HI Fred! Long time no see. Could you tell us what gauge the tubing is on the Pertronix pipes? I have been looking at Schoenfeld sprint headers and they come in 18 & lite weight 20 gauge tubing. Also the headers are 4 inches from the block and I have to imagine that the further from the block, the more crack prone they would be. The more chance the pipes would flex and cause cracking. Nice seeing you since the departure from TBucketeers. I know it can be stressful. How is the new motor working out? Different harmonics might have caused the cracking. And last but not least, it should be mandatory that a picture or few of you car should be presented every time you post. Always liked your car. (if Don can always slip a shot or two of his T into the conversation, you should to.) Head up, things could be worse (you could be in the presidential race). Good seeing you again. John
Fred, to coat them PROPERLY, it costs about $300-$400. Not all the people who say they can coat headers are the same. Some are just using something similar to powder coating and they rely on you heating up the headers by starting it to cure them. True ceramic coaters coat them inside and out and then buff them after the coating process. When you get them they are cured and ready to install. Don
I have the 2nd set of speedway headers on my car and too am very disappointed with them. The first set cracked just as your did. My 2nd set the ceramic coating has burnt off in less then 50 miles. The first set looked great before the crack, nothing done but a change of headers and now burnt off coating on the new pair. I guess it's time to start looking for a different vender for my parts.
Hey, Dan; The guy you are thinking of is: Headers by Ed , in Mpls MN. I still have some of his headers tips 'n' hints sheet from the early 70's or so. He was pretty free w/good suggestions/info for folks willing to listen, & wanting to do things right &/or better, like say realistic tubing size, additional welding on the inside of the header flange w/silicon bronze on the outside, proper collector diameter & lengths, but a most folks blew him off, as he didn't advertize heavily in the car mags, so, therefore, he just can't be as good... Uh-huh... His stuff was/is expensive, but hand-built - w/care & skill. IIRC, he doesn't suffer fools/stupid Q's/BS well. Intelligent Q's get thoughtful answers. . FWIW. Marcus...
I too have Speedway headers on my T- Bucket, same thing happened to mine got them to replace the right side header and the one they sent me back the head flang was so warped from welding that it was .035 thousand out of flat. Called them about it and was told "it would be alright" also that I needed to put a brace on my headers to hold them up! I put the header on and you could see it pulling on the tubes as I tightend it up. I took it back off and took them to a friends shop and he cut it loose and made sleeve's to fit inside all the tubes welded them in and the tubing is so thin on the headers that it was a ***** for him to weld without burning through it. They told me to put a bracket on the header, well the ones that I took off the car had been on it from 1979 and 19,000 miles no brace and no broken tubes, only replaced them because of the chrome was black and blued, and had some dents. Also I run the 20" open extenson, NO baffels, We also cut the flang at each end so the front tube and last tube are free of the middle tubes, giving the headers more flex, 3,500 miles and $175.00 later no problems. But if it was mine I would make them replace it as you are not the first to have this happen, I know this and so does Speedway and Pertronix. Not bashing anybody just the truth.
i just built a set of my own lakes headers from a speedway kit which i basically threw everything away but the flanges and cones ! i had them coated which to have the turnouts , headers and bafles done set me back about 500 $ , used to have high performance coatings do it but they went under and jet hot bought them out ! you can deffinitely buy a set from a company cheaper done and coated , on the other hand i have seen matts headers and they are nice pieces , if i had to go through all the time i have in fabbing mine i would have just bought a set from him !
