Junk Headers!!

[shawnster]

I bought a set of Brand New Headers (flowtech) and I got them installed and took the car for a 30 min ride..I got the car back to the garage and opened the hood and HOLY CRAP!! all the paint was flaked off of them and they look like total crap now!!..why did they even bother painting them? Im about ready to take them off and return them to summit and get another brand..any suggestions??

 

[Stang951]

Did you strip the factory coating off of them first. Most co's put a coating on them to keep them from rusting. You are supposed to strip this coating off, and then use a hig temp paint for headers afterwards.

 

[shawnster]

No I didnt..It didnt say anything in the instruction manual about that..I found that Eastwood carries a header paint that will not burn off..I guess I'll be taking them back off and painting them..at least I dont have to strip off the factory paint now!

 

[FiveOhhStang]

Lol, yeah some people paint them before, but that just cuase they hear stories like this before hand. Anyhoo..How where the Flow-Techs, performance Wise? Did you feel a nice difference? Worth the money?
-Nick

 

[shawnster]

Well, it was grinding when I slam it into 2nd gear but lets just say, I couldnt keep the tires from breaking loose in 1st..I mean..if you just give it a little gas, they start spinning..brand new yokos too..I think the flow techs improved it..I also have a new 2.5 h-pipe and american thunders dumped too..cant wait to find someone to install 3.73 gears for a reasonable price!

 

[StreetStang37]

i just put a set of flowtech longtubes on and they didnt make much if any more power than my Hooker Equal Length Shorties. They do make alot more low end tq though. on my g tech (for what its worth to you, atleast its consistant) made no more than about 5 hp on the topend but showed a 35 ft lbs tq gain at 3000, im sure the gain would have been bigger even lower in the rpm range. By 4000 rpm it had pretty much evened out with the long tubes about 3 ft lbs more through 6000 rpm. Sorry, no real dynos, no $$.

 

[StreetStang37]

btw, the instructions say the coating is just for shipping.

 

[Michael Yount]

Guess you've learned the hard way about header coatings - but almost anyone with any experience at all could have told you that any coating from the header company is gonna burn right off - unless they were ceramic coated. Even the high temp paints applied after carefully sandblasting the headers will only last for a relatively short time. Ceramic coating is the only way to go if you want the headers to have a coating that will last and look good. Now you know.

 

[87gtconv]

And the ceramic coating do help keep heat and power in the tubes too!!

 

[65ShelbyClone]

The Flowtechs are cheap, but I dont mind the fact that the pain burned off and they're rusty. Now they look stock. In CA that comes in handy for more than one reason.