I'm planning to run Sanderson block huggers on the Cadillac 500 in my 40 Ford. A friend from a Caddy forum had a lot of negative things to say about Sandersons, i.e. they don't fit well, require a lot of tweaking, etc. Anyone that has used them care to offer an opinion? I'd like to use them since they're an Alliance vendor, but not if they're going to be a fight to get right. Thanks for any help.
THEY ****!!!! they break at the welds, do a search and you'll find about 10 post on how bad they are.
Yep I had some Sanderson 'block hitters' - after they 'lost' the first pair at the jet hot coaters, after six months I finally get a second pair and the flanges have a gap of 5/16" to the head on my 327, with the copper gasket floating around loose when the headers were cinched down as tight as they could go. Then I found they had gouged the paint on my smoothed and show painted block with the collector flanges. Took six months and threats to finally get the headers and more threats to get my money back - luckily I had paid with a credit card. ****sville. You might try Doug Thorley www.dougthorleyheaders.com.
Man, what has happened there? My friend's old 78 Barth Motorhome, 26', has a 500 Cadillac in it. He had a set of S/S Sanderson blockhuggers installed and then built a full stainless exhaust system for it. The only problem we've had with the headers is the occ***ional flange nut working loose. We finally started using solid copper exhaust flange gaskets and ended the sputtering problem. Otherwise, they fit great and have been no problem.
I have a set on my 352 Ford and are now officialy cracked. They banged on the starter since new. Won't buy their product again.
i just bought the set that fits stock 51 chevy suspension it ****s bad. can't even get spark plug boots on spark plugs cause of how close they are. also i spent 280 on these ****ing things and they give me bull **** rings for collectors cheap ***es couldn't even give me a set of collectors. won't spend that money on a set again. shop else where if you can.. also so close to oil filter.
Do a search, I was dealer at the rodshop, had a couple issues. Mostly Donna(theowner) is a *****, cares less about the customer than HITLER did for Jews. That is just the tip of the iceberg
My son just bought a set of zoomies from them and had to pay a bunch of postage to ship them back for repair. The tubing holes were bigger than the exhaust ports so they would leak. Told him that most of the time they work and didn't understand what happened. Got them back and they work now but he shouldn't have had to spend a bunch of shipping cost to get them fixed. Our opinion, I personaly quit using sanderson after trying to get headers without big pits in them. Fourdy
Everyone, thanks for the heads-up/warning. AND I always 'thought' Sanderson was the best. Thanks again. Lucky667
I got a set and I have seen better quality control come out of TAIWAN! Welding wire sticking out of the collector, the collector inside looks like dog **** and probably flows like it too, luckily I got mine from a guy who bought them and never used them, I paid full price I would have been pissed, I'll be able to clean them up, but hopefully they at least fit when I try them out. I don't really care for their "high-temp silicone only" seal either. A MIG weld ground flat... yea I'll make my own next time.
Before I start my rant, I'll point out that I gave Sanderson many chances to make this right. I called several times and I even talked to the engineer (Jay) once. He wanted to see pictures so I e-mailed the links to the same pictures you see below. They wouldn't even answer my e-mails after I sent them these pictures. I hate Sanderson! Seriously, I've spent a small fortune making these headers fit. After I installed the engine and I put the headers on, I thought I screwed up really badly on the engine placement. I took the car to a friend with a small ch***is shop and paid him to check it out. Before I bought, I asked questions and here's what Sanderson said: Stock sized wheels and tires will clear everything. You can use these headers with power steering. No change in ride height is required. Here's some pics with 225/70/15 front tires... and it's sitting higher than stock because the engine and trans combo is lighter than the original 6 and poweglide- and most of the front clip is off. Keep an eye on how close the tire is to the headers - with the car sitting level! Notice the collector locations in this pic: I ended up (gladly) grinding off the Sanderson badge and cutting almost four inches off of the collectors to help with ground clearance. Then the p***enger side header was heated with a torch and twisted a little so the p***enger and drivers side headers would "sort of" be the same. Fixing the headers has ruined the ceramic coating on the headers - so I'm still not done throwing money at this. After (notice the headers are now pretty symetrical) C567F Sanderson Fenderwell Headers for 1955 1956 1957 Chevy
DAMN! What happened to Sanderson?! Way back, the headers use to fit really nice. I bolted a set of Block Huggers on the DeSoto in my Avitar, and they fit like Factory. They were even VERY close to the Stock down pipe location. I guess the next set will come from Bob at HH...
Ditto to everybody ! I had a set on a 4 barrel cleveland that were way less than useless. The inside/outside coating was non existent on the inside. I agree w/comments the owners disposition.
This isn't the only blog where I've seen Sanderson get hammered. Screw customers. Lie. Cheat. Run big glossy ads in quality pubs like The Rodders Journal, Street Rodder pretending to be a quality company, then repeat abusive cycle. Seems to me that people like Donna and companies like Sanderson need to understand that OUR money is THEIR living! And maybe pubs should start showing some responsibility to their readers by refusing to run ads for slipshod outfits. WTF, people. If we know they **** at building headers, turn off their revenue stream until such time that they become the reputable company they pretend to be.
I picked up a pair of ther cast headers, I always liked the look of them. They're setting on a shelf. Maybe they'll stay there..... Has anyone fought the fit of the cast ones?
I have had a set of Sanderson's on my coupe for about 8 years and have had no problems. They fit well and have never leaked. I wonder what has happened to their quality control?
I bought mine second hand, I didn't know headers could be so maintenance free! Never had a leak, ran the silicone/no gasket, heck I've never even re-tightened the bolts and not a problem. Funny you all mention the at***ude. I bought their header bolts directly from them and got the impression they were a little smug, but customer 'service' being what it is, I didn't think anything of it. If I had to do 'customer service' all day I might be a little punchy too, I couldn't take that job for a minute. I'm not trying to play devils advocate here, but has quality improved so much that people expect their headers to fit correctly?!? I can only speak from experience in the 80's here, but I don't remember anybody that didn't curse the manufacturer or have to modify/ding/fix their headers to make them fit. My expectation on headers is they all **** and the manufacturers are full of lies when they say they'll fit a certain application. Well, we'd always tell ourselves that if we'd bought *real* headers instead of blackjacks or whatever $99 specials we'd gotten, they'd fit correctly, but none of my jerky crew ever bought good ones, so I can't say Anyway that's where I'm coming from, so that's why I've been pleased as punch with mine, and frankly amazed they don't leak without a gasket. I thought leaks were a given!!! And thanks lostn51 for the great deal on these!!
Well, good quality, bad quality, If I'm going to lay out that kind of money for something, I don't need a **** shoot. Usually one or two people's bad experiences would have me thinking twice, but what I've heard here leads me to believe I just got lucky with my set...
my lime fire headers cracked the first year. I had a welding shop weld them back up with his tig and the i had the recoated. put them back on and they lasted another year and now are cracked all over. i have over a grand in them headers and the leak and are cracked.
I post everytime someone asks about Sanderson on whatever forum I am on. I'm pretty sure I have cost Sanderson at least two sets of fenderwell header sales so far. Whatever money would have been lost by helping me out with my problem in the first place would have been worth it! Now I just tell people about my Sanderson header experience, maybe I can serve as a warning to others- C567F Sanderson Fenderwell Headers for 1955 1956 1957 Chevy
I bought a set of cad 500 sanderson headers a few months ago for a project, they fit perfectly, I don't know how long they will last, but so far no problems.
Well, NOT wanting to Hi-Jack the thread, what brands HAVE you guys had good luck with fit and finish with?...
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