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93raven

93raven

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What headers is everyone running? I was planning on keeping mine stock but when I pulled it apart I found the driver side header is cracked.

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Not sure if its fixable. Now I know where that exhaust leak noise was coming from

Why do all the replacement headers have that dumb egr bung on them? I don't want that.
 
I think most people go with Bassani, they are one of the few who still supports Gen 1’s
 
The bassani headers are very nice. For longtube headers I like kooks. They will make you sign a letter saying for offroad only or something like that.
 
I'd think that could be welded.

The stock headers are pretty nice for the factory heads. I put the Bassani headers on the white truck, but that's just because they popped up here in the classifieds, not because I expected a gain. Now, with the turbo on it, I should probably go back to the OEM.
 
I'm in manufacturing and raw material cost is WAY up over the last couple years. 2-5x depending on the material. Stainless tubing varies from month to month a lot but currently is on the lower side of that (at least my supplier and comparing a receipt I have from 2021 to and order I made last week). I would expect the price split on a header to be less than 50% cost on raw material but i could be wrong. Either way I'm not sure the justification of doubling the price other than very low demand and a bit of greed due to corner of the market. The R&D and tooling are already done so that's not a good excuse.
 
It's not just the cost of materials. You've got to ship all of that as well and shipping costs have gotten stupid. I had to order a spring that can ship in a padded envelope this week and 3 day expedited shipping was going to be $75. Shipping companies are charging fuel surcharges again even though the fuel surcharges they were charging when gas was $5/gallon never went away when it was $2/gallon.

Labor costs are way up as well. At the job I left 2 years ago I was constantly having to bug our VP about getting more money to keep people. Prior to covid we could bring someone of for $15/hr and they were happy to get it even though it was dangerous work. Post covid we had McDonald's offering $17/hr to start and a $2500 sign on bonus to do a crappy job of making lousy food with no real responsibility at all, so we had to really jack up salaries to keep from losing people we had already invested a ton of time and money in.

And then there's greed, which is a huge part of it and it compounds at every level. A bottle of Pepsi just a few months ago was $2.19 or 2 for $4. Now they're $2.59 or 2 for $4. If you can still afford to sell them 2 for $4 you can still afford to sell them for $2.19, you're just gouging people.
 
When power plants quit using coal, then the railroads didn't have that supplement. So a lot of those have shut down. Then new truck regulations, minimum wage increases ect. It all adds up.
Just bought the first antifreeze iv needed in 2 years. Holly crap from 9.99 on the last gallon to 24.99 on the same bottle.
 
BBK makes a nice set of shorties also. Hooker makes a set of long tubes but have smaller primaries that would be fine for stock or mildly modded. It’s a real shame no one makes a long tube these days with a good primary to compete with Kooks.


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Hedman also has a set with small primaries. Probably better than stock, but wouldn't leave any room to grow. I've had a set of theirs on my daily driver for 25 years with no issues. They were $100 when I bought them. These days they're more like $300.
 
Interesting side note on this topic, I frequently see complaining about plug changes and the Bassani headers, but I just don't get it. I've done the plugs twice in a week (first time to gap down the stock heat range plugs, second time to install colder plugs), and I'm guessing it may take 3 or 4 minutes longer than the stock headers. You have to work at one plug on each side, and it just takes a box-end on the plug socket to get them out. It's something you'd have to do every 3 years or so if you daily drive a truck. So, I just dunno!
 
FMOS Racing said:
Interesting side note on this topic, I frequently see complaining about plug changes and the Bassani headers, but I just don't get it. I've done the plugs twice in a week (first time to gap down the stock heat range plugs, second time to install colder plugs), and I'm guessing it may take 3 or 4 minutes longer than the stock headers. You have to work at one plug on each side, and it just takes a box-end on the plug socket to get them out. It's something you'd have to do every 3 years or so if you daily drive a truck. So, I just dunno!
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I've never understood that either. Book time for plugs on a gen 2 L is something like 4-5 hours. After doing it once or twice you can do it in under an hour. The stock LT1 f bodies from 93-97 it's basically an all day deal that includes starter removal. Oddly enough, headers make the job easier on those. Then there are FWD cars that require the engine to be unbolted and rocked forward to change the plugs. But let's complain about an extra 15 minutes because of an aftermarket part we chose to install. And they are often the same people that install a blower that makes changing the belt impossible and have no issue at all with that.
 
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Bassani headers with a Double jointed spark plug socket. It's just as easy as any other plug change. just my $0.02
 
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