Fabspeed...any opinions before I buy?

I have Fabspeed headers in my '98 355 and love them. Excellent craftsmanship, no issues. When I was dealing with Fabspeed, I did have to wait some time for the parts (as did everyone who participated in the group buy), so was on the phone with Jay and Joe sort of regularly. What I learned was that the FLANGES which mount to the head of the engine are cast in another facility (not sure if it belongs to Fabspeed or not) and these are then welded to the stainless tubes which are bent and welded in-house at Fabspeed's own facility. This includes the collectors, etc. One look at the header and it is obvious that the piece is way beyond that seen from some Chinese sweat shop: beatiful welds, mirror polish, little "Fabspeed" plaques, and yes, beautiful cast flanges with factory-like bridges at the head end of the piece. One look, and the lifetime warranty is not surprising. Considering the alternatives and their prices, I think Fabspeed has the best product on the market. And, no, I don't work for the company.

John

 

This is what a merge collector is supposed to look like

Search for Fabspeed and compare the difference then decide for yourself
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Cast or machined flanges?

 

I purchased tips w/valves and sportcats for my 08 F430 Spider. I had them installed and experienced a problem with the valves sticking. I called up to FabSpeed and was told that "we would be happy to replace them. All you have to do is give us your credit card number and we will ship you another set and credit you back when we receive the defective part back".

So I say to myself "here I sit already out of pocket $2500 with a set of tips that are defective and this guy wants me to spend another $2500 to resolve the problem coupled with the fact that the car isn't drivable". After a series of emails back and forth with the owner over 10 days, he finally offers to send a replacement set down at his expense (keep in mind that the car hasn't been driven in 9 days and I am still facing shipping time for the replacement as well). So I ask him "what about the cost related to the removal and reinstall of the replacement as I'm going to be charged $135 and hour by the dealer and its a 3-4 hour job?". Well that question went unanswered and was conveniently ignored.

He did offer to have them returned for refund which is what I am leaning towards at this point as the whole situation has left a bad taste in my mouth. The sportcats are great but the rest is just completely disappointing at least for me. I'm sure that there are many satisfied customers out there as most companies have, but in my case I guess I am one of the few that isn't completely satisfied.

 

I have built many of my own merge collectors, and am friends with Chris from SPD and Jack Burns, so that tells you how many I have built including my F355.

So, to be 100% fair to Fabspeed, a merge collector can look like this too:

photo credit Fred.
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Burns on either end, Fabspeed in the middle

In my opinion both Burns and SPD make equally fine merge collectors, I have used both.

I have not seen any pics of the inside of the Fabspeeds, but I doubt its the same as either Burns or SPDs.

If you made headers for your 355 you are a braver and more talented man than I.

I considered it, but chickened out and bought some.
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I know plenty on Fabspeed. I have the building next to them and they do excellent work. The shop is always busy with weldrng and fabrication and new Porsches, Ferrari's Lambo's going in and out all the time. Joe is the owner and Kenny is the shop foreman. The shop is immaculate, has state of the Art Dyno. and 6 or so lifts on one side and parts on the other side of the building. They put on a new exhaust for my 308 and did one hell of a job. It now sounds so much better and they couldn't have been nicer. I am speaking from first hand experience that they are a top notch shop with the right equipment to go along with the right fabricators. He has grown very fast but thats what happens when you have a great product. Fabspeed is one manufacturer you have nothing to worry about. If you have an issue email me direct and I will speak with Joe about it. He has tons of parts for so many different performance cars. Fabspeed is a Great Company that if you buy there product you will love the quality of there work and the extra performance , and Oh yeah what a sound !!

 

Nice to hear. It would be nice to see some pics of the shop.

 

HI
This is Joe @ Fabspeed Motorsports USA. I was just advised of this posting and several other matters and I have read over this thread. 1st of all I apologize to any customer that ordered a systems and wanted a system and was not handled in a timely manner. Most of the time Fabspeed Motorsports exceeds expectations. We have been very very busy with new product development, refinement, testing and new cars have been arriving for new systems and I have hired a mechanical engineer with a PHD in apllied science and training new staff. If anyone would like any systems virtaully everything is in stock for Ferrari Chatters.

Our systems are designed tested and made in USA. Certain components and parts are brought in from our USA and International suppliers that we have chosen as partners and or have the very best parts. This is the norm in any industry and is better than being vertically integrated. For example, I import hundred and hundreds of thousands of dollars of expensive German 200 cell sports race catalytic converters with OBD2 wash coats for 500HP to 900HP Porsche 996TT and 997Twin Turbo cars. These same super quality catalytic converters are used Fabspeed Motorsports Maxflo high performance Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche catalytic converters that we sell. If these German catalytic converters can support up to 800HP with NO check engine light .......they can certainly handled a 500+ HP Ferrai/Lambo. No check engine lights and more power.

