SB

iTrader: (1)

Mercruiser (and CMI) are still in business.

vintage chromoly

iTrader: (3)

I don't think they bend them up together.

I would think the inner tubing is fabricated and then inserted into the outer jacket. In small sections, of course.

BUP

iTrader: (9)

mostly they were trying to mandrel bend both as much as possible and leave as little welding as possible. The water jacket header doubled the price plus forgot the stainless they they were going to use. I don't think it was 316 because it did not have better corrosion resistance. .

Unlimited jd

iTrader: (5)

They are bent together, seal the ends, fill the void with some type of medium and bend away. It's amazing 7,000 for cmi's yet the baddest set of lemons headers for a drag car are what $1500?

Interceptor

Sounds a lot like defense contracting !

Speedracer29

This.... Merc wanted $44 for a 6' section of 4mm nylon tubing for my water pressure sender. Harley uses the same thing for air shocks and wanted $24 for a 25' chunk. Local industrial supply had 100' spools for $13.
My conclusion is Merc/Quicksilver/Harley boxes and bags are REALLY expensive.

bulletbob

I thought the custom bike world was expensive until I got into performance boats. My custom Harley chopper has been sitting in my living room since 2007! If it wasn't for all the nuts in cars with cell phones I might consider riding again.

sparky24

the stainless marine headers i have on my boat are 3k a set new.... its a lot but not that bad. They dont offer something that will work for you?


http://www.stainlessmarine.com/?wpsc...=01-1260010-00

i think when you consider the material and the fact that they are like 4 headers as someone else said the price is sort of on point... they have to make money ya kno

scarab39

Its like road racing, the price doubles. I remember asking why a company charged twice as much as a dirt track vendor. I was told 'because they can'. I have four sets of cmi's collecting dust now, I switched to dana's. Next time I'll probably use stainless marine

Lofty

Nothing wrong with CMI's, but CMI built Merc 525 headers have a problem specific to that header system.

Why are they so expensive? Well look at material costs; you've got around $2k or more in Stainless alone. Then look at a CNC Mandrel bend machine that does double wall - cubic $$$ . Add in your design time, testing, jigging, welding equipment, polishing, heat treating, etc. Then CMI being the capitalist pigdog industrialists they are, want to make some money too, is that a bad thing? I don't like how much headers cost either but if you look at it from a manufacturers standpoint their not such a bad deal.

I just had a set of custom stainless headers made for a little 4 cylinder Lotus Cortina, nothing special just 4-2-1 single wall no polish. $3,500.oo .

We had to send the exhaust out on my Cessna twin for an AD (Airworthiness Directive) inspection. This requires them to open up and reweld some of the components. $ 9,500.oo.

CMI's or Like headers for what, $ 7,500.oo? Polished and ready to go, like bolt on ready to go? Deal, write the check! CMI's been around for a long time and builds some quality products, there are some other less expensive alternatives but they may not be around in 5 years for you to complain about them. I don't like the cost of this stuff but it is what it is and these companies need to be profitable too or they won’t survive. I know some have had less than desirable experiences but you normally only hear the complaints not the praise.

I've got two pairs of old E tops on our Fountain that have worked flawlessly since new back in the late 90's. I never overheated them, made sure they had the CORRECT water flow when rigged, drain them when not in use and pickle them in the winter. Most people don't do this I know and when you mistreat your equipment it doesn't last as long.