That is an option. I've decided that I will just pay off a shop when the time comes. My tuner has connections and does it himself. This means that I too could have went with a larger cam. But even with the cam I went with, Im still making the power that guys with larger cams get. Rather than change it out, a nitrous kit sounds like fun and will make the few hp left on the table from my cam irreverent.

Yes, I had the stock exhaust on when I passed with this cam. Im good for two years now.

 

Well my worst fear happened: mine are apparently not fitting (hitting starter) even with the smaller msd starter put on after the stock one was tried. Had these things coated as well, so I'm not happy. Called and needed to leave a Voicemail with pfadt.

 

Sorry to hear that you are having trouble....that said, thanks for your post..I was a Pfadt Fan...sorry about that, but after hearing this, I will be going with another brand for sure. Best of luck with a fix. By the way...you shouldn't have to do a starter swap to make it work. They should be designed to fit stock profile out of the box..IMHO

 

They will take care of you, I wouldn't worry about it.


Why? Every company has issues from time to time, it's how they handle it.

I had to cut my frame to fit Kooks 1 7/8" headers.

 

Crazy how each car is different. For me it was the a/c compressor hard line. Just sat too close. So I evacuated the system and removed it. Once I remove the entire system, ill have a better dragster anyway.

 

Still waiting on response actually, so yeah I am worried!

 

mchicia1, I completely agree. I have heard great things about their customer service. That coupled with their forum involvement were a couple of contributing factors for my 1 7/8" catted headers purchase. Not the primary drivers (design, advertised fit and finish quality, the ability to hard wire my wideband kit in the car through the spare O2 bung, etc.), but it definitely mattered when deciding to pull the trigger on the purchase.

I had great communication with Zack, their mechanical engineer, for quite a while. I provided feedback for the installation manual that hadn't been released at the time. My feedback on O2 sensor bung placement on the passenger header sounded like it drove some change for future units. Zack did send me a pair of O2 bung plugs to resolve a problem that I had with the rear O2 sensor bodies hitting the tunnel plate (using pfadt motor and trans mount). I am going to code out the rear sensors in the tune since I don't have to pass an ODBII emissions test in my state.

So that is where the awesome service ground to a halt for me. Unfortunately, the last response that I got from the company was on 2/5. I understand being busy, but I've been bending over backwards to be flexible, provide a lot of supporting information and pictures and reaching out through various means to move the ball forward.

• I've called daily since 2/11. I have had exactly 1 person answer the phone in that time.
• During that time I have sent 3 emails with a ton of information with request for contact noting that I want to work with them to solve the problem rather than ranting on a forum about it since that is absolutely not constructive...but...its been 2 weeks so I don't know what other option I have.
• I've left at least 2 voicemails for Rob (tech support at x108).
• Zack's (mechanical engineer at x107) voicemail box has been consistently full. The last couple of days Zack's line dumps straight to voicemail (which is full) rather than ringing out. I can only assume that he added me to a block list (or he is spending all day on the phone)
• The order support line (x110) has not answered and their voicemail is full
• The one person that I got a hold of is Blair, who was very helpful. He is responsible for dealer relations, I believe. Maybe a week ago he took a note to give to Zack to call me back, but I did not receive that call back. I left both him and Rob a voicemail today asking for some communication.
• Over the course of the two weeks I have tried to call Zack and Rob at each phone communication attempt. I tried to reach out to order support on most, but not all of those occasions. I have additionally tried every extension in their automated calling tree aside from AP and warehouse at least twice.

I'm just frustrated with the situation. I think they have a dynamite product. I think that this is an easy problem to solve based on the feedback being provided. I think that they're busy, which is totally understandable. I want to be a great success story where I can extol the virtues of their product, their service, and continue to buy product from them. I'm actively saving for the JOC stage 2 suspension kit, for example. I just feel like I hit a brick wall and nothing that I say or do is getting any attention to resolve the problem. My car has been up in the air since the beginning of January and I would like to be able to tune it and drive as the weather warms up this spring.

I'll post up my entire experience in a separate thread including current state of the remaining issues (starter interference, AC line interference, misalignment of header pipes to midpipe, heat shield interference on the drivers side).

My hope in doing this is that someone will be able to provide some non-destructive recommendations to make this work. I am not interested in denting the primary to clear the starter. I am not interested in pulling the heat shield and grinding the mounting point down to clear the driver's header, etc. More importantly, this will allow me to share the things that I've done to get to the point where I am at, which may save someone some time and trouble.

I want to also point out that I have been working very hard to work with Pfadt to drive change and address the challenges since I know that I can't be the first or last that will run into this.

• I have been polite and friendly in all communication. I have and can provide the entire email thread if it is helpful. My voicemails have been friendly while conveying concern.
• I reached out to provide feedback regarding my initial installation challenges for the print documentation that did not exist at the time of my purchase
• I have provided a number of detailed emails with the issues that I am observing, pictures, things that I have tried, what I intend to try next, etc.
• I gave them the easy out by not running rear O2 sensors (using plugs rather than insisting on a fix that would allow the sensor bodies to clear the tunnel plate).
• I picked up a truck starter yesterday to try with the headers to see if it resolves the starter clearance issue. The truck starter is 5/8" shorter than the stock LS1/LS6 starter and the starter motor body has a smaller diameter as well, so I am optimistic. Best case, that would take care of the passenger side issues other than O2 bung placement and it would take care of the header to midpipe alignment problem. ...regardless of that success there will still be the O2 bung and driver's side heat shield interference problems to fix. Either way, that is $150 that I should not have needed to spend on this project, especially when it was advertised as being best of breed for tech, fit, finish, etc.

