality of their F-body versions, and they were top notch!! :smash: Can't wait for the C5 finished product as they will definitely be on my car. You guys that are thinking about changing or adding headers might want to wait and see how the SLP's work out. I believe pricing on the F-bodys is around $900. which is pretty fair for stainless, coated, tuned length versions. They also mentioned high flow cats will be an option. :cool:

Mike :flag

 

The TPIS headers seem like a bit of a joke. The price is way too high for what you get - basically a mild steel header. I guess the big problem is a lack of alternatives.

Look at a pair of $90 Hedman headers. Compare them to the TPIS and ask where the expense comes from. I'm not saying the TPIS should be $90 - they're a much better header than a dirt cheap Hedman. But, the price should be more realistic for what they are.

A header for a C5 should be stainless. Putting a coating on mild steel is not the same. Header flanges should be at least 3/8" thick, especially for mild steel where the welding to the flange anneals it and leaves it soft.

Good headers seal to the exhaust using Marmon clamps, just as industrial fluid and gas connections, truck exhausts, and serious race car exhausts, are sealed. Because these are a commodity industrial item, they aren't that expensive (but are certainly a lot more expensive than a stamped flange that costs fifty cents).

You may tolerate some minor exhaust leaks on that rusty old Nova, but on a C5?? :crazy:

Fortunately, there are some vendors bringing quality stainless headers to market for the C5. And some are even using Marmon clamps :cheers:

Until those products hit the market and get evaluated, the best solution may still be custom fabrication. But that assumes you have a good shop in your area (rare) and can leave the car for a week or two.

 

Don't worry AV. I, like many others, are enjoying many miles of smiles blowing gas through TPIS Long Tubes. Get someone good to install them and I'm sure they will check them out sufficiently so there will be no problems. In most cases with anything a few bad ones get through. :seeya

 

ooH, s h i t, :smash:
Getting heartburn all over again :(

I've tried to tell people to shy away from this vendor.
After all this time I am still hearing about failures with the lousy quality of this vendor and unknown to others thinking how happy they are, they have cracks they are not aware of esp with the airtubes.
I just saw a set on a ZO6 that was just installed and their's was already cracked.

It is NOT a easy fix !
First you have to fight getting the long tubed headers out ( you cannot repair on the car for airtubes are small in size and not enough open space to get to all sides of tubes) and then you have to find someone who can TIG weld.
This is not like swapping an aircleaner, consider doing this with the car on jackstands, it's a bitch, esp the left side.

There is no reason for the price of these headers that the customer has to go through this, nor the ill effects to the O2s with the air leaks.

As far as telling that vendor I did almost 1 year ago and got a laugh over the phone and a remark like "what's the big deal just repair them" :U

Lastly it's a bitch getting slammed ( as I did when I brought this up back in the spring) when another Corvette owner brings to light on the defected products they buy and attempt to alert fellow owners of not going through the same pain.
Just how many C5 owners have to be wacked with cracking headers before others start thinking it is a bigger gamble to spend their money on this product ?

 

I've also been burned by poor quality from TPIS. I wouldn't recommend them to anybody!!! :mad

 

Has any one, that is having problems, bought their headers in the last 6 months????????

 

Sorry to hear about your header cracking, that sucks. You've had some bad luck with cracked exhausts haven't you? I've had mine for about 7 months with no problems yet, knock on wood. :rolleyes: But, I also had mine installed at Catek, so it's good to know that atleast they'll take care of me if anything happens to mine.

 

Ditto what MagRedMoster wanted to know.

Any of these headers younger than 6 months????

Michael

 

I hope I don't live to regret this but I've had mine TPI's for over a year and they've been raced, cross country trips, 6200 miles and the ceramics look as good as new and no problems. They definitely had some quality issues early on but I thought all had been corrected. Mine was installed by a Speed Shop (Berrel Performance) and they were about the the 25th set they had installed and they said no one had experienced any of the problems that I seem to read about here. Quality is a strange thing sometimes. My Dad used to say "Never buy a car that was built on Friday or Monday"! My C5 was built on Saturday!!! :rolleyes: :confused: :cheers: