my bandit

iTrader: (10)

does anyone have or have had these?
are they a good fit? i have heard people complain and praise their fitment.
i can get a good deal on these (175) so is it worth it? im mostly just looking for a sound and a little hp increase.

ONES I COULD GET
http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

1slow98Z28

iTrader: (3)

these were on my car when i first got it and werent bad but i did notice alittle better performance out of the pacesetters... but for 175 id say get them

hawk18

i would make sure they fit your f body

9000th01ss

iTrader: (10)

You're going to regret it if you get them. A $175 headache that won't go away until you sell them to another sucker or throw them in the garbage.

My experience, I have them in my silverado. You might think it's comparing apples to oranges but those headers you're looking at have the same ball and socket collector and the same 1/4" flange.

The ball and socket always comes loose, it can be tightened up good and the nuts welded on the bolts and they will still come loose because the heat bends the 1/4" flanges together. the flanges are about 1 1/4" apart when they're straight.

1/4" flanges at the engine? The ones I got had weld beads varying from 3/8" thick to 1/8" thick, so bad NO gasket would seal them. I had to weld it up and regrind it to get them to stop cutting through gaskets.
Now with an LS1 and O2 sensors leaks there are going to cause driveability problems.

The best part is how the carpet burns on the passenger side floor when I run it hard. First few times I smelled it I pulled the carpet back to find glowing red carpet underlay, floor so hot water on it sizzled off.

See their nice warranty? Worthless, it only covers manufacturing defects, not **** design. I contacted them about my truck almost catching fire and they denied it was their headers fault. I call that a defect that the tube runs so close to the floor.

If you buy these for anything, who knows what problems you'll have. I'll never buy hedman headers again.

john563

iTrader: (17)

how much better in terms of rwhp?

1slow98Z28

iTrader: (3)

i kept losing to this one car by a car er so and switched the headers and put LM1 on it instead of the flowmaster and then i was beating him by 2 to 3 cars everytime

supersean

iTrader: (5)

everyone will always have something negative or positive to say about everything. ill tell you have good the hedman headers and y pipe fit tom, ill actually be putting some on my 00 ws6 in the morning. they way i look at it, theres no way they can be worse than the stock manifolds

1 QUIK LS1

iTrader: (4)

I have had them on my 02 Z and fit just fine with no problems.Been on for bout 5 years now and you can see some rust on the collectors but thats it still doing just fine.They are coated also.

my bandit

iTrader: (10)

will the 1/4 size difference matter?

9000th01ss

iTrader: (10)

Heres a set of hedman headers with their 1/4" flanged ball and socket collector.
The 1/4" steel starts out nice and straight, then one day you hear rattling, let it go, then you hear leaking, get under there and find the bolts loose, some missing.
Ok retighten, double nut them, they still come loose, retighten, rattling, retighten, rattling. Why so much retightening? Because the 1/4" steel is bending.
Great design IF they used thicker steel.

If you really like polishing turds get the hedmans.

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

^^^^my flanges look nothing like that. you must be tightening them WAY too much. my car came with them and to my knowledge they have been on the car at least three years. my thoughts on the ball flange so far is pretty damn good. they seal everytime with zero leaks and i have had the y pipe off a bunch. i have taken them off once since getting the car and no header leaks or fitment problems. they do have surface rust and im sure they were the uncoated ones so whatever that comes with being uncoated. now my one and only complaint is that the ball joints do settle after a while and create a bit of slack which will cause a rattling. reach under the car and snug the loose bolt up and done.

9000th01ss

iTrader: (10)

What headers do you have?
I'd prefer they went back to the old style that uses a gasket and the two flanges sandwich the gasket.

On this design, it's the heat that bends the flanges, it's got to be.
They come loose somehow, the bolts are always still tight on the nuts.
Every time I retighten these the flanges just keep getting closer together before the bolt gets enough torque on it.

If you have some upgraded design that uses thicker flanges I could see you not having a problem.

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

^^^well i never looked at thickness but it appears to look very similar to yours. i have the headers that this thread is about. hedman with 3 inch ball flanges just like the ones that are pictured. and its funny because i never have to tighten mine near enough to make the flanges bend. i just snug em up.