TA Header fitment/install experience

[m233roller]

Lee, You BAAAAAD !!!!!

 

[Nick Micale]

...Turbo mounting flange had the turbo pointing a few degrees CCW (looking from above), which made it impossible to connect the DP back up and had the 4" turbo inlet blasting into my IAC. I had to grind out the 3 holes to be able to rotate the turbo back to its original position. Not a big deal, but irritating for the $$$ of the headers. ........

Then, upon startup I had exhaust leaks at the heads. No big deal, just hot torque the bolts........ It's actually not easy to warp stainless flanges with the proper heat input. $35 later I was back in business with nice flat flanges. Well, that just made the PS header leaks that much more noticeable. But, you can't put that one on a sanding table because the turbo mount is in the way of a flat position on the table. I'm an old hand at metal crafting, so I hand filed the flange as flat as I could (the first few file marks told the story, too). New gaskets and bingo, no leaks.

So, for $1100 I was disappointed in the quality of the stainless fabrication. I would expect to do this extra work and buy the extra expensive gaskets, if the headers were half the price. But, again, I'm quite happy with the final result. Still leak free and maybe just my imagination, but the car sounds "throatier" than before.

These are "issues" we have found also and have improved the latest production headers which unfortunately you did not receive. But thanks for the feedback, as we always want to remedy flaws and improve the product.

The bolt holes for the turbo are now elongated so it can be rotated to accommodate differences in various cars.

All flanges are now checked before shipping. The current production also has a pass side flange with an additional brace between cylinders no. 2 & 4 to eliminate warpage after welding cool down.

I have found recently the clamps have broken easily when attempting to bend the threaded rod to fit. Will check into this as either it is a different supplier, or he has changed the material?

Thanks again for your input.

 

[John Wilde]

Nick,

Thanks for addressing the comments!

 

[rmar]

That is how a vendor is supposed to reply. You will never please everybody.
But a goal of continuous improvement once the feedback or data is available.
Work with your customers, there input. And correct the problem to the
best of your ability. Is all one can expect.

And besides the T/As are awsome..........:biggrin:
One of my next purchases.

 

[WSLN 6]

I love the new TA Headers, fit awesome and actually seal. The stiff flange on the passenger sid eis a nice feature, although it did cost me a plug wire now due to buring through the boot. Oh well, I wanted to get new wires anyway! lol
Just a heads up for other peoples.....

 

[87WE4BOOSTED]

Subscribed...

 

[turbo nasty]

Update on mine......

The Headers are doing great, no leaks, paint is just like when I put it on.
NO REGRETS on the purchase, worth every dime!

Thanx to Nick and Ta perfromance great job and great product!

 

[FreeBoost]

I also have the TA headers, but my experience was a bit different. I can start by saying I am thoroughly happy with the performance of the headers and I'm leary of posting anything even remotely negative on these boards. But, the install for me was nasty. .

I just finished installing a set of the TA headers too and if you think your install was nasty then mine was a summer vacation at a Nazi death camp.
To start out the flanges were so rough they would never seal so I had them surfaced at a machine shop. The passenger side was done on a cylinder head machine, the driver’s side done on a multi-axis milling machine. Since I had the engine out I tried them on and found the crossover was at least ½” too long. After trimming it I found the crossover flange to be at an angle to the mating flange. I then took the engine on the stand to have the flange cut off and re-welded. With the engine in the car the header cocked the turbo up so the air inlet interfered with throttle body inlet. Back to the welding shop.
To make things even worse, I had the same kind of problems with the gbodyparts downpipe I tried to install – But that’s another story.
I’ve seen the posts of Vendors complaining about Chinese parts and their lack of quality and that you don’t get a support from them, but after the BS I went through I don’t see where the quality is in the USA parts. I also didn’t get any support from gbodyparts because he just ignored me when I contacted him with my problems.
I have heard the stories of people installing these headers with no problems and others with horror stories like mine. This indicates a good design but piss poor quality control in manufacturing.
The trick I used for the clamps was to push the nut portion onto the stud with a robertson screw driver that was large enough to so that it wouldn't go all the way through the nut.

 

[KevinB]

Hey guys, just as a warning, make sure you put a bolt and nut in the eyelets where the 2 crossover pipes slide into each other. I just had to remove my pass side stainless steel TA header due to very bad cracking of where the #6 cylinder pipe goes into the log. I was told this has happened before if the car backfires or pops, in which my car did twice at the Columbus BPG race. Headers are about 6 months old, 30 passes and probably 2 street miles. I took some pics, but my camera is not very good at taking close up shots.

Also, anyone else have an issue of the headers holding the turbo higher than stockers or ATR's? I had to use a plenum spacer so the turbo's 4" inlet would clear the up pipe. Did not have this problem with my old ATR's and the same turbo.

