Forza Article

The Shop Talk article in FORZA was written by FChat's own expert Tech Brian Crall (RifleDriver).

Yes Jeff, unfortunately, all F355 headers will eventually have to be replaced or rebuilt. Even if they SEEM to be OK, the potential ramifications of header failure are too severe not to address the problem. IIRC, at this time, only Tubi is producing a header system with OEM-style insulation. The OEM headers are more expensive than the Tubi system and will just fail again, needing another round of replacement or rebuilding.

Do a search, this is a very complicated subject.

There are a number of shops that will rebuild the OEM headers for around $1200.00. I, myself, will be replacing my OEM system with a Tubi at my upcoming 30K.

 

Under track use, headers are just like brakes--a consumable component.

 

Mitch:

As a highly knowledgeable individual, do you think that a set of OEM headers, used only on the street, could last indefinitely?

 

Wow

 

That is in essence Ferrari's position on 355 header failure but they made no limitation to track use.

And their failure is not limited to track use either.

 

again, wow...

 

My headers on my 1995 are still in good condition however they will fail in time....no doubt....of course the car is now 16 years old and it has been tracked so considering all thats not too bad.
I have thought (when get around to it) I may remove the headers for an proper inspection.... remove heat shields (there are spot welds) to inspect them and if all is ok...either reinstall the heat shields with new insulation and welded tabs (to facilitate removal of the heat shields while the headers are still in the car for future inspection)...or reinstall the headers with out the metal heat shields but install those expensive space age header blankets from Capristo.
When the headers do go though.....I will not go with the cheap (quality wise) oe headers but I will be going with Fabspeed (with either fabricated metal heat shields or the before mentioned space age header blankets).
Either way....its an affordable easy repair......no big deal.

 

I know of one F355 with original headers making 103K Miles, owned and driven by an 85-ish year old who lost his license (due to eyesight) and had to quit driving (the F355). This was about 5-ish years ago.

Indefinately, no; 120K miles, sure if you drive like grandma and never use the power band.

I blew the first ones after 3 track events, and the second ones are expected to die (somewhat) soon after another 40-odd track events and 40K miles. When these do go, I'm going to build a set and fix the factory problems: 421 stainless, real merge collectors, the correct lengths, the correct diameters, and a correct expansion chamber volume.

 

Add my data point to the mix:

I'm the 5th owner of my 1997 F355B. I have service records from owner #1 & owner #2, owner #3 only had the car for 30 days, and owner #4 had the car for 6 years but only did fluid changes. No known track use by any of these guys.

Headers first replaced under warranty in 2001 with 13K miles on the car.

Those replacement headers also failed (bulging but not a full blow-out) and were replaced with QV rebuilt units at 39K miles in 2010.

Lesson learned: Factory headers can fail more than once.

 

Absolutely makes sense, 355 headers will fail with enough heat + miles (heat = higher rpm driving). If it's idling around town forever they will last longer, although it's a shame to drive it like that Aftermarket is the way to go...I chose Fabspeed and had them ceramic coated inside and out, and they still look great.

 

Fabspeed Headers are a great solution for those of you that have cracked exhaust manifolds on your F355 or just want more power and sports car sound. Fabspeed has high performance headers that are a direct bolt-on replacement for the factory exhaust manifolds. Fabspeed headers are made of T304 Stainless Steel and incorporate a Formula 1 Indy Car high velocity merge collector.

The Fabspeed Maxflo 355 headers will work and compliment any brand of catalytic converter or rear muffler systems.

Here are a couple pictures of the Fabspeed F355 headers ceramic coated inside/out.
We can also do Matte Black ceramic coating.
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I'm curious if new OEM or recently rebuilt OEM headers would last longer if they were ceramic coated. It seems the failure mode is a concentration of heat in spots that eventually erode and/or weaken the metal in that spot which leads to cracks. By insulating the metal with ceramic it would help prevent this I assume.

 

It may help, but not in the long run....kind a like dressing up a turd. The fault is poor material choice, and too thin.

What is amazing, is it seems 360s and 430s are now having issues as well....Ansa and Ferrari did not learn anything from the 355s.

 

Not totally true. We were replacing bad headers before the 96 355's even came out and we were replacing a lot. We are just now seeing a few bad 360 headers and nothing like the serious failures of the 355 headers. Those cars are a little over 11 years old in the case of the 360. I'd say that was a great deal better. Most of the 360 header failures have been cat failures. For one thing it was stupid to incorporate the cat into the header and the other is I have never personally seen a cat failure in a 360 that could not be tied to running issues. I know some will say otherwise but in my experience very seldom to people even know there is a running problem thats causing the cat to fail. I have seen cases of this where cars had been repeatedly returned to a dealer and never diagnosed as an engine problem at the root cause.

If it was not for the cat in the header I would be defending those headers as good.

 

Apart from the cat in the headers......what differentiates the 360 header from the 355 header....is the stainless thicker?

 

The F355 has two ways for the exhaust to leave the expansiion chamber, the 360 only one (like the 348 and 430). In addition, the F355 headers have the cold air path through the exhaust flange while the 348/360 put the system through the heads. The 348 headers have longer tubes, the 360 have different expansion chambers (at least). The exhaust port heads on the 348 are 10mm longer than the exhaust port on the F355/360.

And price.....due to cat....

 

Thanks for the info Brian!