I just wanted to post an updated to my issue with the Kooks headers ECS installed for me. I think it's only fair to take the time to explain the solution and how I was treated. As it seems people who aren't happy and have issues are more motivated to post than ones who are happy. I wanted to take the time & effort to post the solution as well.

Anyway- Chris was able to get the American Racing headers very quickly and called the same day they arrived asking when I could make it in to do the swap. Hats off to them for the quick response. I scheduled to have them installed first thing this morning.

Sure enough- as soon as I got there they got it up on a lift and began working on the removal of the Kooks system. During that time I spoke with the installer and he mentioned he just installed another set of Kooks on a C6 recently with the same issue. The 2nd header pipe on the driver's side contacting the chassis.

I took a few pics from underneath. As you can see it wasn't close enough to make a rattle- it was literally pressed flush against the chassis which caused all the vibration I was feeling.





Now I'm not stating or insinuating that Kooks makes bad products, nor do I think this is the case with all of their headers. I'm just elaborating on my personal experience and confirming that my set wasn't the ONLY set that had this issue.

The American Racing headers went on and cleared the chassis on the driver's side without a hitch. There's at least 1/4" or more of clearance. The passenger side, however, required a pinch weld to be hammered back to allow clearance. IMHO not as big of an issue as attempting to provide clearance on the chassis brace...and I was indeed offered by one of the installers to simply "hammer" a flat spot in the header to clear it- which I turned down.

I will say that the Kooks "look" better than the American Racing- at least in regards to the connecting (xpipes) etc. The Kooks are polished and the AR headers are dull and unfinished. I don't mind as this car is a daily driver and it's far from a show car. Needless to say the car is back to normal now- no more vibration like it's got solid engine mounts, what a relief!

Finally Doug took it for a spin to check the tune, returned minutes later explaining that i's good to go and nothing needed to be changed. I had him look under the hood to examine the faint chirping sound I had at idle at which time we heard a hissing noise.

Doug pulled off the engine covers and found a stuck/twisted injector which caused separation in the O-ring resulting in a vacuums leak. Oddly enough this was the first time I heard this hissing- and I would have certainly heard it before as it was pretty pronounced. He simply tweaked the injector so it was aligned properly and the hissing went away. Neither of us could figure out why the injector was like that- though, unfortunately, it had nothing to do with the sound I'm hearing at idle. He deduced that it could be the A/C compressor clutch assembly, as it makes a similar sound when turned by hand, but explained that it would be tough to track that sound down without starting to remove belts etc.

Well I've already been more wordy than I needed to be- in short I wanted to document my experience with the guys at ECS and explain that I'm quite impressed with their customer service and the speed at which they operated to find a solution to my problem. I will not hesitate to go back for any additional work in the future. Speaking of which ever since I took a ride with Mike in one of the SC'd cars I've been salivating over the concept of going the same route with mine.

Thanks for reading.

 

I knew they would take care of you. Great guys!

 

Good to hear of a positive experience at a quality shop.

 

great shop ! got to make a stop in there soon...

 

Nice service to get you fixed properly and I would think though the installer would have noticed the issue during the initial install

 

Glad to hear. I figured they'd take good care of you.

 

Glad to hear it got cleared up for you!

 

Nice to read about a positive outcome, thanks for taking the time for the follow-up post.

 

Given the huge premium both Kooks and ARH charge for their headers (along with LG), I expect a no hassle install, and a perfect fit. Neither the Kooks or ARH headers that you purchased provided that. I can buy "lesser" headers from someone else that don't fit perfectly for half the price. You charge a premium price, you have to provide a premium product.