My eBay Headers Experience (with Pics)
On The Tree
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 166
Likes: 0
From: Houston
would you please explain why? is it because he is not comparing brands? or the fact that headers are headers wont suit you? as a matter of fact, headers are headers....
great work op! i love it. looks very clean. wish i went with motor mounts too
i was too excited to wait lol!
great work op! i love it. looks very clean. wish i went with motor mounts too
i was too excited to wait lol!besides ebay headers are cheap, hence cheap inferior metal. so if that engine moves around enough, prepare to have your primaries welded back to the flanges.
TECH Resident
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 801
Likes: 1
From: Anaheim Ca.
I looked all over for that too but they all come with egr and air tubes. I talked to a welding shop that can tig weld stainless and they will take them off and fill the holes for $15.00. I would rather do that then take the chance of having them break off once they are on the car. That air tube is way too long not to be better supported IMO.
I ordered mine yesterday at $159 shipped. There is a bunch of vendors that have them and they all look exactly the same so I just went with the cheapest price. I'm going to use a TSP non catted stainless Y pipe and hope for the best with the rap issue. It wouldn't be hard to add a resonator later on if it's annoying.
I really appreciate you guys doing these write ups. You saved me a ton of $$!
I ordered mine yesterday at $159 shipped. There is a bunch of vendors that have them and they all look exactly the same so I just went with the cheapest price. I'm going to use a TSP non catted stainless Y pipe and hope for the best with the rap issue. It wouldn't be hard to add a resonator later on if it's annoying.
I really appreciate you guys doing these write ups. You saved me a ton of $$!
guitar is right, headers are not just headers. there is a science to it. yea you get some chinese headers and see a gain. but when your putting some serious power down. everything you do to the engine, including headers, becomes a science. everything from stepped runners to collectors will have an effect on the engines performance.
besides ebay headers are cheap, hence cheap inferior metal. so if that engine moves around enough, prepare to have your primaries welded back to the flanges.
besides ebay headers are cheap, hence cheap inferior metal. so if that engine moves around enough, prepare to have your primaries welded back to the flanges.
i wouldnt suggest a 1000 dollar set of headers to someone who wants a few more ponies and just a few bolt ons...they would immediately get tired of dumping money into a LS1 car...start cheap...see what they can do...then go to really modding it...
once again...not knocking your opinion here...and yes your right when it comes to serious power and the overall parts on it...
other side...what are you really giving up on a set of ebay headers vs. a name brand 1 3/4 longtube? 5hp??? i havent seen many comparions of same size headers verses each other....but the difference in price means a lot of cool other parts when starting out...
example...1000 bucks...
early ls1 fbody (98)...
guy 1...arh headers and y pipe...money spent...20-30 to the tires...
guy 2 ebay headers, y pipe, ls6 intake, udp, possibly tune...way more power...
On The Tree
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 166
Likes: 0
From: Houston
true....but for a cheap easy bolt on...ebay headers are pretty bad ***...and they arent super grade stainless or nothing...but the welds on mine (and many others) look great and i havent had any problems with them...matter fact, mine look better than many name brand mild steel headers for that fact...
i wouldnt suggest a 1000 dollar set of headers to someone who wants a few more ponies and just a few bolt ons...they would immediately get tired of dumping money into a LS1 car...start cheap...see what they can do...then go to really modding it...
once again...not knocking your opinion here...and yes your right when it comes to serious power and the overall parts on it...
other side...what are you really giving up on a set of ebay headers vs. a name brand 1 3/4 longtube? 5hp??? i havent seen many comparions of same size headers verses each other....but the difference in price means a lot of cool other parts when starting out...
example...1000 bucks...
early ls1 fbody (98)...
guy 1...arh headers and y pipe...money spent...20-30 to the tires...
guy 2 ebay headers, y pipe, ls6 intake, udp, possibly tune...way more power...
i wouldnt suggest a 1000 dollar set of headers to someone who wants a few more ponies and just a few bolt ons...they would immediately get tired of dumping money into a LS1 car...start cheap...see what they can do...then go to really modding it...
once again...not knocking your opinion here...and yes your right when it comes to serious power and the overall parts on it...
other side...what are you really giving up on a set of ebay headers vs. a name brand 1 3/4 longtube? 5hp??? i havent seen many comparions of same size headers verses each other....but the difference in price means a lot of cool other parts when starting out...
example...1000 bucks...
early ls1 fbody (98)...
guy 1...arh headers and y pipe...money spent...20-30 to the tires...
guy 2 ebay headers, y pipe, ls6 intake, udp, possibly tune...way more power...
