Cracked Headers? Here's why

I can't speak for the 360, but the F430 manifolds are made very well. Wall thickness is very good, and the welds are good. The only issue is the solid rear mounting brackets.

 

So , you are in a differenter opinion than the OP. Am I understanding this correctly?

 

I assume most of those are 07 and earlier cars. Ferrari did a MK II revision in 08. You should also talk about the Fabspeed brackets in your video. I think they are not only a work of art but do help prevent the issue if you have the revised OEM MK II headers.

 

The failures of the late model 360 and 430 headers are well known. So far, I haven't had any issues with my 1999 360. However, as someone in the oil and gas industry and specifically the PM & maintenance groups, I believe in preventative maintenance.

With what I know, the failures are on the later model ones with the pre-cats. What have you or anyone else seen as far as the first gen 360 headers failing?

 

Hardly a surprise given how they are bolted up solid at the rear, mine move 18 mm on the capristo expansion brackets. You dont get the cracks with these fitted

 

isn't removing the lower mounting brackets a good preventative as well?

 

For the 430 just get the Challenge headers. I daily drive my car and drove 20k miles last year with the challenge headers. No cracks. And even if they crack. There is no cat inside and you can welt them. I prefer this over third-party exhausts which are often too loud and noisy. Too many sales representatives here trying to sell their exhaust systems.

 

Those big plates on the back of the gearbox sure dont help,

 

The factory brackets are rigid in all directions.

The idea of the brackets is to keep the exhaust tips from impacting the rear bumper surrounds.

The Fabspeed brackets are only rigid in the horizontal direction.

While the Fabspeed brackets aren’t as flexible as the springs from Capristo they are still flexible and don’t attach the exhaust to the body of the car which moves independently from the engine. Something I wanted to avoid and something that would require very flexible springs which I’m not sure how much actual support the Capristo provide to prevent the tips from hitting the bumper surrounds.

Now if your engine and transmission mounts are in good condition maybe removing the brackets is fine, but if your engine mounts start to wear you do risk hitting the exhaust surrounds. When I was looking for a replacement for my scratched surround and looked at used ones, more than a few showed signs of impact from the exhaust tips. So I would guess those people either had removed their brackets or had the Capristo and had the very common wear on their engine mounts to the point where the engine and exhaust moved enough that between the exhaust vibration and engine movement they hit/touched the plastic exhaust surround on the bumper.



Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat.com mobile app

 

Interestingly the 360 doesn't have these rigid rear support brackets and the 360 has a heavier factory exhaust system.

 

According to my mechanic it’s very common to have the exhaust hit the surrounds in the rear bumper under hard acceleration on the 360 which is why they added the brackets.


Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat.com mobile app

 

Ok I guess they have a purpose. Shame they are rigid and bad for the headers. I actually considered cutting those brackets in half and welding door hinges on so they could move back and forth.

 

Story I was told, by who is long forgotten, the header problem stated when Ferrari would use Tubi on the preproduction cars, and then switch to cheap **** on the production cars.

I don’t know how much truth there is to this story, but it sounds like something Ferrari would do.


Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat.com mobile app

 

Had my header crack on the side where the exhaust bracket was intact. No header crack on the side where the exhaust bracket cracked.

 

Same here and it makes perfect sense. Most folk weld up cracked brackets good and strong without a thought for the header.

 

Yeah take off your exhaust brackets and never think about it again.

 

Is it safe to remove lower exhaust brackets??

Surely if they are only there to stop it hitting bumper then it means the eng and trans mounts are shot, and trying to hold the whole exhaust and stop flexing with 2 hard mounts is asking for trouble as it will but a lot of stress on exhaust

 

I don’t think it adds any more stress if the mounts are shot as the whole exhaust moves with the engine/trans.

I think moral to the story. If you remove your brackets completely make sure you keep an eye on your engine and transmission mounts because under load and when you shift you could hit the surrounds in the bumper.


Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat.com mobile app

 

Everyone should replace their super old mounts by now anyways.

 

The exhaust brackets play zero part in the manifold issue. I'm not sure how they can. The entire exhaust system is bolted rigidly to the gear box and manifolds, which is bolted to the engine. At no point is the exhaust anywhere attached the body/frame of the car. When the engine moves..the entire system moves with it. There is no point of stress or "tug of war" in the system at all.

I firmly believe the cracks and rear bracket failure are due to vibration and heat. They all seem to break at the weld in one area or another..

The capristo mount is a joke. I haven't even looked at the fabspeed one..but I will assume it's probably just as useless. There is no "magic bracket" that will fix this issue. It's crappy materials..that's it.

If you have cracked brackets you can simply remove them..but they do add extra vertical support keeping things nice and straight.

 

^ I think the issue is the exhaust between the head flange and the rigid mounts has much more thermal expansion than the engine/trans housings limiting that movement. No?

 

I have cut a couple these open now and had a look. I want to up load some pictures to show where these things like to break..but the site won't let me. Says file is too large..any suggestions?

 

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/headers-and-exhaust-brackets-my-fix.517273/

I really should start making these and selling them. Been on for 4 years now. The exhaust grows in length 1/2" and it does it fast. The rear brackets stop this and destroys headers over time.