TA Header fitment/install experience

[ALVAROG1983]

Headers

got the headers in and figured i would write a lil somethin up. No bs just my honest install experience

my stockers were done and would not stop cracking during the tig weld even though they were drilled and stress (heated) relieved. So the ta's beat out the "other" choices out there imo.

I chose the vht flameproof header spray flat black since i could not afford the jet hot and it looks great and holding up great so far. I went over the whole set with fine sandpaper and emery cloth. Then washed with a rag and hot soapy water (palmolive dish soap). Heated them up a bit and speed water drying and then wiped the headers down with paint prep chemical. Hung em up with wire...painted 3-4 thin coats just to get them colored and let that dry. Was careful on install and then followed the on car curing process and everything is holding up great and seems to be a great durable finish. I like the looks of the finish

as far as install areas...

They came with no instructions, but good quality gaskets and hardware. I used sce copper manifold gaskets since i had a set already and saved the ones that came with the headers. Used the 3 bolt turbo gasket that came with it and no leaks yet..real nice design on that gasket!

The pass side header was challenging (metal lines the most) and had to be put in from the top

1.had to move the pos+ wire to the starter over toward the engine to clear(just loosed at the stud and swung over and retightened)
2 the 2 fuel lines that run on/along the pass side frame adjacent to the starter hit the the headers. I removed the clamp on top of the frame rail and bent the lines over a little and the put the clamp back 180 degrees from before utilizing the same bolt hole and they cleared fine.
3. The turbo and dp had to be removed also.

The driver side was not bad and put in from underneath

1. Only problem was one of the bolt holes on the ac/alt bracktry had to be drilled out just a little(rat tail file would have worked since it was a a small amount catching the bolt).

The biggest pain and frustrating part was the crossover vband clamp connection/crossover install.

1. The bolts must be bent on the clamp prior to install. They simply will not line up if not. And even then they are a major pain.
2 the cross over must be put together prior to install and it is a booger to hold up and try to assemble the clamps. I used a wire tie around the tranny lines to hold up the crossover during the v band install.

I had the kirbans heat shield for the pass side rear control arm bushing that hit the headers and had to remove it. Thugh my motor mounts are the originals and this could be the reason. I also have a tq strap.

All spark plugs are easliy accessed and nothing hits the steering shaft and plenty of room on oil pan and flywheel area.

Cant really judge spool and overall power yet since i think my puck is not sealing on my turbine housing. But at 19 psi the car pulls harder in the midrange for sure.

Car is so quiet now that you hear the alternator and injectors and thats it. Wierd a that i had grew so used to the exh leaks on the factory headers.

Every other set of headers i have put on was a major pain anyways and these were better then the normal crap u must go up against on instal.
The get a atta boy from me.

i can truly say i had the same problem i like the idea 180 on the clamp.

 

[yullose]

I realize this is an OLD thread, but felt like mentioning... the TA Performance headers are MADE IN THE USA and are not Chinese garbage pedaled by other vendors and ebay. I won't mention names. Do your own homework.

When I'm ready to upgrade my headers, I will buy either the TA's or an old set of genuine ATR headers.

I fvcking HATE China and all the cheap garbage that comes from it.

 

[turbo nasty]

Update since the thread is somewhat revived. Headers are stil fine no leaks or issues.

TA for the win

 

[insane6]

Bought TA mild steel headers, had them ceramic coated ,they bead blast them and looks polished. I did not have any issues with flanges but the V-band were a pain but can handle that.
Problem I had was it did set my turbo higher ,enough that I had the downpipe cut and extended to clear ac box ,could not send them back cause already had $350 in coating. About a 2 months later being the headers were so shiny I could see a small leak (carbon) on #4 cyc coming out where goes into log, remove pass. side and welded up and has been fine since( going on 2 years).
Definally better than the stockers I was welding yearly, but paying the amount I did for headers, then $50 for muffler shop to extend a $400 dollar THDP I would expect more.
I was replacing the cross over gasket regular at the band clamp, but ended up going with the ones from RJC racing made out of 304 SS and working flawless, and on my second set of Felpro1400 exhaust gasket for flanges in 2 years so I can deal with that too.

 

[turbo nasty]

Glad you posted honestly about them. Thats what we need on here

 

[ALVAROG1983]

HERE IS A PIC SHOWING WHERE THE TURBO SITTING AT ON TA HEADERS HAS YOU CAN SEE CAN'T RUN A 4 INCH MAF...

 

[FreeBoost]

HERE IS A PIC SHOWING WHERE THE TURBO SITTING AT ON TA HEADERS HAS YOU CAN SEE CAN'T RUN A 4 INCH MAF...
/QUOTE]

I had the same problem. With the interference I had I wouldn't have been able to run a 3" maf. I had to take mine, along with the OEM header, to a fab shop and have the turbo flange on the TAs' cut off and re-welded to match the OEM flange. I also had to have the head flange surfaces machined to clean them up. The third rework was the cross over. Test fitting the headers with the engine on a stand it didn't even come close to fitting. It had to be shortened and one of the ring clamp flanges cut off and reinstalled. Not what you should get from $1000 headers. And yes, I did contact the vendor. After the second email in which I sent pics of the problem, he ignored me.

 

[turbo nasty]

Thats sux.
Still better than the "Bejing Performance" egay header garbage IMO

 

[decarlo sloan]

HERE IS A PIC SHOWING WHERE THE TURBO SITTING AT ON TA HEADERS HAS YOU CAN SEE CAN'T RUN A 4 INCH MAF...
/QUOTE]

I had the same problem. With the interference I had I wouldn't have been able to run a 3" maf. I had to take mine, along with the OEM header, to a fab shop and have the turbo flange on the TAs' cut off and re-welded to match the OEM flange. I also had to have the head flange surfaces machined to clean them up. The third rework was the cross over. Test fitting the headers with the engine on a stand it didn't even come close to fitting. It had to be shortened and one of the ring clamp flanges cut off and reinstalled. Not what you should get from $1000 headers. And yes, I did contact the vendor. After the second email in which I sent pics of the problem, he ignored me.

