Just wanted to let you guys know of my experience with QV London regarding my rebuilt 355 headers that were done in mid 2008. The car had approx 15k miles on it when this was done, it now has approx 30k miles on it. Attached are the pictures of the driver side header. Enginefxr (Gary Sharpe) has the car now and discovered the problem, so no telling how long the header had been bad. I'm sure he can offer alot more insight into this than I can. Just appears to me that this was not very good work and I certainly am not a happy camper about this... Also, sorry about the size of the pictures. Again, Gary can probably provide us with better pictures. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I think your headers should be under warranted for QV But I'm not sure. If this happened after 15k miles, than factory headers would have lasted longer as mine went out after 28k miles.
No sir, I did not. My thinking on this has to do with the fact of how much collateral damage can be caused by these things going bad, and if they cant deliver a quality product the first time, then what the hell good is a phone call to England going to do me. Do you think they will be willing to pick up the tab that the damaged has created??
Todd, I had the same problem. When I bought my 355, one of the selling points was the headers had been rebuilt by QV. I drove the car for 15-16K miles and the drivers side header started leaking. When I dismantled the shielding around the header, I discovered a situation just like yours. I contacted QV and they made an offer to fix the headers at a reduced cost (plus pay shipping), but I decided not to pursue that route. I just wasn't that excited about the original work. It appears that their process is to simply replace sections of the tubing and not the entire pipe (from flange to collector). I replaced the headers with a set from Fabspeed.
QV headers are not a permanant fix. They offer a low cost alternative. We install them by request only but I make it quite clear verbally and on the invoice they will fail again. If the car is being regularly serviced by somone knowledgeable a header failure should be detected in early stages before any damage is done to other components.
This cannot be restated enough for you 355 owners who see this problem. I suppose if you drive the car alot or track it, you would want a more permanent solution.
I'm definitely not bashing any company or their product, but on the 355's I've had here, this is the 2nd set of QV's I've seen fail. If the situation calls for it, the QV's can be a cost effective fix, but not a long term solution. Like Rifledriver said, it's a repair, but not a permanent fix. If the factory header isn't up to the task, a patched factory header isn't going to be any better. If someone's factory headers have lasted 30k+ miles, good for them. But you can't compare apples to apples, because each car is driven differently by each owner. One car may be driven easily and never see extreme exhaust temps, while the other may be driven hard and build tons of exhaust heat. Luckily for Todd, we had already rebuilt his engine with cylinder liners that have been re-coated to a thickness far exceeding the factory. The cross hatch is pretty much gone, but no real measurable wear. That liner will be pulled and re-honed and new rings put on the piston. I'd venture to say that the factory coating would have been long gone and extensive wear would have been seen, based on other engines I've rebuilt that had failed headers. The best suggestion I can give any 355 owner that plans on keeping their car for any length of time is to throw away your factory headers and find a replacement that is a long term solution. Pics of the header in question. Cylinder#7 tube is blown out almost the whole circumference of the tube, #'s 5 & 6 had enough heat to deform and would have also eventually failed. The common talk around here is that the headers 'crack' which is incorrect, they become super heated to where the metal almost becomes molten, then the pressure blows them out. Pic #3 is the telltale sign on the side of the block that the header had failed- insulation blown onto the side of the engine. I like Dave Helm's method of looking for problems by placing a drop of oil on the oil filter at oil change time. It can be monitored for the insulation fibers and detect a bad header before things get too bad. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Trust me. Had I known that this wasn't a viable solution, I would have paid the price to have it done the right the first time. But the only real option I was hearing at the time was to let QV fix them, I'm no mechanic. The only other option I was given was Tubi headers at a cost of 8k, and back then, my mechanic that did the engine out service and noticed the problem wasn't even sure if he could get them. So I went with QV as I really was getting no other options, plus I had heard nothing but praise for them here. Anyway, like I said, I have Fabspeeds on the way. I don't drive the car necessarily hard, much less hard than I drive my gt3, but I do drive it a good bit. So lord, please let me have some luck with these headers!
So that's you, me and many many others who post on the ferrari forums. I recall reading on FC over the years that QV use thicker gauge steel, better fabrication ect ect. Every man and his dog seemed to recommend using QV units because they are better. Now for the first time i have read that the QV manifolds will go again, and that even on certain invoices, its written that they will fail again. Really, i dont ever recall reading this before, and i bet many that have used QV stuff also did not knowing this factor.This is a completely new revelation to me and i am sure others. So it seems to me in a nut shell, all the sun shine that was blown up QVs backside was bravado There units are no better than the standard Ferrari crap.
http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?p=139329647#post139329647 Its been said before by several of us. Can't help the fact that people believe what they want to believe. Some people still believe Niel Armstrong never walked on the moon.
Yep just like you believe your own hype....joking relax. Anyway and seriously i cant recall it being said, its not the fact that i for one believe what i want to believe personally, i dont use the QV units. I have Stainless steel headers. Was your link supposed to be a quote from the past about the quality of the QV units to prove its been said in the past? Its not working.
I changed the link. Try again. Not a comment about your statement so much as a general one of people promoting a product they have little knowledge of. It happens here constantly. Owners with an experience of one car, possibly over a short time will argue a point with a shop owner or mechanic that has experience with hundreds of cases. It never ceases to amaze me and is THE major factor in people getting the wrong information at this site. I still get it every single week. Someone owned a Ferrari once (sometimes never) and takes issue with my 30 years of experience and decides I'm wrong. Just can't help some people but they insist on steering others wrong too. It took years to get very many here accept that the cams in the later cars need to be degreed. It also took years to get a general acceptance that there really is a valve guide problem. We used to get constant arguments by the majority on both topics. It took years to turn the opinion.
Still happens to some degree, too. I have nowhere the experience on these things as Brian or Dave does, or have the volume of cars in and out like they do, but I read on here several times by people speculating that: "I would expect that almost all the cars out there have had the bad guides and headers replaced by now." When in fact, there are still heads coming into the shop every month with bad guides, and cars with killed liners and bad headers. I also see tons of people wanting massive performance upgrades offered at a reasonable price, but yet, in some instances, they won't even ensure that their cams are degreed properly. These things are RACE engines, believe it or not, and one bad piece in the scheme of things or bad advice can cause premature wear or failure of other components.
Yup. I have QV rebuilt headers in my 355 (2yrs and 5k miles ago) and I wasn't told by anyone that they would fail again. I purchased these from Ricambi and I know how honest Daniel is so I'm hoping he will chime in here.
To the best of my knowledge QV do not do the repair themselves but send the headers to an outside shop. The headers are bad to start with and QV try and offer a budget priced fix to save spending money on more bad factory headers. That's why there are aftermarket offerings available at a greater price. Some people will be happy to go with an alternative set of higher priced, higher quality headers whilst some will look for a lower priced repair. The fact that 430 headers are showing the same problems means that the factory have learnt nothing. Speak to QV and try and solve the problem or at least get a definitive answer and be constructive rather than berate them in a reactive way.
I've had them rebuild my 355 headers several years ago, and they lasted over 15k. I found them to be straight forward, and willing to do what is right. It's a shame you didn't provide them with an opportunity to resolve the matter, I suspect they would have done right by you. Art