TSP headers are 400 and change. For me its quality over quantity
with the y theyre 550 plus shipping...and yeah thats a good price...i think i got my ebay headers used and like 250 to my door...with the y...ill someday upgrade to the 1 7/8 from tsp...they make awesome stuff, got plenty of their parts on my car...
Have you seen that happen? Have had mine on for three years only problem I had was air tube breaking off but that happens on high end ones too.
On The Tree
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 166
Likes: 0
From: Houston
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true....but for a cheap easy bolt on...ebay headers are pretty bad ***...and they arent super grade stainless or nothing...but the welds on mine (and many others) look great and i havent had any problems with them...matter fact, mine look better than many name brand mild steel headers for that fact...
i wouldnt suggest a 1000 dollar set of headers to someone who wants a few more ponies and just a few bolt ons...they would immediately get tired of dumping money into a LS1 car...start cheap...see what they can do...then go to really modding it...
once again...not knocking your opinion here...and yes your right when it comes to serious power and the overall parts on it...
other side...what are you really giving up on a set of ebay headers vs. a name brand 1 3/4 longtube? 5hp??? i havent seen many comparions of same size headers verses each other....but the difference in price means a lot of cool other parts when starting out...
example...1000 bucks...
early ls1 fbody (98)...
guy 1...arh headers and y pipe...money spent...20-30 to the tires...
guy 2 ebay headers, y pipe, ls6 intake, udp, possibly tune...way more power...
i wouldnt suggest a 1000 dollar set of headers to someone who wants a few more ponies and just a few bolt ons...they would immediately get tired of dumping money into a LS1 car...start cheap...see what they can do...then go to really modding it...
once again...not knocking your opinion here...and yes your right when it comes to serious power and the overall parts on it...
other side...what are you really giving up on a set of ebay headers vs. a name brand 1 3/4 longtube? 5hp??? i havent seen many comparions of same size headers verses each other....but the difference in price means a lot of cool other parts when starting out...
example...1000 bucks...
early ls1 fbody (98)...
guy 1...arh headers and y pipe...money spent...20-30 to the tires...
guy 2 ebay headers, y pipe, ls6 intake, udp, possibly tune...way more power...
For the budget minded person the ebay headers are a great way to go but I'd rather pay the extra money, get a better header that will make more power, fit better and best of all put some money into a fellow American's wallet.
Also I'd check the ebay headers before putting them in I have seen some advertised as 1-3/4 but come in and the whole tube only measures 1-5/8, so def not a true 1-3/4 primary.
I am not sayin Ebay headers are the best or anything like that. They are a nice budget friendly mod and make good power.
When I was researching them before I bought them I could not find many threads at all about extensive work to get them to fit. Has everyone bringing up the problem even worked with them directly? Not being an azz just want to know if these are actually experances or the "Ebay headers are bad" brain wash. zzcamaro00 thats crazy about the headers on the gto. but that is first and only time I have heard anything like that about them so to tell people be prepaired to have it happen is a little over the top.
When I was researching them before I bought them I could not find many threads at all about extensive work to get them to fit. Has everyone bringing up the problem even worked with them directly? Not being an azz just want to know if these are actually experances or the "Ebay headers are bad" brain wash. zzcamaro00 thats crazy about the headers on the gto. but that is first and only time I have heard anything like that about them so to tell people be prepaired to have it happen is a little over the top.
Like I said about a year and a half ago when I started this thread, I'm just a college student who loves cars, my budget's of course lower than most because colleges like to shaft students lol. If I could have afforded some ARH's or Kooks you bet I would have bought them, but these headers worked just fine for my application and I put out some pretty good numbers with them. I now own a c5 FRC after selling my WS6 (which had poly mm's and tranny mount and still no busted collectors) and put JBA long tubes on it (the cheapest name brand long tubes for the c5) as well as my friends c5 z06 and they're still doing just fine on both of our cars. In fact, he just put down 430rwhp after a forged bottom end build and mild cam. I don't do these huge engine builds where the kind of collectors or size of the primaries is going to make or break my build, so I just go with whatever headers I can find that are stainless and longtubes for a good deal. 
