Made in China BBC headers any good?
 

So I was looking on eBay for headers for my 33 outlaw rebuild and I found these. How bad can they possibly be and at 350/set can you really go wrong? Even if they only last one year you can run a new set each year for 5 years and still save money over the fancy high priced headers I keep seeing everywhere. There must be some sort of justifiable reason why marine headers cost 2k/set+ however. Can anyone explain how/why the Stellings or CMI's cost so much more than these Chinese versions?

Has anyone ever used these before?:

http://i1283.photobucket.com/albums/...psse3vw0ah.jpg

Have we really not past the point of being sucked in to 'too be good to be true prices' from China ?

How's Lumber Liquidators doing lately?


And BTW: those photos are of water injected headers - not water jacketed headers. Huge difference in manufacturing ! You need water jacketed headers.

Those are over trans jet boat headers

Ahh injected not jacketed. Huge difference! That's why they're 350 bucks

I would prob rather have a nice used set of bassetts with the waterlines for 500 . For my jet boat

a good set of manifolds are said to produce more h.p than headers/that's debatable at least to me . I love the look of a stainless header, but I went w / the used stainless marine manifolds on a procharged 509, dry to the end, looked a little beat up I paid 500.00 w/ risers,+150 for a 2 tome paint job. and I doubt they will ever crack. and looking inside them the ports are 2 time the size of a header. I sold a 20yr old set of bassets w/ the regulator and water injector manifolds for 350 at the swap meet last year.

i looked up the website and called. immediate voicemail. left message i wanted some info on the double walled headers. couple hours later i got a text...a friggin TEXT! "i have them in stock let me know if you need a set." that is some serious customer service.

The only thing close to being good from China is sweet and sour chicken balls .

they are probably using texting because of their poor english. i'm no saying to buy from them but if you had a chance to talk on the phone with them you would appreciate the text! I have imported several big ticket items (20k+) over the years and prefer to communicate via text/email for clarification and record keeping.

They have thru transom headers for 350 bux also . Look like jet boat style .if you had a cam . And a jet boat and didnt mind fabbing some water lines and knew how to plumb a overboard dump and were on a shoestring budget and they fit ,might not be a bad deal for o.t jetboat exhaust . I think rewarders are a thou a set now. Wouldnt even think about it for sterndrive though.

Ivan.....I assume you boat in Salt being from NYC. If I am not mistaken isn't water intrusion through exhaust rotting and weld fatiuge the biggest cause of engine failures in salt water boats? Thinking someone can put together "safe" marine exhaust for $350 is comical at best. I won't even run used exhaust on my boats, unless I am 100 percent sure of the history since new, and even then I would have them checked out.

Sure, true headers new are expensive......but not nearly as expensive as the engines they are attached to in most cases. Headers add bling, give better access for repairs, and give a slightly raspier "true header" sound that many can't even discern. In most cases a SM, GIL or similar will give the same performance, and are much safer overall due to their simple design. However, the cast aluminum manifolds of SM, GIL and such are far from salt proof.

also the alloy in these headers is not the best for a corrosive environment.

I'm all in favor of buying good quality items from any country/market..even from a little green man from Pluto- it doesn't matter- but sometimes spending more on the front end can save a lot on the flip side. I remember an old saying

You can buy new oats or the ones that have gone thru the horse -- those come a little cheaper!

3pointstar

After seeing this video I cant believe that headers don't fail all the time. Manifolds seem to be the most durable construction.

http://youtu.be/Fin2S42e_5M

For some ,the quality lives on long after the price is forgotten
for others , the dissapointment of poor build quality lives on long after the joy of a good deal is forgotten

If your 33 baja has 2 motors and you moved into hp500 cam grind specs your about to spend 2000 dollars on 2 used gil mani-riser combos minimum. .stock mags looks like alum 496 system is bang for the buck . 540 strokers that still have a rumpity rump from new cams ,better brace yourself . You thought the motor builds were expensive .

Prev post wasnt aimed at you btw ,i was just adding to 3pointstars colorful alalagy

I think the OP already realizes that those headers are junk once he realized they aren't even water jacketed!

Is that one header in the video loose?

Wtf. Kinda interesting to say the least.

Could be why headers are failing. The one with the heaviest tail-pipe is really flexing right at the head. Maybe engines with long tails should have a bracket fabricated to tie the collector area directly to the engine. Starboard engine is flexing a lot too. Is that normal with rubber mounts?

Yup. More guys should get their tubes tied. Ha ! LOL.

Hopefully the guy who rigged the cover didnt bolt up the starboard engine plates . But im thinking he did

That boat should have solid, off-shore engine mount plates, right? Or does it have normal rubber mounts? That one header rocking like that will crack for sure. Then someone will be blaming Merc or CMI. Why not clamp a bracket onto the front of the tail and bolt some kind of tie bar directly to the engine? I would do that if I saw that on my boat.

Yes I'm in salt water, but even in fresh water I wouldn't want to go with these "injected" headers as I would be injecting water right into my cylinders! I didn't notice that part and thought they were jacketed like the stellings.

As for the Stellings, I have found a few selling used sets at decent prices (some needing repairs some not). But I now find myself wondering if these are a good fit for my app. I honestly like the bling as the little horsepower increase I'm sure I can get from any performance exhaust.

I've always wondered the same. They make/use them on jet boats / V drives.

http://shopping.rexmar.com/Merchant2...001/128140.jpg

you must have a ****ty engine if injecting into your exhaust goes into your cylinder. The valves are closed unless exhaust gas is going out. The velocity of the collector would pull any water being injected into a cylinder not firing.. not to mention the cylinders are firing many many times per minute.

I would think water injected through transom without being under a hatch would be just fine. Under hatch probably not he best idea..

Also someone said they are injected at collector which you can see isn't true. With the right water regulation it should stay relatively cool. There was another post on another forum with many people running them (not under hatch) and seemed fine.

You've been dormant for 5 years, and I hope after this post dormant for another 5 years.

Not only does he HAVE to run water jacketed headers or manifolds in his Outlaw, but your comment about the exhaust valve ONLY being open when exhaust is being pushed out is completely untrue. Overlap allows the exhaust valve to remain open briefly at the end of the exhaust stroke, as the intake valve opens and the intake stroke begins. Both duration and separation have a direct effect on the amount of overlap, and typically the more aggressive the N/A cam, the more overlap there will be. This is what causes reversion.

Do some studying on valve event timing before some poor soul takes your ill advice as fact please.