Anyway. I'm rambling at this point. I want Pfadt to stand behind their product and be responsive. Being left to twist in the wind is not ok. If they are still deciding on how to proceed, that is fine, but they need to communicate that. If they had, I would be happy and wouldn't be on the "holy crap I'm getting f'ed by a vendor and forum sponsor" bandwagon. If they aren't interested in that, then I want an apology and a refund so I can procure a set of headers that fits the vehicle. When I make the other post, I'll be sure to post a link to it from this thread so its easy to find for reference.

Pfadt, please reach out and help me make this a success story! Zack, Rob, and Blair all have my email address and phone number. I'm easy to get a hold of.

 

UPDATE: Since I have called repeatedly, sent a PM, several e-mails to Rob, Aaron, even the resident "e-mail me anytime" info@pfadtracing and I haven't heard ANYTHING. I've decided to purchase some used American Racing headers, and have them installed. I am now out serious $.

1. $17XX ish for headers that I can't resell
2. $250 for the Ceramic coating.
3. $1000.00 for used headers
4. $250.00 for an MSD starter
5. Shop time charges which would be only fair at this point.

Next week I will be initiating a chargeback to my credit card, since these guys can't seem to bother responding.
EDIT: I looked back in my records, and actually bought these thru CCA, so I work with them first
This is B.S. and they should honestly be kicked off the forums for their recent behavior.

 

I don't get it -- you posted about your original problems yesterday. It's barely 1 day later and you're already flaming them on the forums? I mean, sure, ideally they would have responded by now, but I don't think a day (or even two days) is long enough to justify this sort of lambasting.

To each their own, I suppose. But I don't think you've given them nearly enough time to try and make things right.

 

They are there, they have to be.
I've had Rob's voicemail box be full, and then not.
I've also seen the pfadt resident sales guy's here status update as he's at least signed into the forums.

All it would have taken is a simple call or e-mail, less than 30 seconds worth of work to at least let me know they'll take care of it.

 

Sorry to hear about the Header install problem. I agree, give them some more time to resolve the issue. I do understand how angry you are, I would also be pretty upset about the situation, that kind of Coin for a set of headers i would expect them to fit as well, i have read a couple people here with that problem (hitting starter). My LS7 exhaust fit without issues but i have heard others say the LS7 exhaust hit other spots where as mine cleared. Hope things work out for the best.

S

 

Not that it matters to the members who are upset, but I am about to buy my set and have sent my Pfadt contact a pm on this site a day or so ago. I have yet to hear back yet. Keep in mind, I am a customer who already owns their featherlite coilovers, a customer who is asking to buy a set of their headers. With that said, I have yet to hear back either. If they have yet to respond to a customer ready to hand them $$$, there must be a reason for it and I for one am not too worried about it. Do you guys have a gripe, yes. But to run out a day later and buy another set of headers, pay to have them installed, and then feel that Pfadt should cover those costs????
Sounds like you got the headers you need, I'm sure they will take the headers back with a refund and you will only be out your time. I'm sure looking back on life, you can find similar situations that you wasted some time on, and were able to move on and put it behind you.
Good luck with both your projects. I still plan on buying my set.

 

Let us know how it goes, maybe you'll get lucky with a "v2" set.
As of yet, I haven't seen anyone here c5 set fit correctly.

They have till monday technically, as I posted.
I'd actually prefer to run what I bought of course. I have always been hoping it was just an installation error.

 

I plan to do a build thread as I'm also doing heads and cam. As well as the rest of the valvetrain, oil pump, timing chain, underdrive pulley. I am also most likely going to drop my torque tube to either rebuild or swap with a later 12mm model, switch to an LS7 clutch, and replace the slave, pilot, add a remote bleeder...
I'll let you know if I get a set that says "V2" on them. ; )

 

When I do get them, I will test fit them on the 5.3L I have sitting on a stand waiting to go into my hotrod. I don't have a starter for it so maybe I will pick up a used LS1 starter to bolt up and check for clearance.

 

As promised, here is a link to my install challenges/customer service challenges thread with pictures, steps taken, etc.

Thread

 

Check out my thread (linked just above this post). In there I have a link to a forum post about starter sizes. You may want to consider the smaller 4.8/5.3 starter. The linked post has pictures of both the LS1/LS6 starter and the other as well as length measurements for both.

Good luck with the build!

 

Man, that is frustrating to hear. Sorry about that. That's a lot of money for a product that doesn't fit.

 

I hear ya. I'm sure that they will make it right. I feel like I did everything that I could to engage their team to solve the problems without airing all of that dirty laundry. I just hope that it gets their attention so we can move forward.

They did delete my facebook post on their page with a link, so at least SOMEONE from the company knows that this is here...I am optimistic that they will take the time to read through all of this and contact me on Monday. I hope that they contact you as well.

For both of our sakes, I want to turn this into a success story since their products are all consistently top notch other than what we have been working with, unfortunately.

 

According to CCA who I bought them thru Pfadt will be issuing a call tag for my headers.