Competition Another Ebay Item, Stainless "B" Header

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Competition MLS Revisited

Off Roading stuck ranger

don't forget that stainless likes to get brittle and crack in high heat applications... especially when you have no bellows to allow for movement.



as confused and befuddled as I am with the seller for asking $1200, I'm even more confused with anyone who's actually PAYING that!!! $500-600 I could see... but $1200?!? NUPE!!!



Forrest
 
I did a repower once and used a 12V manifold on a 24V until the right parts came in. No major issues, but clearly not a port matched deal... Literally a round hole on the 24V and a near square on the 12V.
 
"I do not think it is necessary for me to describe the Performance gains of having a Header than a Stock Manifold. "





I thought the idea behind a header, was making all the cylinders have the same length tubing. Not the case, looking at the picture.
 
OK he replied and says this one is for the 12v. The plan is to also produce 24v and 3rd Gen versions but this one is the initial effort. Vaughn
 
Anyone ever heard of this outfit, I know i haven't. Has any testing been done with real trucks or is this a one off item?
 
Sled Puller said:
I thought the idea behind a header, was making all the cylinders have the same length tubing. Not the case, looking at the picture.



The first header I built was equal length. This is a old photo, many changes since. I still would like to duplicate it, in inconel or heavy SS tubing. The mild steel worked fine on the track, but we melted it on the dyno work.
 
Nice piece sbentz. I have always hoped someone would come up with a good fundamental design which wouldn't be too difficult to mass produce on a small scall and therefore be reasonably affordable, and hopefully a direct bolt-in. Yeah, asking for a lot, I know. A company here in town builds equal-length tubular headers for 12v, 24v and HPCR trucks, but the workmanship wasn't quite as nice as I would like (at least on the 12v model, the square-to-round transition was cobbled-looking). This piece kept the turbo in the stock location, but clocked the exhaust housing where the header exited into it from below. The headers come with a bracket that bolts to the upper edge of the pan rail to add support for the turbo. They sell for around $750.



Vaughn
 
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bentz, what gauge tubing did you use? a lot of guys I know use schedule 40 weld els to build turbo headers/manifolds... thick wall mild steel works great because it's affordable and doesn't crack like stainless... look at banks' stainless header/manifold that they've got on their sidewinder... it's got belows to allow for the expansion/contraction of the stainless.



Forrest
 
as confused and befuddled as I am with the seller for asking $1200, I'm even more confused with anyone who's actually PAYING that!!! $500-600 I could see... but $1200?!? NUPE!!!



Forrest. .

Have you ever actually priced what it costs to have a "custom" header built lately with the current prices of steel today?. If you had you would understand that even at 1200 his price may be in the ballpark,especially for stainless. I have a gentleman who has a few turnkey SS/AA Hemi cars and he had all new sets of custom built stainless headers built for each of the cars. The bill for those sets was enough to consider it almost like the National Debt.



One thing I can say honestly is this,if you were to ever take your truck to a header man and have a set made most of the cost is for the initial setup labor hours to get it all correct to maximize HP and efficency of flow. There are 3 major header shops in my area and I can tell you that your 5-600 cost is very unrealistic as most would charge you that just for the setup to make them and then charge you for the headers. You would not see a cost reduction until more sets were built and even then it may be small reduction in cost.



Two major problems with building a "header" for our trucks exist and will cause problems. They both make building a header for our trucks very costly...

1-Lack of room-To make a header for our trucks and make it work with our chargers there is a severe shortage or room to make the header correctly. The best flowing headers have a very long collector to help maximize torque and HP. The room we have under our hoods will minimize the ability to have a proper length collector for power and efficency. A short collector kills HP and Tq and usually is used when you need to tune a race car for marginal track surfaces.

2-Flow-To engineer the proper header you will need equal tubing lengths and do it without hurting exhaust flow. To do this inside the confined space of our trucks will go against all the basic laws of building a header. One thing a good header manufacturer trys to do is not follow a bend with a bend. In order to make one for out trucks,and use it under the hood,the tubes will end up looking like a plumbing nightmare. Air doesn't like to bend around corners and flow characteristics will be hurt and power will be lost. Most guys do not want the expense of building something that will cost them power.



Look closely at Scotts dragster header and he has unlimited room. Smooth flowing bends,small straight pieces following the bends,collectors to help maximize the headers efficency and alot of headaches to try and make that fit in your truck. I'd be willing to bet he had and or has a few sets laying around he had built that didn't work the way he desired them too. For the expense to make what may look "neat" under the hood there are certainly better ways to spend ones money on to give you more bang for the buck..... Andy
 
ok, so it's custom... but if the guy's smart, he built a jig, and will start spitting them out... ok, ok... $700-800... I just can't see spending $1200 on a header... it's not even THAT complicated... 2 1/8" primary equal length V8 headers are one thing... that thing's not even equal length.



Forrest
 
How about this... ... . is anyone out there running one of these things. The weight of a stock turbo, never mind something bigger like a "50" cant be good hanging off the end of that set up. I would think it would crack. Maybe for a "comp. set up" this might work, if the runners were equal length. But for a daily driven truck this probably would crack. If I'm incorrect let me know.
 
That thing is way spendy and I'm with forrest on the heat issue stainless can crack under excessive heat, sbentz nice setup!!
 
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