 

[ALVAROG1983]

Fitment Ta Headers

Hey guys, just as a warning, make sure you put a bolt and nut in the eyelets where the 2 crossover pipes slide into each other. I just had to remove my pass side stainless steel TA header due to very bad cracking of where the #6 cylinder pipe goes into the log. I was told this has happened before if the car backfires or pops, in which my car did twice at the Columbus BPG race. Headers are about 6 months old, 30 passes and probably 2 street miles. I took some pics, but my camera is not very good at taking close up shots.

Also, anyone else have an issue of the headers holding the turbo higher than stockers or ATR's? I had to use a plenum spacer so the turbo's 4" inlet would clear the up pipe. Did not have this problem with my old ATR's and the same turbo.

I used a reducer 4" to a 3" inlet doesn't really clear to great up pipe but i got away with it.

 

[87LtdT]

Subscribed.

 

[turbo nasty]

I just finished installing a set of the TA headers too and if you think your install was nasty then mine was a summer vacation at a Nazi death camp.
To start out the flanges were so rough they would never seal so I had them surfaced at a machine shop. The passenger side was done on a cylinder head machine, the driver’s side done on a multi-axis milling machine. Since I had the engine out I tried them on and found the crossover was at least ½” too long. After trimming it I found the crossover flange to be at an angle to the mating flange. I then took the engine on the stand to have the flange cut off and re-welded. With the engine in the car the header cocked the turbo up so the air inlet interfered with throttle body inlet. Back to the welding shop.
To make things even worse, I had the same kind of problems with the gbodyparts downpipe I tried to install – But that’s another story.
I’ve seen the posts of Vendors complaining about Chinese parts and their lack of quality and that you don’t get a support from them, but after the BS I went through I don’t see where the quality is in the USA parts. I also didn’t get any support from gbodyparts because he just ignored me when I contacted him with my problems.
I have heard the stories of people installing these headers with no problems and others with horror stories like mine. This indicates a good design but piss poor quality control in manufacturing.
The trick I used for the clamps was to push the nut portion onto the stud with a robertson screw driver that was large enough to so that it wouldn't go all the way through the nut.

Out of curiosity did you call nick or TA performance and ask them about it.
I am sur ethay would have sent you a new set.
My first set was damaged pretty good by DHL and Nick sent me out a new set even before he got the old ones back.

 

[FreeBoost]

Out of curiosity did you call nick or TA performance and ask them about it.
I am sur ethay would have sent you a new set.
My first set was damaged pretty good by DHL and Nick sent me out a new set even before he got the old ones back.

Since I bought the headers from Gbodyparts I went back to them and after one or two emails they just ignored me.
I guess my first mistake was buying from Gbodyparts, not a mistake I'll make again.

 

[RegalX2]

My crossver had fitment issues just like Freeboost mentioned. I did not bother to call Nick, I presume the trouble may lie in the on center block application. Turbo location and flanges were fine, BTW

 

[jdpolzin]

Quick question, I have a set of steel TA headers. I was just wondering if they can be installed without gaskets?? I have a set of SCE copper gaskets and I'm wondering if I should install them under these headers? Thanks! -----Jeremy

 

[FreeBoost]

Quick question, I have a set of steel TA headers. I was just wondering if they can be installed without gaskets?? I have a set of SCE copper gaskets and I'm wondering if I should install them under these headers? Thanks! -----Jeremy

If you have a machine surface on the header flange you probably get by with just some Ultra Copper, but with the $hitty surface on the TA header flanges you'll need a nice squishy gasket to smooth it out.

 

[turbo nasty]

The surfaces on mine were completely smooth. I took no cahnces and ran copper gaskets anyways.

If you already have them why not use them??

 

[ALVAROG1983]

Do The Same

The surfaces on mine were completely smooth. I took no cahnces and ran copper gaskets anyways.

If you already have them why not use them??

I myself do the samething and still add red silcon.

 

[f117v6]

called

I talked to Jim (or Tim) at TA Performance before installing my headers. I had noticed that the flanges that ran across the cylinder heads were warped about 1/8". I did this before installing the headers because I thought there might be a problem with these particular headers. He said go ahead and install the headers, and the warpage would draw into the head. By the way, regarding the clamps--I was told I'm the only person that had problems with them. Bent the clamp like he told me to, it broke, and $26 to get a new one. All this being said, the headers are good, but with the price point, I was hoping we wouldn't have to deal with these type of problems.

 

[jdpolzin]

The surfaces on mine were completely smooth. I took no cahnces and ran copper gaskets anyways.

If you already have them why not use them??

Well, I always try not to use header gaskets period. Once you use them on a header, that header will always require one.