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Old May 16, 2007 | 01:01 AM
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cjspecial
Joined: May 2007
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Default Re: Headers anyone???

Originally Posted by msheredy
I'd be interested. I have a hard time with the price of the E55 headers though. I realize that every other header out there for a Benz is astronomical but I don't buy that markup. The headers aren't intricate, equal length nor full length so I don't see why the price tag. If you could get the price point in the neighborhood of say $600 - $700 you would sell lots of 'em.
Well, believe it or not, the E55 Long tube set on the site took over 40 hour to complete. Your would be correct on the shorty set, if they were built like a set of Hookers or Headman,etc... which are MIG welded and mass produced and thrown together. All of our headers are hand made and tig welded. The tig welding adds a considerable amount of time and strength. Also every set we produce has flush welded inlets that are smoothed out for better flow and gasket sealing. The flanges we use are cnc water-jet cut from patterns we make, not existing gaskets or pre-produced flanges. Some headers require special ball flanges for the down pipes or catalytic converters. Mass produced headers typically use a swedged or stamped ball flange that works ok, but alters and reduces the flow of the exhaust reducing over all HP & TQ. We cnc machine the ball to the mating radius of the flange and cnc cut the bolt-mounting flange the tig weld them together in a jig. While this does take longer and add to the over all cost of the headers, we believe it makes a better product. Most of the headers we produce use merge collectors and short or long megaphones. This setup is used mostly on race vehicles, however it can be adapted to street cars. The E55 shorty headers were made because of the request we received to build a lower cost unit that performed as equally or better that what was currently available. We can build them for a lot cheaper, but then we would be like everyone else "mass producing" headers. We build the one at a time!
 
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