I bought a ceramic coated set last week, and hope to have them installed sometime early next week. I was told by Ford performance that they will fit my 2001 with very little if any fabrication. They mentioned that depending on when the truck was built (???) that the EGR valve may need to be relocated and the "Y" pipe may need to be spread apart slightly, but neither issue would be very likely (again per Ford Performance). I will let you know how it went.

 

Good luck with them.

 

Can you explain, in your opinion, what made them "poor quality"?

 

Sweet, let me know how it goes. Im toying with the idea of having an exhaust shop put them on, mainly because theres 182,000 miles on the original exhaust studs. If one breaks I want it to be their problem not mine.

 

The bends, the welds, the flanges, everything was of inferior fit and finish to others I have seen. Also, on Mustangs they have a tendency to crack.

 

I installed a set of Ford Racing headers this fall. I thought they seem to be of good contruction. So far so good.

 

Monster-4,

Did you have to mod anything to get them to fit?

 

No they where a direct bolt in/up. They came with grade 10.9 bolts as well (although they were on the short side) but I ended up using Stage 8 Locking header bolts instead.

 

^^^ Good, that will make it that much easier. I have been looking @ the stage 8 bold kit thinking that was the way to go. Did you notice a difference in power?. How about sound, ive heard they can give it a higher pitched sound?

 

I finally got the Ford shorties installed. I ended up having them installed by a friend who is a full time mechanic. He had to drill out 13 broken studs out of the 20. No EGR valve, so that was easy. The Y pipe had to be spread apart slightly, but again that was easy. The bolts that came with the kit were to short, so we replaced them with longer grade 8's.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
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$1,450 total for the job ($450 for the headers, $100 for the longer bolts, a heli-coil kit, a box of band aids, a bottle of Motrin, and $900 for labor).<o></o>
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He owns three hot rods, and said these headers were of better quality than most he has seen. A couple of years ago I installed the Banks stinger exhaust system (cat-back) that came with a K&N cold air kit, at the same I added the Banks Transcommand transmission module. The exhaust dose not seem to be any more louder with the headers. The only difference is under acceleration I can hear the exhaust flow thru the headers (kind of like a whoosh of sand being poured down a metal pipe). However it is very tolerable.

 

Yep I noticed the same sound too.

Bladely I installed Stage 8 bolts as well.



I did recently developed a leak. When I took the header off the side that was leaking the gasket was burned out the back side. I don't think this was a design or quality issue with the gasket nor the Stage 8 header bolts.
When I originally installed the headers I don't think I got the bolts tight enough. And even though the Stage 8 bolts prevent the bolts from backing out they can still allow the bolts to slightly loosen since the locking clip needs to bump up against something to keep it from moving.
Being in a hurry to put it back together the first time the position of the clip on the rear two bolts allowed about and 1/8 of a turn of the bolt before the locking clip bump up against the header tube. I should have tighten the bolt until the clip was closer to the tube so it would not move as much. This is where the gasket eventually burn thru and developed a leak. I chalk this up to incorrect installation.
I replaced the gasket with a new Felt-Pro set. I left the locking clips off for the time being and going to check the tightness of the bolts when I get a few heat and cool cycles done. After that I will put the clips back on.

 

OK, here's my take on this:

You NEED to re-torque header bolts for the first few months after installation. The gasket crushes over time, especially those multi-layer ones like the ones you used (and I too used on my eBay headers). The stock gaskets are really just sheet metal and will not crush over time.

Eventually, the gaskets stop crushing, and you no longer need to re-torque the header bolts.

Funny thing is, for the past 20 years, I've had headers on my '74 highboy, and now my 2001 V10.

Never EVER used locking header bolts. I truly think they are a solution for a non-existent problem.

The "problem" is the gasket crush, and you really need to re-torque for a while. What I did was re-torque after every heat-up-cool-down cycle for two weeks, and then checked them for the next few months. They stopped needing it after a month or two, and now they are perfect.

 

Thanks for all the input from everyone, i REALLY appreciate it. My next move is to save my money and get the headers and the y-pipe ordered. I just paid off the truck so this will be much easier. I am really excited to get this mod done. Again thank you to everybody!

 

Nice info. thank you to everyone i feel more informed

 

For anyone interested here's a pic of the y off the Banks headers;