Well I was messing around with somebody and spun the 383 up to around 6500 or so and BOOM...POP...pop...pop..pop...pop...car starts sounding like an old farm truck with rusted off exhaust all the sudden, not to mention scared the out of me a moment thinking it was something catastrophic.

I drive it home and pop the hood to find the EGR port (which was welded shut with a piece of scrap metal for 6-7 years now) was completely blown off and a huge quarter size hold in one of the primaries. Must be some serious back pressure going on at high RPM... I know I could probably gain 15+ HP since the 383 is a bit choked with mid-tubes and 1 5/8 primaries, but would prefer to save some $$ and get these repaired if possible to keep good ground clearance, not ready to wrestle around with a header swap unless absolutely necessary.

So my question is to anyone with welding experience.....can this hole be fixed? Or is there going to be all sorts of "boogers" inside the primary significantly affecting flow to this cylinder?

Next question if this isn't fixable, what's the most budget friendly long tube that has great (stock like) ground clearance for a lowered car?

 

Measure diameter of primary OD, find a pipe that size in ID and splice over half it and weld around that hole. A patch like.

Pending how thick the header primary is it may be tough to get a good bead without blowing through but any good welder should be able to handle that.

 

I gotcha....good idea, I'll definitely look into that.

 

Yes that's fixable.

 

I don't see why not

 

Yes, fixable like stated above with the patch welded on.

On a side note, I thought I had back pressure issues with my O2 blowing out. DAMN!

 

Just out of curiosity, what brand headers are those?

 

They look like high quality pacesetters

 

Yeah, are pacesetters.

 

That happend to my Pacesetter mids.. All I did was pop off that little plate that's tack welded on the primary and welded it over the hole..

 

As long as you get good penetration while tacking it all the way around it will hold

 

+1... That's exactly how I'd do it

 

Just my luck, that damn "armor coating" ceramic coat that I paid extra for (holds up very well after many years) has come back to bite me in the a$$, I took it to an exhaust shop (with a certified welder with many years experience) and he said while welding the patch will make a bead like it's working; but then pop right off; he says he tried a different aluminum welder too but that coating is not allowing a decent weld that sticks...WTF.

So basically, let this be a warning to stay the hell away from Pacesetter mids period; as apparently I'm not the only one who has issues with the EGR port falling off due to crappy welds/workmanship. I'm kinda pissed since headers are such a major PITA on these cars to fool with yet again.

So it looks like I'm gonna be forced to buy some halfway decent longtubes and re-do my custom y-pipe or get a brand new one. On the positive side they should "uncork" my 383 and let it breath to it's full potential and add a few more HP.

Ground clearance is my biggest concern however as it's lowered 1.5" and the y-pipe is pretty low as it is....please chime in if you are lowered with longtubes (that are still in production and available for purchase) and comment on how they fit, ground clearance, manufacturing quality, ect..."CARB" legal is no longer a concern, I don't want any EGR ports that come flying off randomly.

 

hmmm... I would think welding would NOT be an issue if you ground off the ceramic coating in the spot you want to weld. If you want to send the header to me, I'll give it a try for you at no cost (you just cover shipping). PM me if interested.

 

Excellent idea....why didn't I think of that?? LOL. I just called up the shop again since they've got my car there already, and asked them if they have a grinder of some sort small enough to get in there with the header still on the car....waiting to hear back from the welder as he was working on something else. They did mention they won't charge me anything for their attempt. I was just brainstorming from my experience doing plumbing years ago; do you think that 180 grit abrasive open mesh cloth (used for cleaning up copper pipes/brass fittings before soldering: ) might work? That cloth would easily fit where most grinders wouldn't in that tight area... Maybe I could try sanding it down myself to bare metal while still on the car....hmmm. Otherwise I might just take you up on that generous offer as a header swap isn't cheap or fun to do IMO.

 

If you do end up going with long tubes stay clear of the crap from Texas Speed, worse fitting headers i've had to deal with.

Hopefully the shop can get it fixed for you.

 

I've heard good things about lpp( maybe llp) guy makes them in his free time and seems to do pretty good work. I do believe he's listed in the sponsors on here.

 

FWIW I had a hole in a header welded and the headers were ceramic coated. The shop just ground it off in the area being welded and welded on a patch. Been fine now for about 10 years

 

Your welder is lazy. Sand the coating off, weld, spray with BBQ paint, done.

LPP and XS Power are good quality headers but the customer service is total ****. A few weeks ago they were sending everyone eBay Y pipes that didn't fit their stepped headers.

 

Yeah, prolly so However after a bit of prodding I got them to bust out the grinder wheel with a steel brush on it and get the area down to bare metal and after that the weld would finally hold; they charged me extra of course, and then there was a small exhaust leak from the patch, which resulted in gobbing exhaust cement on it, then it was still leaking out of one side barely after driving home yesterday, but today took it back and yet another gob of exhaust cement seems to have fixed the issue; it' ain't pretty to say the least, however it is saving me hundreds of dollars from buying a whole new header setup and PITA of install. I still would not recommend these particular headers due to this issue FWIW.