Sorry to hear this that does suck

 

[SloGN]

Thats sux.
Still better than the "Bejing Performance" egay header garbage IMO

well you guys can pay a grand for crap thats made in the usa that don't fit.


I have the atr style china headers that have been in service for over 2yr with no issues. MY only problem with them was the cross over pipe hitting my control arm. ( a new set of motor mounts cured that) Also had to have a very small pin hole welded up on the collector. but i paid 226 dollars for them.

If you think paying a grand for something that has to be redone after the fact is good your crazy!

 

[turbo nasty]

FWIW I didnt pay a grand for mine. I run the mild steel ones that are around 700.

 

[FreeBoost]

well you guys can pay a grand for crap thats made in the usa that don't fit.


I have the atr style china headers that have been in service for over 2yr with no issues. MY only problem with them was the cross over pipe hitting my control arm. ( a new set of motor mounts cured that) Also had to have a very small pin hole welded up on the collector. but i paid 226 dollars for them.

If you think paying a grand for something that has to be redone after the fact is good your crazy!

You're right. China doesn’t have the market corned on crap. All I have to do is look at my “Made in the USA” headers and downpipe to know that. Chinese products are getting better. Remember what was said about Japanese cars in the 70’s. Now American car manufactures are on the brink, partly because Japanese cars. Saying that Americans are the only ones that can make quality products is “stick your head in the sand” arrogance that bring the US down.

 

[ALVAROG1983]

Next time i get headers it will be china all way.

 

[decarlo sloan]

Next time i get headers it will be china all way.

lmao

 

[fleebag]

omg, what a PITA these TA headers are... all the same problems listed prior.. i like a fool decided to change out my ebay china headers that were fine.. with these USA Made garbage... after countless hours of moving crap around to make fit then the pos's leak on PS.. wtf???

now last night i had to take them back off and order those new 1/8" gaskets from tr custom.. hope they fix the sorry 700$ headers that are not true.

man what a freaken nightmare.....unreal..

oh and yea i broke both vband bolts.. take the rotozip with cutoff wheel and cut off the tbolt. then drill a 1/4" hole in otherside. then put in a 4" grade 5 bolt in there and bend it. then vola it works... but it doesnt fix the uneven header flanges...

wooo, now i feel better...

 

[FreeBoost]

omg, what a PITA these TA headers are... all the same problems listed prior.. i like a fool decided to change out my ebay china headers that were fine.. with these USA Made garbage... after countless hours of moving crap around to make fit then the pos's leak on PS.. wtf???

now last night i had to take them back off and order those new 1/8" gaskets from tr custom.. hope they fix the sorry 700$ headers that are not true.

man what a freaken nightmare.....unreal..

oh and yea i broke both vband bolts.. take the rotozip with cutoff wheel and cut off the tbolt. then drill a 1/4" hole in otherside. then put in a 4" grade 5 bolt in there and bend it. then vola it works... but it doesnt fix the uneven header flanges...

wooo, now i feel better...

It's not like you weren’t warned.

 

[Bent6]

HERE IS A PIC SHOWING WHERE THE TURBO SITTING AT ON TA HEADERS HAS YOU CAN SEE CAN'T RUN A 4 INCH MAF...

The TA headers are built by hand using a jig. There are probably slight differences in every set but they shouldn't be major. I've had no problems with mine other than having to do a little engineering on the v-band clamps for the crossover connections but this is nothing new. My turbo doesn't sit perfectly level but it's not off enough to affect anything or even be noticeable for that matter. I am running the TA headers along with a 4" inlet pipe along and a 70mm TB and it fits just fine.

 

[HP Man]

Will, a nice looking engine compartment! My next car I hope will look as good. I had the original SS ATR Headers and did some mods just to help the fitment. No problem with the band clamps, clocking the turbo was a PITA, down pipe too! One thing on SS headers NEVER COAT THEM, it promotes cracking. My flanges were perfect never needed any machining. I had them Tig welded around the tubes on the outside as the inside welds needed some fixing, had the two piece crossover pipe welded after fitting on the engine stand. Each engine block/head combination can make minor fitting problems as I found on my engine. I used a set of machined plates to bolt up the headers before any welding. These headers never leaked or cracked in over two yrs. My experience with the original ATR Headers not these! HTH Gene

 

[ALVAROG1983]

Headers

The TA headers are built by hand using a jig. There are probably slight differences in every set but they shouldn't be major. I've had no problems with mine other than having to do a little engineering on the v-band clamps for the crossover connections but this is nothing new. My turbo doesn't sit perfectly level but it's not off enough to affect anything or even be noticeable for that matter. I am running the TA headers along with a 4" inlet pipe along and a 70mm TB and it fits just fine.

IM GOING TO START LOOKING INTO THIS MAYBE THEY WHERE MADE Slightly different because mines don't even come close to be able to run a 4inch maf.

nice engine bay what kind of alternator is that march.

AL

 

[RYAN GRAVES]

My t/a header fitment experience

I will have to say I had purchased my T/A stainless headers two years ago. I had no problems with fitment other than bending the clamp bolts. Only problem was one v band clamp bolt broke. Called t/a and they said that they would replace it. Because they had problems with their supplier. Never got my clamp even after I shipped them the broke one. Called them back and they told me they could not replace it due supplier change. I was a little disappointed, other than that I have not had any leaks or issues at all. I did use felpro gaskets the supplied gaskets looked questionable. I run a 4 inch inlet with no problems.