shamdave

Title says it all what is better Cheap hedmans with tape or ceramic coated. I looked at painting them with header paint but it needs to be cooked (i hear) My vet is a 85 and never driven in the rain or snow and lives in the garage. Thoughts?

ch@0s

Don't buy the cheap Headman buy the Elite. The other have a very thin flange.

Midnight 85

And that flange will warp allowing leaks, the collector flanges are really thin and they warp real bad when tightened. This of course goes for any cheap header not just Hedman. Stay completely away from Blackjack.

vette 15x

GOOD headers are worth the money.I like hooker though.What ever you buy headman or hooker the coating is crap inflaited economy,HA,HA.BUY either uncoated and get coated by a good shop.

JackDidley

Cheap headers are..............well cheap. If you care what it looks like when you open the hood, get coated.

Calderone

68448 Thermal Coated Elite Headers for me, if you want to know they are worth the price
but i will upgrade to Hookers in the near future since the hedmans are blocking 20% total
my AFR Ports.

blackozvet

be careful with the wrap, I have used it a lot over the years but it does eat into the pipes, below is a picture of my pipes after 6 months, the wrap had eaten the heatproof paint off and was starting to rust the pipes.

gerardvg

My extractors (headers) were ruined by wrapping the pipes with the insulating wrap, it made the engine bay cooler but they started leaking after two or three years. I could push the metal and poke a hole in it with my finger, the heat just strips the metal.
My next ones will be ceramic coated, never again will i use the heat wrap.

c4cruiser

Hedman says that if you use header wrap on any of their their products, that will void the warranty.

For the money, the Elites are the way to go; thick flange, available with or without AIR hook-ups, and the ball flange collectors are great for aligning the reducers to the exhaust pipe.

shamdave

good advice gents I guess their is no cheap lunch

vette 15x

See what I mean about coatings be thin.Up hear,it doesn't take long to look like that with out rap.Weather is wet.I still rec HOOKERS.

ch@0s

This might help with your install

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c4-t...te-videos.html

aklim

There is. Buy the good stuff the first time and you don't have to do it again. Buy crap today because you pay out less and tomorrow will come and you have to pay more then. My cheap TFS heads had a wobble in all the valves and a spring broke which allowed the piston to hit the valve. Cost me an expensive LPE short block. Did I save money?

shamdave

Yeah I have paint stories and the savings just stacked up

So if i paint headers with header paint do i need to bake it on?

aklim

I went with TPIS but didn't paint them. I suppose I could have done a ceramic coat if I thought there was much to gain.

ghoastrider1

I have the headmans, coated. Careful, mine didn't have the AIR lines ( don't care about that but you might) AND, AND, AND one of the pipes block the plug so I have to use a wrench to install one plug. Big bummer for me.

Calderone

no problems here with angle plugs and afr 195's , real tight fit but they fit

aklim

I have the older AFR 190cc heads and with TPIS headers, I don't even have to get underneath the vehicle to do my annual plug change. In fact, #8 is easier than the #2 or #4