New - STEBRO headers

I may be wrong, but didnt Stebro have a not-so-good reputation for customer service/delivery?

I also seem to recall they have difficulty with QV stuff.

Have to admit, pictures look really good, anyone know if they can actually deliver the product?

James in Denver

 

Those look great. I would even be happy with half the claim they are stating. Can't they make them black though?

 

$$$

 

Again we have to pay outrageous prices because the lable says Ferrari. Look at headers for any other car and you can pick up a set for a few hundred bucks (maybe up to $1k for polished stainless sets MAX). These are no more complicated than some of the sets out there right now. The only reason they are $3K+ is because they are for a Ferrari! Absolutley ridiculous!!

 

327 Chevy = $300 and no more difficult to make

 

I disagree. It's about economy of scale and spreading the cost of development over the number of sales units. There are literally millions of small block Chevy motors out there, and many header buyers. There's what, 5000 (maybe) 2v 308 cars out there, and most owners are not going to be changing the exhaust system. Frankly, only the high profit level per unit can justify such niche marketing.

 

I like Stebro and have their muffler on my 308.

I got my headers from Quicksilver for less $. They we're delivered 10 days before the promised date. Perfect fit.

Pictures before and after jet-hot coating.
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even my tubi headers were less

 

As intriguing as these headers are I've also noticed stebro prices for exhausts are all over the place. I thought they were the more affordable setups going.... I've seen several prices on ebay for $2200, $2700, $3100 for what appears to be the same product. I thought they sold in the $12-1500 dollar range? So now I gotta ask why are these headers so high? Are they jetcoated or extrude honed when they are made? I'm also wondering from the pic if they are showing a factory header side by side with the new Stebro? The factory header actually looks bigger in diameter then the Stebro... it that correct?

Thanks for sharing this though Mike. Chris how much were the quicksilvers if you don't mind sharing? I have their exhaust on my car and love it.

 

According to Tim at Evans Automotive (this was about two months ago), the Quicksilver headers are not performance-oriented, but rather a "replica of the originals." He quoted me $3,520.

 

I would have to disagree. This seems to be the going price for performance exhaust manifolds. On my e39 M5 its anywhere from $4k (Supersprint) to $8k (Dinan) for stainless steel aftermarket headers.

 

How about these headers from Superformance at just under $700 each
http://www.superformance.co.uk/a-308/exhausts.htm

 

That's just crazy money. Prolly 20 people selling headers at the average muscle car show. $400 for the guys with the nice booths and $300 for the guys with the junkyard looking booths. Even if they had to charge four times as much to justify manufacture of a botique product (308 headers) that'd still put the cost around $1500. WTF??

And yeah, why not just buy the ones from Superformance if the others aren't performance oriented anyway?

 

Well competition in the Market is always good...

We now have Quicksilver, Tubi and Stebro making replacements for the highly volitale and by now worn out original OEM crap metal, a good thing, IMO...

Tex, who has exploded a few OEM headers, over the years......

 

Use yours for measurements and make a jig and weld up your own, or tack it together and have a welding shop weld it together.

 

Stebro looks like a "4 into 1" design, while the brand x is a "4 into 2 into 1"--anyone have numbers comparing torque values between the two? Also, any fit issues??? Stebro does not have the best reputation going with members on this forum, it seems...

 

Chris:

Did 'they' (jet-hot) coat the INSIDE of the tubes as well, or just the outside?

 

Yes, but it was the early carb stuff, not QV stuff (at least from the people I've talked with).

 

Take a good look at the pictures....the tubes are crushed a bit at the bends. Not a performance heads for sure.

I'll be making headers in a couple months (I hope) for my v12 conversion so everyone will be able to see what's involved....it's a lot of work and time to figure out what all the tubes should look like then get them to look like that. The last set of custom headers I did took about 40 hours. Jigs to reproduct them would be another 100 hours I'd guess, so 140 hours that needs to get paid for. Most places want a 1 year return, if they can sell 10 sets and the shop rate is $80, that's $1120 per set before they even start your headers....it adds up fast.

 

Do they really offer the performance improvements stated? Is there any hard evidence yet?

 

A friend has had to replace the headers on his 355 due to engine exhaust heat warping or burning-through the steel tubing of the headers. Over time, I understand that 308 headers may eventually crack or split from intense heat and 'old age'. I see two ways of dealing with this issue:

1. Spend $3,000+ on new headers which may/may not fit a particular 308 -as emissions regulations changed from 1976 to 1985, you have several different factory exhaust configurations out there. Chasing an aftermarket manufacturer down for the 'right' configuration for your car might be fun for some, a nightmare for others...I have not bought from STEBRO, but the archives are filled with complaints from people who have (or have TRIED to, and gotten nowhere....???).

2. Preserving the tubes you have - pulling the headers, sandblasting them, and having them coated to 'insulate' the steel tubing from the heat that leads to their eventual failure. Cool, sounds reasonable....however, if the INSIDE of the tube is NOT coated, the exterior coating merely traps, rather than radiates, the exhaust heat inside the tube - resulting in even-hotter temps inside the header, deteriorating the steel tubing even FASTER, which some might reasonably imply is counter-productive.

Thoughts?