Hi. The local Ferrari dealer told me that my car's headers were probably cracked, due to the sound and the smell from the car. I removed the headers by myself to check them. Can you please tell me if there is a way to see if the headers are actually cracked now that I have removed them? Thank you
It's all in the thread a couple of lines under yours http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showpost.php?p=140585957&postcount=37 Enjoy reading
Ditch your stock headers and go aftermarket, better quality no worries about the cats and 40-50hp gain.
OP, the good news is you can get them replaced under warranty. Hey Stef, I hadn't seen those photos; thanks. What a POS design indeed. By the way, what's the difference between MK1 to MK2? Thx.
Hi JC, the difference between the MK1 and Mk2 remains a mistery. We have some assumptions on the used steel/insulation materials but nothing really concrete could be confirmed. The only way to know would be to dismantle both and put them side by side and compare them. But that's quite an expensive approach If anyone has some real info/photos, that would be great.
speaking of headers...let's move on to brackets...this is where I was fri. morning last week...having the drivers side exhaust bracket welded. This bracket was fixed before at the Ferrari Dearler when the exhaust manifolds were replaced....unblvbl! Image Unavailable, Please Login
Why do all the aftermarket exhaust headers use an open-air design for each exhaust pipe, while the factory headers use some sort of an enclosed, steel encased shrouded pipes design? Mike
Low quality stainless headers will radiate a large amount of the exhaust heat. Thick walled stainless headers will keep much of the heat in and dont need the heat shielding.
But . . . I'm buying/bought a Ferrari. I seem to be confused and missing something. I thought Ferrari was synonymous with Rolls Royce in terms of the use of the highest quality parts. Us Ferrari owners are in a car price range over $200,000+. Anyone already willing to spend that much on a car is willing to pay for whatever the best _____________ part is. If it's thick-walled ceramic exhaust headers, then that's what I want Ferrari to install at the factory--- or at least give me the option. Why would they install some POS part prone to fail? A mistake I understand. A bad design I understand. But deliberately going cheap on a critical part--- like some mass-production car company would choose to do--- I don't understand. Although I am mechanically inclined, I don't work on my Ferrari and have no experience eyeballing and rating the parts quality. So when it comes to certain F430 parts, did Ferrari just put lipstick on a pig? Mike
Ferrari is still lacking quality in some areas, unfortunately. The utmost quality will really be found on cars from Pagani, Koenigsegg, and Bugatti. Before the 355 headers like this were not so much an issue. Cars were not driven as much, and so failure rates were not as high. After 3 models having consisten failures, the headers were finally changed on the 458 and are much better. Still not thick walled stainless, but they will be much less prone to failure. The stock exhaust is really the weak link on the 430, most other parts are much higher quality.
Not sure it was a good idea to have the stock brackets welded. Remember that the main root cause of headers failures since the 355 is the way the exhaust line is fixed on the engine. The stronger the brackets, the higher chances you'll brake the weakest part which are the exhaust headers. That's why we have been writing already a lot on fact that one should consider first to replace the stock exhaust brackets by an aftermarket real suspended system, away from the engine. Where Ferrari failed most is not only the quality of their exhaust headers (initially ANSA), but mainly on how the entire exhaust line is fixed on the gearbox in such way that it cannot expand, neither move. And flat plane or single plane crankshafts are notorious for their higher level of vibration.
Not accurate, Ferrari started making crappy headers since the 355 until now. Ferraris from the '70s, '80s never had this problem and many were really driven. I keep hearing how Ferraris are driven more now than then, but I don't see any changes. In the early Testarossa some had catalytic fires.
I didnt say the headers were crap before the 355. I was implying the 355 was the start of the high failure rate headers (maybe I should have stated more clearly). With the built in catalysts came high exhaust/engine bay temps, and along with that were heat shields. This was another cause of the headers failing. Its a fact that cars are driven more than ever, and this does apply to exotic cars as well. Seeing an F430 with 3-5k miles within a year is not uncommon. This was almost unheard of with pre-90s cars. Its also true that the headers on the older cars may have failed earlier than anticipated, but most were not driven often enough to find out.
Ferrari is not a manufacturer of manifolds. They order bespoke manifolds from external suppliers. (That isn't an excuse for poor quality however)
Good points, but it was your first two sentences of your second paragraph on the first post that threw me off. Just look at the number of numbers of 20 year plus Ferraris with high miles and still on original good headers. At least I drove over 100k of 328 and Testarossa which I also tracked and after 10 years the headers were fine. Funny that I have 20k in my '06 f430 and people consider it high miles! We didn't have internet back in the 80s, but trust me that many folks did drive the doors off their Ferraris. Many cars had the odometers disconnected too, etc... With the high numbers of Ferraris been built is only a very small minority the ones with higher mileage. But there's no excuse and Ferrari should take care of this issue rather than worrying on some pointless extra option for the interior.
Very well said! I hope Ferrari has big ears because lasting issues like headers failures, it's time to be heard... With the California, the headers are still an issue ! Hope the 458 will be better. At least on the Italia, they eventually added several flexible exhaust parts so that the exhaust can expand and move independently of the engine. Future will tell if it is efficient enough.
