Anybody purchased these headers? (recommendations)

[Hedge]

I came across these headers for the GN and they look nice and the price is right. Has anybody purchased them and if so did they fit? they are made in china according to the replies for a few of the eBay stores. I just hate to buy them and find out they don't fit right.

eBay Motors: 1986-1987 Buick Grand National Type R 3.8L Turbo Header (item 320132521095 end time Jul-01-07 21:24:35 PDT)

 

[marred4life]

if your good with a welder and a BFH and have lots of free time to take measurements then get them, if not turn around and dont look back, remember you get what you pay for

 

[mikestertwo]

A friend of mine bought them for his car. Needless to say, after paying a muffler shop more than $300 to try and make them fit and not leak, he took them back off and put the stockers back on. They cut and welded and hammered and still couldn't make them fit and not leak. They look pretty but the fit is terrible. Leaks all over the place and the placement of the turbo was a mile off. I would stay away from them.

 

[Evaddave 87gn]

They need work but,,

There have been many write ups on these headers. The long and short is this. If you have the ability to use a welder, and have done some fabrication in the past these headers are great! If you do not have any experience with this type of work, DO NOT BUY! I have them and I used their clamps, their gaskets and mine work great. No leaks--not hitting anywhere. With great flow. However, it took some time to make the required adjustments.

Evaddave

 

[wicked t]

headers

a little modifying and look and work great . Sound awsome

 

[dproberts05]

headers

I bought a set and had no fitment issues other than the crossover pipe hitting the flywheel cover slightly. Dan

 

[leprcon]

been ther done that the turbo placement is waaaayyyy off had to modify downpipe , not worth it and they leak alittle, run fast, very fast in the oppiste direction

 

[pacecarta]

i agree witha bove if you have tinkering ability and good with a welder (mig/tig) then they are inexpensive and can be made to work
i had these ( from ss auto ) well stil do but they had to come off after the flange blew off the driverside manifold and also found the driverside crossover split about 8" along the tubing seam
they are a copie of the ATR headers which are in use on many stage motored GNS
they never gave me the 60fts i was used to but they did perform as good if not a little better than stockers at the top (see sig) the headers themselves are nicely done , the flangers to the head are nice , the turbo flange needs work just to be able to bolt the turbo on , but the crossover and the psuedo v band flange connections they tried to use are less then optimal I had to cutoff and rewelded to correct the turbo mtg flange , had to redrill a couple of the flange holes on driverside do to poor placement of the upper bushings (not too bad) , mofied the crossover flanges a little , had to locate vband clamps (they arent cheap) , find spacers so v band clamps would actually work (atr had a gasket )
i had mine in leak free (quiter than my stockers ever were ) , but if you push your car like i do any header will require some attention on a weekly basis and these china headers are no differnt , they seem to split around those v band flanges due to weak tig welding that didnt use any filler rod so plan on replacing all the cheap flanges with good flanges like what atr used on theres
and if you had a shop make a crossover you could save yourself some headaches on that fit
OH and youll need a downpipe designed to be used with the atr style heders , stock wont work, nor will the ones that use the stock elbow, and some 3" houstons wont fit either , i have mease and atr downpipes and with those there isnt any isuues

a better fitting set based on another design was on ebay a few weeks ago that claimed to bolt right in but they have the same flanges and arent proven yet for durability