Ta perf headers cracked!! Wtf!!!!

[trbojo]

I have a set of ta Performance stainless headers that I bought for my Gn about two years ago. If they've been on the car running 8 months that's pushing it. Right off the bat when I first installed them, the flange on the passenger side header had to be ground down to clear a part of the casting on the head, along with having to enlarge 3 of the mounting holes to get them to line up. I called the vendor at the time and his response was "welcome to my world" and more or less blamed it on the head manufacturer, which BTW they are champion gn1 aluminum heads. I said that's funny because the gaskets line up fine. Fast forward to now. I notice an exhaust leak last week and long story short, the passenger side header is cracked in 3 spots!!!! All around welds. This is completely unacceptable for 750 headers which are supposed to be high quality!!! I am attaching a few pics to see if anyone else has had this issue. I called the vendor and he claims they have never had an issue and that the ta performance headers are the best out there. If that's the case, I fully expect the manufacturer to step up and replace this header since there was an apparent manufacturing defect with it.

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[trbojo]

The cracks are at the welds where cylinders 2 and 6 meet the collector, and also at one of the o2 bung welds as you can see.

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[pacecarta]

mine cracked at the backside of the #6 tube to the main log (toward firewall) ,
weld it up..still better than the issues with stock

oh and 750 ??? sounds like you have the mild steel headers.. Stainless Steel are over 1000

 

[trbojo]

*750 DOLLAR headers*

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[trbojo]

That's exactly where one of my cracks is... My point is you pay a fortune for parts for these cars and still have the same issues...

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[Lil Truck]

I have the TA SS replacement headers installed on TA SI heads. No problems at all with the fit, they have been on a few months with about 800 miles. I will keep an eye out for cracks. Sorry to hear of the problems!

 

[trbojo]

I put 1000 miles a year or less on my car.... UNACCEPTABLE!

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[1952ray]

I put 1000 miles a year or less on my car.... UNACCEPTABLE!

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I agree. TA should step up and do something. The 750$ Headers are 409 SS. Hell the factory headers last longer then that.

 

[trbojo]

Couldn't agree more ^^^^^

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[Nick Micale]

I have a set of ta Performance stainless headers that I bought for my Gn about two years ago. If they've been on the car running 8 months that's pushing it. Right off the bat when I first installed them, the flange on the passenger side header had to be ground down to clear a part of the casting on the head, along with having to enlarge 3 of the mounting holes to get them to line up....... I called the vendor and he claims they have never had an issue and that the ta performance headers are the best out there. If that's the case, I fully expect the manufacturer to step up and replace this header since there was an apparent manufacturing defect with it.................

Since the TA headers were introduced I have installed and sold over 100 sets and never have seen or heard of an issue like yours?

Personally I ran one of the first sets of mild steel TA headers on my race car for a few years and never had any cracks? I recently removed an early TA mild steel set from a street/strip low 10 sec. car, and they were in excellent shape after lots of strip use, as well as street use.

In your case if you had to modify them to fit your heads, the conclusion would be that the heads caused the mis-fit, not the headers? I do not know what part of the head you had to grind for clearance, but that along with the bolt holes not lining that up could have put a LOT of stress on these headers?

Also, having dealt with many aftermarket heads, I have seen the exhaust bolt pattern vary which was one reason the bolt holes on the headers flanges were opened up.

I am not giving excuses for TA, and I would like to personally inspect and evaluate your header.

If you send it to me I will inspect it, check it against a new one, and weld it properly for you. It will not be a "patch" job as our fab shop builds headers for race and high end exotic cars. Ask Don Cruz, he runs a custom built set of ours on his TSO car!

Just to clarify, we do not build the TA headers, only custom, high $$$$ ones!

 

[Raeban]

I've had a set of the 304 SS version on my car for 10k miles and inspected them a couple days ago and they show no issues. This was the one part I bought for my car that fit perfectly oddly enough. I did burn out a graphite vband gasket on one side and made a replacement out of copper though. Sorry to hear about your troubles.

 

[trbojo]

Nick.. Thanks for the input and offer... I just got off the phone with Mike at ta... We spoke for awhile and verified that yes, they are in fact the mild steel headers. I was under the impression from the vendor that they were stainless, so I will have to find my receipt to prove or disprove that. Mike did apologize and offer me a discount on some other items I need. As far as repair, I do work with certified welders who can tig them for me.

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[EVIL]

I bought a set of mild steel TA headers and I had to modify the holes to fit my heads.
STOCK HEADS.
It’s what the vendor told me to do after I said they wouldn’t fit/lineup.

D

 

[Ed Valvo]

Are you sure they were not the chinese reproductions? I realize you have heartburn over this, who wouldn't, but we are at the mercy of what vendors we have left for these cars. I hope they work with you on this issue.

 

[DavidM]

What vendor?

 

[earlbrown]

I gave up on doing business years ago when the only people in the office were ''new'' and nobody in the building had any kind of authority to answer a question as they were all new too.

You're lucky you got someone on the phone that wasn't ''new''. At least that's something.

 

[trbojo]

They're definitely ta headers..

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[kidglok]

They're definitely ta headers..

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Just out of curiosity, is TA PERF engraved on the passenger side flange between cylinders 2 and 4?


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[Pronto]

Do you have a flex pipe in the down pipe or exhaust? Maybe the system is too rigid and twisting found the weakest spots?

 

[bison]

What is being done to stop the engine from moving and rotating and how tight is the remainder of the exhaust from the point where it mounts to the turbo back? There has to be some give in the exhaust post turbo somewhere or it will pull on the exhaust manifolds as it torques over.


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