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Cracked primary header...suggestions??

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Old Oct 27, 2004 | 09:40 PM
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Question Cracked primary header...suggestions??

Ok, the primary on the passenger side tube, front of the head, cracked and ripped open a little tear. I can see where the metal has basically erroded away to paper thin...I am not a happy camper. $650.00 and 2 months on the car...you gotta be kidding me.
I unfortuantely bought these used, but they appeared to be in great shape. I definately trust the seller, I'm just out a bunch of cash.
I'm looking for suggestions or testimonials about having them re-welded and re-coated.
Anyone had this happen to them, any luck with a fix????
I'm interested in finding out if it was worth it to fix them or to chuck em and buy a new set.

Thanks,
Kev
P.S. Making a police car go fast used to be cool...now it's getting to be a pain.
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Old Oct 27, 2004 | 09:58 PM
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you should be able to reweld them, getting someone thats skilled enough to do it without messing them up would be the problem.
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Old Oct 27, 2004 | 10:50 PM
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I had SLP headers shipped to me from there factory and they had a few holes in them. I welded them myself, and I am damn shure not a welder, and I never had any problems. A decent welder should be able to fix them, then after a re-coat, they should be good as new.
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Old Oct 27, 2004 | 10:55 PM
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I'd weld them up for you, but that's a tad to far of a drive...They shouldn't be hard to weld-up. Just be sure to find a shop that knows what they're doing as it isn't hard to burn-through thin metal.
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Old Oct 27, 2004 | 10:59 PM
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hahaha Kev is just down the road a bit from me. hell yea that'd be a bit of a drive.
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Old Oct 28, 2004 | 02:35 AM
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Thanks for the input. I'm gonna take em over to Wolfe and ask him to fix em up.
Now to get 3 hours time to drop that beotch out of there.
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Old Oct 28, 2004 | 08:55 AM
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You can get kits of prebent primary tubing. I wonder
if the metal has actually been eroded from inside (by
lean @ hot or something). If the metal is unusually
thinned then you may have to replace a larger run
of the primary than just a little stitch, and check all
of the others as to whether they're sound or just
waiting to blow through a little later.

Can you say what brand, what gauge and what
material? Thin wall mild vs stainless, durability is
a question I never see represented in any detail
by manufacturers.
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Old Oct 28, 2004 | 02:26 PM
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I highly doubt it's stainless as I've never heard of such a thing with stainless headers. It actually happens quite often with mild steel headers-more than you hear about. Not to speak off-key of Pacesetters, but I'd say 90% of these corroded stories are with their headers. It could just be because they're the more popular among the members, but who knows.
Extreme lean conditions can cause very extreme tempuratures just as Jimmy mentioned (13-1400*). Extreme enough to completely melt off even the thickest ceramic coatings. That could definitely also assist in eroding mild steel over a short period time. I'd impact test the primaries all around and also down a few inches from the flange. We're not talking blunt forces with a BFH, but enough with a ball peen to know this isn't going to happen again in a week. Good luck Kev...
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