I bought one of the open box header/catted x-pipe sets from Hinson Motorsports. When trying to install it, I found the pipes were too short. On Tuesday, Nov 10, I notified Brian Hinson who promptly notified Anthony Grosser with Stainless Works. It turned out that the x-pipe shipped was only 26.5" long instead of 31.5" as it should have been. I notified Anthony of the short x-pipe on Wednesday. He said it could take up to 4 work days to weld one up and ship it to me but the correct one arrived on Saturday! The new system is now installed. Thanks to Hinson and Stainless Works for resolving my issues so quickly. My car is on jack stands in the driveway and it is starting to get cold in northern Illinois.

The headers installed pretty well but some massaging was required. The instructions said to install the passenger side header from the top but it hit an air conditioning line and a coil/coil bracket. It easily installed from the bottom just like the driver side did. There was misalignment of about 3/4" between the catalytics and the x-pipe so we had to use a ratcheting tie down to pull the cats together. Then we had to use a second tie down to pull the x-pipe onto the cats since the first tie down caused too much friction to overcome by hand. We also had to cut about 5/8" off the connector pipe between the x-pipe and the over-axle pipe. Although I haven't driven it yet, everything clamped together well and feels very sturdy so I don't expect any problems.

 

Glad you got it all together

A bit of massaging, as you said, to get them to fit up just right happens sometimes, regardless of what brand you get. Usually it's not a big deal though to cut a little pipe or straighten something out.

It'll all be worth it when it's done.

 

My son and I got the Corvette back on the road today. There were no audible leaks in the Stainless Works system at idle or when revving and there was no interference with any part of the body or other components. I have a Borla Stinger catback system and the addition of the headers made the tone deeper and actually a little quieter at idle. However when revving or decelerating, it is quite a bit louder but still has a great sound. I short shifted before but I will have to really tip toe past the cops now. I think the drone will be worse with the headers though. I plan to add soundproofing in the summer to help counteract that. The big test as judged by the butt-dyno is a success! The car accelerates noticeably faster and has more torque in all gears including sixth gear. The headers will help with my next project which will be an eight rib A&A V3 Si trim supercharger system, meth injection, and an ACT twin disk clutch. The appearance will be upgraded with new chrome reproduction Z06 wheels and Nitto Invo tires with 305/35-19 rears on 11" wide wheels.

In addition to the massaging that I reported in my previous email, I had to grind the bracket on the dipstick tube where it hit the header flange and would not bolt up to the head. It took several tries to get it ground properly since I was trying to grind the minimum amount to get it to fit. I also had to grind the flange off the bolt that fastened the tube to the block because it hit the header flange. An alternative would be to get a standard 15 mm metric hex bolt without a flange. While this is not a huge problem, it should be mentioned in the instructions.

While there were some problems with fitment, overall I am well satisfied with the headers.