[Tom Wells]

Rick,

I'm on my second set of SS headers.

The original ones supplied by E-M warped after around 15,000 miles. E-M finished them off by warping them even more when they were trying to repair them without a fixture. But I digress....

I had another set made that I installed after doing significant fitting-up mods - the bolt holes didn't line up, the bolts wouldn't go through the bolt holes etc but after about 8 hours labor, they seemed to fit and perform OK. They're still there about 10,000 miles later including significant road race track time.

Some things you might pay attention to when building up a new set:

1) Make sure the flanges are nice and thick. 3/8" seems to be a good minimum, thicker if there's room.

2) Stainless type can be important. My present headers are 321 SS, where the prior set was 304. I'm told factory SS headers are 321.

3) I've not coated mine, nor have I ever seen a coated set. I don't know why a coating would be used on SS, nor whether it would in fact adhere very well.

Is the outfit you're using skilled in the art of SS header manufacture, or is this new to them?

Tom