American Racing 2" primary headers. PICS!
08-30-2009, 02:08 AM
#1
American Racing 2" primary headers. PICS! I had Kooks 1 7/8" - 2" headers on my car. While they were good headers, I wasn't completely satisified. There was a little left on the table with the material that Kooks used, so I saw this as a chance to upgrade to American Racing. I called them up and ordered directly from them. The total turn around time from the day that I called to the day I recieved them was about 2 weeks. Now mind you, they had to make them for me. 2 weeks to make a set of headers for a customer is REAL fast in my book.
Talked to the owner himself, seemed like a good guy that took pride in his work. I had one question for him. Do you guys use American 304 steel in these headers? He assured me they sure did, and when I recieved them I was relieved to see that they do. These are real high quality headers, and you can see they use American steel in them.
MOST of the header companys that market their headers as 304 SS are using Chinese 304 steel, which begins to develop surface rust spots due to contaminated nickel. They wont rust through, but they deffinantly start looking like crap after a few months of being on the car. I know from experience.
Here are the pics. I have the Y-pipe as well, but didn't take any pictures of it yet. The Y-pipe looks real top notch as well. It is a dual 3" going into a nice merge and straightens out to a 4". I will take pictures of that when I get a chance.
Talked to the owner himself, seemed like a good guy that took pride in his work. I had one question for him. Do you guys use American 304 steel in these headers? He assured me they sure did, and when I recieved them I was relieved to see that they do. These are real high quality headers, and you can see they use American steel in them.
MOST of the header companys that market their headers as 304 SS are using Chinese 304 steel, which begins to develop surface rust spots due to contaminated nickel. They wont rust through, but they deffinantly start looking like crap after a few months of being on the car. I know from experience.
Here are the pics. I have the Y-pipe as well, but didn't take any pictures of it yet. The Y-pipe looks real top notch as well. It is a dual 3" going into a nice merge and straightens out to a 4". I will take pictures of that when I get a chance.
Last edited by Jimmy P; 08-30-2009 at 02:18 AM.
08-30-2009, 02:34 AM
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Are'nt they pretty! Yes ARH are a real nice piece for sure. I worked on a car with Kooks headers just yesterday and saw the odd type looking rust on them. They get ugly as hell for a stainless piece anyway. My ARH's seem to only have gotten a slight golden hue on them since run in. I live 30 minutes from them and needed a bit of help with getting the headers/y-pipe to mate to my existing exhuast. I stopped in and met with the owner what a nice down to earth guy and one hell of a busy operation! He promptly hooked me up with EXACTLY what I needed and my exhuast mated to my headers/y-pipe perfectly.
08-30-2009, 02:46 AM
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Those look exactly like mine, except mine are AR 1 3/4 in, I love mine. Installation was a breeze. I can't believe that the 2'' ones fit, mine come so close to parts of the car as it is!
08-30-2009, 03:35 AM
#4
I worked on a car with Kooks headers just yesterday and saw the odd type looking rust on them. They get ugly as hell for a stainless piece anyway.
I can't believe that the 2'' ones fit, mine come so close to parts of the car as it is!
08-30-2009, 06:54 AM
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Nice piece of equipment that is for sure. What will be breathing through those giant primaries? Bet it is gonna make changing plugs a royal pain in the ***
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08-30-2009, 05:50 PM
#10
They are going on a 10:1 compresion 402, around 20lbs of boost via a Procharger F1C, with ETP 245 heads. I was told to go with headers as big as possible on the setup.
I got a question for you guys. What exhaust clamps are you guys using with these headers? They came with real thick clamps that seem like they would work by "crushing" the pipes. I am getting the headers ceramic coated and realy dont want to crush them. Are you guys using the supplied clamps, or using clamps like these?
I got a question for you guys. What exhaust clamps are you guys using with these headers? They came with real thick clamps that seem like they would work by "crushing" the pipes. I am getting the headers ceramic coated and realy dont want to crush them. Are you guys using the supplied clamps, or using clamps like these?
08-30-2009, 08:08 PM
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I personally would have someone to weld me on some V clamps like you run on turbo setups before I had the coated. That to me would be the ultimate setup I hate normal band clamps vibration stretches them and they just suck always leak somewhere.
08-30-2009, 08:17 PM
#12
Well I normaly use the type of clamp that I posted above. As long as I use plenty of high temp RTV and use a impact wrench they seem to seal prety well..I was just curious if any of you guys have used the ones that are supplied with the headers.
I thought about the v-band clamps, but I am kind of over budget already lol.
I thought about the v-band clamps, but I am kind of over budget already lol.
08-30-2009, 08:24 PM
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If I had a set laying around I would give them to you just to make those headers look even better than they already do. Would be the icing on the cake right there.
08-30-2009, 08:26 PM
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I used the supplied clamps. The header Y junctions are slip fit and I asked Nick at ARH specifically about how hard these would be to seperate if I ever needed to. He told me the stainless steel helps keep them from seizing. The supllied bands crush over a large area and evenly there will br no crimped areas. Who is doing the coating for you?
09-01-2009, 06:59 PM
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I had Kooks 1 7/8" - 2" headers on my car. While they were good headers, I wasn't completely satisified. There was a little left on the table with the material that Kooks used, so I saw this as a chance to upgrade to American Racing. I called them up and ordered directly from them. The total turn around time from the day that I called to the day I recieved them was about 2 weeks. Now mind you, they had to make them for me. 2 weeks to make a set of headers for a customer is REAL fast in my book.
Talked to the owner himself, seemed like a good guy that took pride in his work. I had one question for him. Do you guys use American 304 steel in these headers? He assured me they sure did, and when I recieved them I was relieved to see that they do. These are real high quality headers, and you can see they use American steel in them.
MOST of the header companys that market their headers as 304 SS are using Chinese 304 steel, which begins to develop surface rust spots due to contaminated nickel. They wont rust through, but they deffinantly start looking like crap after a few months of being on the car. I know from experience.
Here are the pics. I have the Y-pipe as well, but didn't take any pictures of it yet. The Y-pipe looks real top notch as well. It is a dual 3" going into a nice merge and straightens out to a 4". I will take pictures of that when I get a chance.
Talked to the owner himself, seemed like a good guy that took pride in his work. I had one question for him. Do you guys use American 304 steel in these headers? He assured me they sure did, and when I recieved them I was relieved to see that they do. These are real high quality headers, and you can see they use American steel in them.
MOST of the header companys that market their headers as 304 SS are using Chinese 304 steel, which begins to develop surface rust spots due to contaminated nickel. They wont rust through, but they deffinantly start looking like crap after a few months of being on the car. I know from experience.
Here are the pics. I have the Y-pipe as well, but didn't take any pictures of it yet. The Y-pipe looks real top notch as well. It is a dual 3" going into a nice merge and straightens out to a 4". I will take pictures of that when I get a chance.