Long tube header questions

[maz030]

Hey guys,

I have my mind set on getting Long tubes but have a couple questions:

1) How prone are they to leaking over say 5 - 10 years if I get a good brand like American Racing or Kooks?

2)I noticed American racing and Kooks don't have a ceramic coating option. Do they need to be coated or are their headers such good quality that they don't need to be coated?

3) Is it illegal to sell a car with long tube headers? Like if I wanted to trade my car in to a dealership would they give me a hard time because it has long tubes (with a catted mid pipe however)? It seems that most vendors list them for off road use only.

 

[weather man]

Hey guys,

I have my mind set on getting Long tubes but have a couple questions:

1) How prone are they to leaking over say 5 - 10 years if I get a good brand like American Racing or Kooks?

2)I noticed American racing and Kooks don't have a ceramic coating option. Do they need to be coated or are their headers such good quality that they don't need to be coated?

3) Is it illegal to sell a car with long tube headers? Like if I wanted to trade my car in to a dealership would they give me a hard time because it has long tubes (with a catted mid pipe however)? It seems that most vendors list them for off road use only.

Buy a quality stainless header and you will be good to go. If your state has emission testing, trading with headers will cost some of your trade value.

 

[07 Boss]

I bought inexpensive mild steel headers 7 years ago and have never had an issue with leaking. I don't have to worry about rust though. But any header regardless of brand should not leak. Anyways, if I lived in PA I wouldn't get anything but the best stainless ones I could afford. IMO ceramic coating is desired. Though I'm kind of partial to chromed myself but I'm old. I always liked the way they blued close to the heads.

 

[46addict]

My BBKs have been on the car for 7 years and there are some rust bubbles developing on the collector (lowest point of the header) but everything is still tight.

Definitely pay for stainless and/or ceramic though if you will ever drive in rain or snow. And use OEM or Percy's header gaskets.
In my state it's illegal to sell a car that did not pass emissions, but visual checks here are pretty loose. They mainly scan for OBD codes and if are none, I will pass. But that's Georgia.

 

[o2sys]

I had JBA Ceramic coated Long Tube Headers and all the coating was gone and started to rust at the lowest point by the collectors in just 1 year.

 

[gavin.biegler]

The ceramic coating on LTH's doesn't last forever and isn't worth it in my opinion. If you can afford it get some stainless steel ones then wrap them in heat wrap. The heat wrap can accelerate oxidation but it will still be slow on stainless steel. Otherwise get some mild steel ones, paint them with high temp exhaust paint, then heat wrap them. I advise the heat wrap because i didn't wrap mine and my footwell gets pretty dang hot.

 

[pass1over]

I've never had high temp paint work on headers. Ever.
Baked, cured, doesn't matter, it comes off. Save up and go stainless.

 

[maz030]

Thanks for the replies. If I buy them I will probably be going with American Racing which I believe they use high quality stainless steel. I probably won't have them coated based on what you guys said and I think I read somewhere that American Racing advises against it actually. I'm not sure if I should heat wrap them due to the accelerated oxidation someone mentioned. What will be my deciding factor is whether or not I want to deal with the extra hassle when it's eventually time to sell the car. I'd hate to have to put the stock manifolds back on when selling the car due to the cost of installation.