Starting a thread here to review these "Speed Daddy" Headers that you can buy on ebay. Here's the listing (who knows how long the URL will be accurate, sorry if it expires someday).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/190660419153?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

So they're made of T304 stainless which is pretty good. They showed up at my house and the whole thing was polished stainless and looked pretty great. I'm sure it'll "blue" over time as it goes through heat cycles but it beats the heck out of regular steel (heavy rust) and who wants to pay for ceramic coated?

Up sides... Very good fit & finish. I had no confidence issues as I handed them over to the exhaust guys for installation. The flange is VERY hefty and above average. I forgot to measure with a caliper but it was thicker than the pace setter headers that are coming off.

Down side..... Exhaust shop calls me and tells me the manifold bolt holes are slightly off. They're drilling them out to widen them where necessary. They could get 3/4 of the tubes properly bolted, by the time they got to the 4th the alignment was too far off to "make it work."

Still don't have the truck back, but I'll let you know what it sounds/looks/feels like when it's done. Hopefully that happens tonight. For $167...... hard to complain.

Ryan

In case anyone is googling for a review, the part # is HDSFB15058LV8

Ryan

I'm very interested in your findings as I'm looking for LT headers for my '96. My '91 had JBA shorty headers that I really liked. Looking at the longer tubes to gain more torque in the low and mid range.

I'll let you know. The truck still isn't done, hoping for today (again).

Ryan

Called the shop to see how the exhaust installation was going. Instead of the nice receptionist, the owner/exhaust guy answered. He seemed less than impressed with my "chinese crap" that they "use metric to manufacture." lol, they're dragging their feet to modify the headers and bore the manifold bolts out to make them fit properly.

Ryan

Metric....

lol love the metric comment as if almost every U.S car and truck from 1982 did use metric to start with . hope they work well. i've had great luck with my obx eBay header on my 2.0 8v jetta.

Domestics started using metric in 1978 on the body, and a mix of metric and standard on the motors....

The whining is why I tend to just do my own upgrades, as if it doesn't immediately jump into place, most shops whine. With the Cummins conversions, it is hard to find shops that will even touch them.

Normally I'd do my own headers but in this case I was in a time crunch, would have had to deal with the scrap metal anyway from removal of the rest of the pipes (that no longer would connect) and figured... what the heck.

So I tossed them the keys. Now that I know the bolt holes don't line up, I'm glad I did.

Ryan

I forgot to update.

Item doesn't fit. The flange doesn't fit, and then once it was bored out to match bolt holes, the header itself runs into the starter and transmission. It's so bad it can't even be bent to fit.

Terrible item. If I'm giving it a grade: F-. Don't be tempted by the price.

Putting on the old ugly shorty headers and doing the 3" system after the Y-pipe. $170 very poorly wasted.

Ryan

That sucks...headers are one of those items I stick with the matra 'cheap isn't good and good isn't cheap'. I'm not sure there's a header out there under $400 I'd actuall buy...plus another $450 in coating. If I can't swing that...I'll just stick with manifolds.

UTfball68 said:

That sucks...headers are one of those items I stick with the matra 'cheap isn't good and good isn't cheap'. I'm not sure there's a header out there under $400 I'd actuall buy...plus another $450 in coating. If I can't swing that...I'll just stick with manifolds.

Click to expand...

I can't argue with that, although I don't understand why one of these cheap outlets can't figure out how to make a plain-jane stainless steel header. If nothing else, buy a good one, steal the measurements, then bend them in China and get the stupid thing to fit.

Ryan

I've been wondering the same thing. I really don't have an issue with a header being cheap...it's just the cheap ones typically don't fit worth a damn. I'd have no issues if someone made a Mad Dog copy for FE/385's with a thinner flange and thinner tubes...or a Sanderson in the 335 world.

Bummer Ryan.