So wait... You are saying that you have to get your headers certified like a roll cage??? We are talking about apples and oranges here my friend. My point was that when it comes to headers, that all you get out of TIG or Oxy Acetylyn weld is a pretty bead. The strength difference doesn't matter when talking about headers. A MIG weld would be just as good. When choosing the welding process that you use you need to consider what your end goal is. Sure a TIG welded cage is stronger, but most I have seen are MIG... I am not going to argue that TIG is stronger, but the majority of welding can be done by MIG. I used to work at a part of the Flint Corporation here in Casper Wyoming. We were building DeHy units for the gas fields. Our certified vessels that were rated for over 5,000PSI. All these vessels were made by a MIG. Multiple pass, but MIG none the less.

Just because your talon manafold cracked doesn't make cast iron a bad material to make turbo parts. My friend Kyle, all he does is make a turbo kit for 99'-xx GM trucks for a living. He goes the extra mile to make his header out of cast iron. In fact, that is why people want to buy his kit. Cast iron improves the velocity of the air to the turbo because it traps heat. I know a lot of people that have had their TIG welded stainless steel headers crack just because they are stainless. There was nothing that they could have done about it. It was the material that was the problem. That is why I like mild steel that is coated. I am done arguing with you now. You need to do a little more research before you start spouting off.

 

Yeah turbo is a little more work that is for sure. My freind had a Paxton and it was a pretty good super charger. there are some differences than the Vortech or the Procharger. They are a little cheaper for a reason. With that said, it would still be pretty sweet to put on.

 

ppl buy your friend Kyle`s turbo setup because it`s cheap and good for mass production . i bet if he made it the right way with tubular headers he would have to up the price then it would be expensive. As with Cast iron improving velocity because it traps heat?? are u rewriting the book of thermodynamics???
its so strange that Indy,F1, and Nascar use tubular headers when they could be using cast iron manifolds instead to "improve the velocity" . they could of saved millions of dollars if they listened to u. heck why buy headers???

u like coated mild steel because it rusts from the inside out???

 

well my buddy Kyle's kit is a tubular cast header. Parish uses about the same design turbo parts as he is building.... with a MIG.

I like mild because it doesn't crack... like I said. There are tons of headers that are made from mild and work just fine.

Tell you what, read what I am saying, then voice your opinion. I didn't ever say that a manafold design is better than a header design... I was talking about the properties of the material in which a header is built.

So is header wrap supposed to do? keep heat inside and not outside. So you are saying that heat makes exaust flow slower? How does that work? Heat make particles move faster, thus velocity, not flow. There is a difference. Just like the viscosity of a material when it is cold than when it is hot. The hot material moves much faster than the cold material. Take a look at oil. When it is cold it barelly flows at all as to when it is hot. Same priciple. Nascar guys want to keep their heat in the pipe rather than outside too. Cooling the exaust in the pipe hurts performance to a point. Cooling the air under the hood is a good thing to a point.

Also there is a theory that a more restrictive head port design increases pressure and also velocity. Think of like a venturi or the concept of a TPI manifold. The narrow passage of the venturi actually accelerates the air coming into the opening. The TPI is supposedly designed to accelerate the air through the runners as it is coming in. It is amazing to see all the car manufacturers picking this concept up too. The LS1 intakes take the same concept and apply it in a bit of a scaled down version. The new Hemi intakes look almost identicle to the LS1 intake.

That is an other concept when desiging an exhaust system. To big of a primary will hurt performance. To small of a primary will hurt performance. Then you enlarge the pipe diameter as the system goes back.

Point is that there are pros and cons to each material and process to put those materials together, and there is a balance to be made on the design of each part. A stainless steel, madusa looking, TIG welded header is awesome to look at, but, even that, has it's cons. You have to weigh the pros and cons and make a choice. My crossover and downpipe are going to be mild steel for a few reasons.
1. It is cheaper.
2. I live in Wyoming where rust isn't a big problem (0 humidity)
3. I would rather have it bend than break.
4. Coating keeps the heat inside the pipe better than naked stainless
5. Doesn't require special materials to weld.
6. it is readily available if something happens.
7. Everyone I know has had very good luck with mild that is coated.

I chose stainless headers because I like the look.

 

Alright if you want something streetable, reliable, and mods that are reversable, the bottom line is an STS rear mount turbo. You can run it with stock headers or a manifold, which means it's easily reversable. All it does is replace the muffler, that's the only exhaust mod you have to do, and the piping runs back up to the intercooler along side the exhaust, most mount them close to side skirts. They'll run you about $1,800 for a universal base kit. Good luck with the build. 'Nuff said.

 

turbo all the way. usable torque that makes big blocks envious!