Speedway stands behind the products they sell. Please contact them and let them know this flaw happened. They need that input to maintain quality as well. Speedway sells good value products and they can't personally inspect every part thru the door, it is important to advise them when flaws occur. Call'em please.~sololobo~
I think if I remember from another thread Speedy Bill has a no return policy. maybe that is just on the used stuff that he was selling. tfeverfred, This is not to say that the headers that you bought are not **** headers so don't take it that way. if you look at nearly any set of brand name headers they are only welded on the back side of the flang. Headmons, ******s, blackjacks etc. A header must be properly supposted or should be if you want it to be bullet proof, it is just like any other part of your exhaust. I am no expert on lakes style headers but that is a lot of weight for a piece of exhaust tubeing to support. I know that a lot of guys run em like that but to just hang it out there without supporting it you are just asking for a failure. Anyway for all that it is worth the primary being welded on the mating side of the flange only is pretty common practice and has been for a long time.
I think that is on his "garage sale" items, I got a bad master cylinder and they sent me a new one no problems. Hell ol' speedy Bill called the house himself and asked if things were straightened out, pretty cool I thought.
He used to have an excellent return policy, I have heard bad things as of late but maybe it was just the garage sale stuff. I would hope so, his customer service has always been good.
I have the Sanderson jet coated lakesters with no dumps on my 26 and have no complaints. When I called about maybe ordering a set of jaysters they we're going to give a pretty big discount for being a return customer.
Stress? About leaving Tbucketeers or the headers? No stress with either one. Especially Tbucketeers. I miss the guys. But most are here anyway. No love lost at all. My new motor runs great. Pics are in my album. New motors great and pics are in my album.
OKAY! OKAY! I'm going with Matt. I had a couple conversations with him and I pulled the trigger on his headers with turnouts. Can't beat the price, but I'll have to paint them. Matt recommended Eastwood and I know they make quality stuff. Problem is... I don't trust my painting skills. I spray bombed my front wheels a couple years ago and got lucky. No chips or peeling. Headers are going to be different. So, can you guys recommend a good Eastwood header paint? Something that will look good and be easy to apply? Read that... "So easy an idiot could do it."
Fred Call these people. We use them at work all of the time. They are top notch. http://www.polydyn.com/ 1960 and Jones road. Not too far.
Fred VHT makes a super high heat paint that has ceramic in it. It is 7 dollars a can and to do a proper job it will take 2 cans. We did the ravens headers on his roadster 2 years ago the paint isn't peeling at all. It helps to blow some inside the headers near the port. Normally everyone will say to have them blasted prior to paint, we didn't have that kind of time so we just wiped his down real good with MEK. Nothing against ceramic coat but it is another option.
What color did you use? I'm thinking a light grey or satin aluminum look. To be honest, I liked the chrome, but they were a ***** to keep clean and started to rust in the cracks where I couldn't reach. I think a quality ceramic or jet coating is out of my price range. I could do it, but OUCH! I'd like a good hi-temp paint that will look good. I don't even mind having to repaint every year. It would give me something to do each winter.
Ya know, it's kinda funny. Their lakes looked good, ceramic coated inside AND out and they have an excellent rep. The price was great too. $650 what killed the deal was what they were charging for 2 turnouts. $189!! For 6" of curved pipe! It was so crazy, it pissed me off and I scratched them. With header mufflers, I would have been in for almost $900. Not today, baby. As it stands, if I have to repaint Matt's every weekend, I'll still be happy. I'm REALLY getting tired of companies charging crazy prices on some of the stuff we need. It's got to stop. The best way is to not buy into what they are pushing. Matt's uncoated headers with turn outs are costing me $575 shipped! How come everyone else is about $550 just for the damn pipes. And don't throw out high overhead as a reason. The reason is greed. Plain and simple. These companies have machines (that took someones job) that probably put out 100 headers a day, if they have to. Maybe more. With all that automation their pipes should be closer to $200 a set. Or less. So, I'm going with Matt's. It was cool to deal with the actual person making my pipes. Just a guy trying to feed his family. I'll paint these until I have the money to ceramic coat. If the paint looks good, I'll leave it and redo when needed. But I sure as hell ain't gonna drop $900 for 10' of pipe, welded by a machine that took someones job.
The Jalopy Journal
