Kirkham Headers

[jpfletch1]

Who make headers that will fit a 427 Kirkham. Thanks

[sshurts]

The Kirkhams -- they are great headers -- fit and easy to install
Tom's Motorsports -- does custom work to your needs.

Scott

[bdriver]

Really there are two sources - Cobra Restorers (2 members of our club have them (they seem OK)...and mine, which came from Justin O'Rourke at (401) 467-4934. Both work - I just perfer Justin's fit. Hope this helps.

[R U YELLA]

If your holes are already cut then only the KMP pipes will fit. AS Bill stated, I was one of the two that got both the headers & Side pipes from CR. They work great but remember, the car is fitted to the pipes. You can interchange the headers as long as you havn't cut the holes in the body.

Ed

[The Dreamer]

I'm the other CACC member with the Cobra Restorer pipes and what I like about them is they are $600 cheaper. I noticed no real quality difference and the sidepipes seem to be from the same manufacturer. The headers have slightly different routing (stuff like instead of #x pipe being on top, #y is on top). The Kirkhams support the ones they supply, but as they told me, they are not in the exhaust pipe business, so go with what works.

[bdriver]

Hey jpfletch1, this is probably the first time I have seen all three Kirkham owners from DC post on the same thread - way to go! As the other guys said - both sets will work - it's just that I am willing to pay a little more to NOT support Cobra Restorers...

[David Kirkham]

The Dreamer,

WHAT!!! $600 CHEAPER!!! Where did you get those pipes? I wish I had a $600 mark up on the pipes. I would sure like to try out a set.

We pass them along at an extremely minimal mark up. (Probably less than 0 when you consider all of the repair work we do on them from shipping damage. Mostly bent tips which have to be straightened.) Justin doesn't make the pipes, he just sells them to us--at a profit, of course. Maybe they are from the same manufacturer, but we don't know who that is.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Pipes are one of the last areas we are not comletely happy with.

David

[R U YELLA]

David - The supplier is Cobra Restorers. They are the same side pipes that you use because they have the "Made in Canada" stamped on the top. But there is also another set that is not the same & the quality is not the same either. You don't want those. If you ask them that you want the ones with Canada on them they say that they don't know what you are talking about and that they don't sell pipes with that on them. OK sure. That's why 3 of us in DC now have them. The headers are a little different. They are reversed to what yours are. What I mean is the two top headers are on the bottom and the bottoms are on the top. I think the routing around the steering shaft is a little better on the CR headers. The pipes also exit the body about an inch higher. I have no problems with them being that way. You can't even notice it.

Good Luck
Ed

[David Kirkham]

Ed,

Where is the Made in Canada stamped? On the pipes? On the tubes? On the box?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

David

[R U YELLA]

Right on top of the sidepipe about 12 -14 inches from the rear tip on the baffled area of the pipe. Right about where you would get snake bit getting out the door!

It reads

MADE IN
CANADA

on two lines

[David Kirkham]

Thank you! I understand you are referring to the muffler area of the side pipes.

David

[Specialk]

I know the headers supplied with the 2 Kirkhams I have built were very nice and fit awesome. They have glasspacks on them, so they are very loud, but thats why most people buy a Cobra, eh?

[David Kirkham]

I just got off the phone with a vendor for stainless headers. They think they can do them.

Anyone interested?

No pricing yet, but he did say they would be reasonable, but still a bit more than steel.

I want some for my car.

David

[bdriver]

Yes - I'll take a set - (for a 427 s/o) -

[jpfletch1]

YES, I have been trying to get this set up for 3 months.

[Lew Ledyard]

Could they be wrapped in asbestos exhaust wrap with no worries about premature rust through? I kinda like the look of wrapped pipes and anything to keep engine bay temps down is a plus, but I had heard that wrapped pipes rust through more quickly.

[jpfletch1]

David, Whats the word on the stainless headers, don't leave us hanging if you can't deliver.

[David Kirkham]

Jim,

I am left hanging like all of us. Sometimes the suppliers drive me CRAZY. They keep telling me they will ship headers and then I wait...and...wait...wait...wait.

I guess one day I am going to have to do what we have done with many of our other suppliers--drop them and do it ourselves. The only problem is the tube bender is over 200K!

Current status of stainless headers = I wish I knew. I will update when and if I get any information. I talked with him on Friday and I got the same answer…no answer.

Lew,

I have never wrapped stainless headers. I know the last set I was around were so nice I couldn't believe it. The headers were very cool, you could even touch them with your hand and not get burned on the mufflers. I couldn't believe it. The headers were very expensive, however, as they were made out of 321 stainless. Most pipes are made out of 304 which does not have the same properties at temperature but is much, much cheaper. Mild steel headers rust out more quickly when they are wrapped because chemical reactions speed up tremendously with temperature. As the temperature in the pipe goes up, the corrosive gasses eat the pipe much, much faster.

David

[Michael4yah]

Are we talking Stainless sidepipes too?

[CobraV8]

The headers were very cool, you could even touch them with your hand and not get burned on the mufflers.

You're talking about ceramic coated headers, right? A chrome content of ~13% in the material (that's what makes it stainless) will not change so much about heat conductivity that you can touch the headers when the engine is running. At least I wouldn't want to try...

Simon