<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by H2 Bill:
I have had the Edelbrock shorties for about a year and a half. Yesterday I had the CARB Tag that certifies that they are approved by the Air Resource Board that is welded on one of the pipes on the drivers side "popped up" on one of the tack welds leaving a hole in the header!! Can you believe that they will not stand behind their product!! It really sucks and is kind of ironic that the tag certifying that it fills polution standards is actully causing pollution! Stay away from the Edelbrocks! Maybe that's why they are less expensive than the other brands! They are crap! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Ok--here is some info on headers-my intent is to give some info and not to piss off any Edelbrock Header guys.
Stainless Steel:
If you go to
www.ssina.com/temperature/index (I would not bother unless you like a lot of teck info) you will see that the 304 SS withstands higher temps for longer period of time that 409-410 SS. In short, 304 SS is a better material for headers due to longer life at higher temps and better everyday heat distribution---Billy Boat Perfromance (B & B) and Borla use 304 SS.
JBA and Edelbrock use 400 series steel.
Thickness:
B&B and Borla use 16 ga. 304 SS and Edel. uses 17 ga. 409 SS. (on throttlebody engines)---the lower the number, the thicker the steel. JBA uses 14 ga. but 400 series SS.
Next, look at the welds on the B & B compared to the others---the joints are all tig welded---may be true for Borla but not for JBA or Edel.
Finally, the flanges on the Borlas are not 304 SS making them more suseptable to rust.
Confused? Hope not.
Even though they are more money, you get more with B&B and Borla. Lingenfelter uses Borla---they are great people.
I went with the B&B only because I want a full SS exhaust system and I could not get good info on the Borla welds.
All of them will improve power around 14-18 HP----some will last longer than others and look better longer than others.