I also import certain other parts for our inhouse production, fabrication department. I designed and have T304SS lost wax investment cast flanges made for Ferrari headers just like FERRARI SPA ITaly did for all F355, F360 and F430 cars. I could water-jet and or laser cut my flanges as I do for our Porsche systems but Ferrari has complicated air injection systems and other parts that might warp when welded and also look "professional" when multiple pieces are welded together.

Fabspeed is the USA's largest importer and distribuitor of BMC Italy high performance air filters.

Merge collectors are an engineered art form. On certain Porsche and Ferrari cars as in many other exotic cars or any car for that matter there are certain variuos criteria that dictate what will fit and work well in a limited space area. It is all an engineered application based on space, length, tuning, and other components on the car. You cant install a 12" long merge collector on a latemodel 355 to 430 as you will NOT have the required room and length to allow equal length/long primary header tubes for good low end and midrange torque and top end power WHILE still having room for a set of catalytic converters that have to have 4 oxygen sensor ports/bungs and also have room to hook-up to a factory OEM Ferrari muffler, Capristo, Tubi or whatever you have in the rear. Our merge collectors work great and have supported 800HP Porsche 996Twin Turbo cars. Power in excess of 800HPO at the rear tires. Our 4 into 1 collectors are works of art and there is not enough room to go larger as I mentioned.

If someone would like me to make a set of Formula 1 style headers that would sweep directly out from under the engine (like the F1 photo someone posted) and go directly through a 3.0" hole cut through a F355, F360, F430 rear decklid and venting into the atmosphere like Kimi Raikonens/ Massas' racecars with no catalytic converters and a guaranteed CEL light and over 110DB SPL........we thought of it BUT you wont want it.

I will post some pictures of our shop and ALSO we are having an exotic charity car show this Saturday at Temple AMBLER campus. 100% of the funds at our 2nd annual car show are for the Wileys Foundation for Pediatric brain cancer.


Have a great day.
Joe Fabiani

www.fabspeed.com
215-646-4945 (9828fax)

 

Here are some pics from FabSpeed's Shop. Just realize I do not work ther but have my office next door. They hac=ve always been professional, Honest, and no bull. If you are lucky enough to have them install a system, you will be more then overjoyed with the outcome. Joe just keeps adding more more Hi-tech equipment all the time. Feel free to contact me with any questions
Captglen
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If you look at my pic of my car you can see the side of my building that matches to the the above pic of Fabspeed
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Joe, I’m not castigating your headers, in fact I think your solution of using a bridged flange similar if not the same as the factory flange is the best on the aftermarket scene.

Also as far as I can see from pictures the level of welding appears excellent, as does the overall quality.

I have in my hand a merge collector from Burns, with inlets of 1.75, and an outlet of 2.00 that measures only 7 inches overall, not the 12 inches you seem to think necessary.

I have NAPerformance headers whose merge collectors appear similar to Burns at least externally, I can’t see inside up to where a pyramid should be, and I assure you they fit a 355 with everything else stock.

That said I believe they suffer in overall quality compared to yours, especially the flanges.

Personally, having made race car headers myself, I don’t know how you can do it at the price level you are sustaining. A friend had a set made for a Cosworth powered F1 car for a healthy $10,000.

All those trying to get a lower “group buy” price ought to thank their lucky stars that they don’t cost twice what they do.

Cheers, Dave

 

HI dave
Thanks for the kind words. We had to compromise on the merge collectors due to spatial requirements and other factors like radiant heat management. WE CNC mnadrel bent virtually all the primary tubes in 1 piece T304L and spent considerable investments in time and money. Also the lost wax investment cast stainless flanges were quite expensive to tool up for. Since we have an inhouse chassis DYNO and we also continually like to try new things and ate hot-rodders and racers at heart.........we are open to ideas/suggestions and are always designing/trying new systems and proving what works and what doesnt and improving the power of these great cars.

On Ebay- one of my 20year old "young guns" posted on Ebay and it was a mistake..........He was supposed to post at full retail price but posted lower with a reserve at almost full retail. It was a waste of time and also it not right sor our valued dealers installers and Ferrari enthusiasts .

Hope to see some of you all at the READING Ferrari Concours and also @ Italian Cars at Pocono.

 

+ one billion on that one! Oh wait I guess it's almost 10 billion in China now and counting.

That's one thing that's like salt in the wound. Exported jobs with no cheap import labor benefit.

Bob S.

 

I have dealt with Joe and had no problems having parts returned and/or replaced for credit. Quality has been very good, only once was there a problem with some 355 cats having interference with an O2 sensor which caused some issues with the car purchaser and FOW. I look forward to some long term feedback on the headers. The comment about outside supply caught me out when I called for delivery quote.

Brian