No offense but this all a bad comparison. I have nothing against ebay headers but I have seen the quality of them range from all over the place, some fit like a glove and don't hit anything. Some require major cutting to get them to fit. Not to say this doesnt happen with some of the more budget brands but it seems to happen more frequently with the ebay ones. I have bbk's on my car currently and they fit great and made good power. Now I just bought a set of ARH's to replace them as they are becoming rusted after 4 years. There's simply no comparison, looking at the ,merge collector and velocity spike on the arh's I have no problem seeing the dyno gains people post when switching from regular headers to the better brands. The quality of the arh's is light years ahead of my bbk's and the pacestters we put on my buddy's car.
For the budget minded person the ebay headers are a great way to go but I'd rather pay the extra money, get a better header that will make more power, fit better and best of all put some money into a fellow American's wallet.
Also I'd check the ebay headers before putting them in I have seen some advertised as 1-3/4 but come in and the whole tube only measures 1-5/8, so def not a true 1-3/4 primary.
For the budget minded person the ebay headers are a great way to go but I'd rather pay the extra money, get a better header that will make more power, fit better and best of all put some money into a fellow American's wallet.
Also I'd check the ebay headers before putting them in I have seen some advertised as 1-3/4 but come in and the whole tube only measures 1-5/8, so def not a true 1-3/4 primary.
not sure...you didnt really hit the point of why that isnt a fair comparison...then you bring in some other headers that you say "im replacing them with arh headers because theyre rusting" not sure what your getting at here...im not really comparing these ebay headers to the higher end components....of course they probably looked at a picture of arh headers and said "we can build that".....and they dont all fit right...on the other hand...idk who is against taking a grinder to their stock k-member to get a pair of headers to fit.....i see nothing wrong with that....i dont expect every aftermarket component to fit right...
Simply because they aren't.i have seen and held ebay headers and the quality difference is more than noticeable. I also said how I could clearly see the merge collector and velocity spike on some of the better headers would make more power. My point was that you were comparing cost of the better headers to ebay headers and SEEMED to be saying they were the same product more or less which they are not. Sorry if I took that the wrong way.
As far as cutting goes I have installed many different ls1 headers, pacesetters, bbks, kooks and the original Grotoyohan's and the only one that needed cutting were the grots because the k-member had been tweaked in an accident. But even those once installed didn't come close to the k member.
It seemed to me that you were saying that they ebay header are just as good as some of the top header brands, or at least that the gains from quality headers are negligible compared to the ebay ones. I wasn't really making a point with my BBK's? I liked them and they served their purpose but after I bought ARH's I can simply see why people dont put them in the same league...
Simply because they aren't.i have seen and held ebay headers and the quality difference is more than noticeable. I also said how I could clearly see the merge collector and velocity spike on some of the better headers would make more power. My point was that you were comparing cost of the better headers to ebay headers and SEEMED to be saying they were the same product more or less which they are not. Sorry if I took that the wrong way.
As far as cutting goes I have installed many different ls1 headers, pacesetters, bbks, kooks and the original Grotoyohan's and the only one that needed cutting were the grots because the k-member had been tweaked in an accident. But even those once installed didn't come close to the k member.
Simply because they aren't.i have seen and held ebay headers and the quality difference is more than noticeable. I also said how I could clearly see the merge collector and velocity spike on some of the better headers would make more power. My point was that you were comparing cost of the better headers to ebay headers and SEEMED to be saying they were the same product more or less which they are not. Sorry if I took that the wrong way.
As far as cutting goes I have installed many different ls1 headers, pacesetters, bbks, kooks and the original Grotoyohan's and the only one that needed cutting were the grots because the k-member had been tweaked in an accident. But even those once installed didn't come close to the k member.
i'm in no way comparing them to a higher quality header...merely stating the price makes them an awesome buy...
TECH Regular
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 423
Likes: 1
From: Wildomar, CA
Again no offense to them as they do make a good product. But for the 200 I would rather not remove my MM and put the money into American industry rather than just a business mans pocket.
If someone has a budget the tsp or ebay headers are a great buy. If they want to step up to something better there's always the option or the better brands