Speed Engineering Headers - Adding cats
01-25-2019, 07:34 PM
#22
I went to oreilly and got 3" wide band clamps. The cheap ones that come laid out flat and have no step in them. Muffler man recommended that type and said they seal better in his experience than the ones that have the step in them and are already round and lightly bolted together, when you get there and look at the selection this part will make more sense. The flat cheaper ones like I said are in a box or in a vacuum sealed flat cardboard and clear plastic package. They are kinda soft so they form to the pipes a bit. I have had the stepped type and they don't squeeze/hold the pipes in place as well as these.
So that's the clamps. I then got heavy duty aluminum foil from walmart, I believe I got the 50 sq ft box, it was like $2, and I have a ton left over so even if you get like 30 sq ft you'll have a lot left over. Thinking back the regular foil may squish in even better than the heavy duty. Who knows, I used the heavy duty and it worked out well.
I tore off the foil in 2 ft sections and folded them length wise in 3" strips, to where I ended up with 2 ft by 3 inch pieces. I'm trying to remember but you end up with 3 or 4 equalish folds at 3" folds. Lay out the 2 ft section, lay your clamp on it to set the width to fold at, then start folding your foil. If you do one foot you'll probably be okay, I had a hard time getting the clamp around the 2 ft wrap because it gets kinda bulky with so many rounds of it around the pipe. It's not impossible, it's just a bit of a pain. I would use as much foil as you can get in there though, so I would say attempt the 2 ft length first. If you cant get it try again with a 1-1/2 ft piece instead.
Once you have a folded strip that's roughly 3" by 2 feet take it to the car and wrap it in a circle around the pipe. It is a royal pain in the *** to hold the foil still and get the band clamp around it. If you squeeze it down as hard as you can by hand before trying to put on the clamp it helps a lot. Once you get the clamp looped around the foil hammer down on that clamp hard and you're done.
It's the best thing I've found that will seal most of, if not all of the leaking. It will come off cleanly, not burn up or blow out, and leave no goo behind.
The foil is soft enough to conform to the irregular shapes and squish into place, and hard enough to not blow out and will hold up to the heat no problem. It essentially just makes a gasket. I considered putting a bunch of exhaust RTV around the pipes then laying on the foil, but the foil worked so much better than what I had before I just rolled with the foil.
01-26-2019, 01:43 PM
#23
That’s what I paid for my charger headers and the quote I got for these headers. $300 includes the classic 1300 polish coating and return shipping with insurance. Technically it’s $303.60. Pretty quick turn around. 5-10 business days. If they have to strip a coating off like chrome or something it’s another $50.
Thanks for the info. I was also looking at Pacesetter since they are pretty much the only brand that offers a ceramic coated option, but they are mild steel. If I can get the stainless Speed Engineering headers with coating for a $150 or so more than the Pacesetters, that's a much better deal.
01-28-2019, 08:15 AM
#24
TECH Fanatic
Napa has something similar to the foil that they sell. It's might even be just aluminum foil sold in a different package. I can't find it on the website but I saw it in the store once when I was trying to stop the leaks in OBX header's Y pipe. I end up just taking the truck to an exhaust shop and having them weld up the Y pipe for 50$ bucks.
01-28-2019, 08:51 AM
#25
TECH Fanatic
iTrader: (1)
That’s what I paid for my charger headers and the quote I got for these headers. $300 includes the classic 1300 polish coating and return shipping with insurance. Technically it’s $303.60. Pretty quick turn around. 5-10 business days. If they have to strip a coating off like chrome or something it’s another $50.
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Mark Johnson (01-30-2019)
01-28-2019, 10:31 AM
#27
That’s what I paid for my charger headers and the quote I got for these headers. $300 includes the classic 1300 polish coating and return shipping with insurance. Technically it’s $303.60. Pretty quick turn around. 5-10 business days. If they have to strip a coating off like chrome or something it’s another $50.
I just got off the phone with Jet-hot. They said since I have a blower they recommend the 2500 degree coating which doubles the price to $600. I think it's probably still worth it on the Speedengineering headers, but it's quite a bit more.
01-28-2019, 05:56 PM
#28
TECH Fanatic
Thread Starter
I’d agree with that. Higher egt’s than an NA engine with just a tune and intake. Still cheaper than a coated set of kooks or arh. I have no inclination to do any type of forced induction on this engine. I’d like to but the up front cost and this isn’t supposed to be my play toy keeps me from it.
01-28-2019, 09:56 PM
#29
Napa has something similar to the foil that they sell. It's might even be just aluminum foil sold in a different package. I can't find it on the website but I saw it in the store once when I was trying to stop the leaks in OBX header's Y pipe. I end up just taking the truck to an exhaust shop and having them weld up the Y pipe for 50$ bucks.
I'll have to look for it next time I go to a NAPA. As for welding it, I had a couple of the slip fits parts welded already (the Y pipe is actually a few pieces and one of them is welded) but I refuse to weld an entire exh system, so the header collectors to Y pipe are not welded, and the Y pipe to the cat back is not welded. I want it to be serviceable. I am considering doing a 6.2 swap before too long and I want to be able to move stuff around. At some point I'll have flanges welded on. Until then I wanted it to seal as good as it could and not throw tons of money at it.
