Okay, so are Kooks and QTP the only good brands offering stainless steel? Do these come ceramic coated, or is that not necessary/beneficial?

What are the other brands made of? Regular steel?

I'm very new to headers. All of the terminology is pretty new to me (collectors, flanges, etc), so if anyone wanted to do a "for dummies" style explanation, I'd be really appreciative.

 

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ok, so maybe the hookers are middle of the road, and maybe the pacesetters have come a long way, but Ive seen a friends car that had to notch the kmember to fit them in his car. didnt pay attention to ground clearance, and he's no mechanic and he installed them himself. so they get 2 out of 3 for me. like I said though, maybe they fixed there fitment problems cause that was about 2 years ago and the headers came off a friend of his car at that point.
but, back to the hookers, you get the quality (exc. the stainless steel part) of the more expensive headers, the fitment of the best, and a substantial money savings over the best. the only downside is the added cost over the bottom of the barrel headers. also, for the pacesetters, arent those noncoated for the $400ish price? I would not install noncoated headers cause of the cost/hassle of doin the swap w/o a coating they will only last so long before the rust out anyways. you'll get alot more bang for the buck in the end to only have to install headers once, and not buy another set right? much less doin the labor again.
just my two cents anyways.
chris

and as far as the stainless headers go, you should still get them coated for the temp. reason if no other reason. the plug wires will last longer, it'll keep the underhood temps lower, and look better longer.

 

I paid $369 for my coated Pacesetters that came in the mail today.

 

Look into QTP's new deal on stainless steel headers with high velocity merge collectors standard for only $724.99!
I have had uncoated hooker headers since they first came out a few years ago. They are pretty well rusted now and I'm buying headers again. This time I want something that will last, unlike even coated, stainless is the only sure bet.
I paid over $724.99 for uncoated headers and a y-pipe when the hookers first came out, so the price for the QTP's is in comparison a great deal.

 

I agree with most everyone else on this board. Pacesetters are they way to go. They are good qaulity and the price is good. I haven't any fitmit issues and they may have alittle surface rust, but that is all it is. Nothing that can't be scrubbed off.

 

One thing to consider. With Headers there is a chance from time to time that you may scrape. This is just the nature of the beast with our cars. If you do scrape with coated headers then it is logical to assume that the coating in the spot you hit will be gone and rust will set in. Once that happens then your headers will eventually go bad in that spot. I just got in on a GP for the Kooks from a sponsor on LS1 tech. Awesome for the price.

 

Does the coating go on the inside, outside, or both?

Jet-Hot's website implies that coating can create smoother flow, which makes me think that the coating is on the inside. renips' post implies that it's on the outside. Which is it?

I've only heard of SLP longtubes scraping, except on severely lowered cars, which mine is not (and never will be). Have people within 1" of stock ride height had scraping issues with other LT headers?

 

JakeRobb,

I do not want to give you the wrong idea. The Jet hots are probably coated inside and out(not sure), but if scraped then rust will occur and probably from the outside in.
What I mean about scraping is from time to time we all go over a ****ed up speed bump or come out of a gas station with a deep driveway and with a stock manifold and y it is never a problem. If you are not going to lower your car you will be in better shape. Make sure that the headers and Y pipe you get will tuck up nice. Remember that the coating is for rust protection. I know that there are claims that the coating helps keep heat in and velocity gasses at their maximum, but the real reason to get them coated is for rust protection in my opinion Try and see if any members in your area have a particular set up that you can go and see. Ask people with the coated if there are any corrosion issues. Good luck with you search. I found mine.

 

I believe the SLP's are the worst for ground clearance. Im sure there's someone around you with an LS1 LT equiped car, but if you are ever in my dads area (westland) I could take you over his house and show you his jet hots.

 

My pacesetters are coated inside and outside

 

They may be coated for the first few inches at any openings, but they are not completely coated inside and out. They would have to be dipped to be completely coated inside.

That's why I would reccommend stainless to anyone who plans to keep their car for more than a year or two. I bought mild steel Hookers when they first came out as the first real affordable LT header for the LS1. Now a couple years later I've ordered stainless steel QTP headers. They will never fall victim to rust like all mild steel AND coated headers eventually will.

 

No, they are really coated inside and out. I took a snake light and ran it through the headers while they were off my car and all i could see was coating all the way through.

Just a side note, I finally got the car running tonight since I just got back from KC and HOLY FN CRAP!!! That thing runs good, no ground clearence issues, not knocking on any of the body and it sounds god awful mean when you get on it. I can probably thank the GMMG for that.

 

Maybe if they are daily driven in Alaska or Seattle I would say anyone who is not daily driving thier car (in other words no snow or rain will touch it) can see a LOT more then 2 years from coated headers. I plan to see my coated Pacesetters last many, many years. But my car will only see dry conditions and probably not get more then 5K miles put on in a years time (or in my case half a years time since it stays in storage half the year).

But for daily driven cars I do agree that the extra $$$ spent on stainless steel will pay for itself over the long haul.

 

I have coated Hookers and am very happy with them. I also had MACs mid-lengths and they kicked *** too (just don't use MAC's cats). I have Sportlines that drop my Z28 about two inches and although I have yet to scrape them really bad, I don't use her as a daily driver either.