So just out of curiousity I phoned NWOR today to see if they still made headers for the 3vze, as they changed the "sold out" on their website from March of 07 to January of 09. I got someone who seemed more bothered than interested on the other end of the line who said they still made them but that they had a "huge wait list." I then asked how much, and he said "$749" and I asked if that included the crossover and he said the crossover was an additional $260. I asked if they were ceramic coated and he said they were triple nickel plated and then chromed. So you're looking at $1010 US funds for the headres & crossover with no ceramic coating, which makes the LCE ceramic stainless Headers ($800 US) seem like a bargain despite the fact that shipping costs would probably be much more (NWOR is almost local to me - just accross the border.) Now mind you I Know Nickel is a pretty robust coating for rust proofing but will it reduce heat under the hood like ceramics will?

 

Check with Downey offroad as well

 

also, check out thorley headers...

they come ceramic plated for around $550 shipped...
look for em at www.summitracing.com

 

Yeah I know about the downey product but I'm not keen on them from what I've heard over the years, and the thorley's sound nice but aren't they quite similar to the Downey's in design/install? Also I thought the Thorley's had gone up a considerable amount in price?

 

I've got the Downey's on my rig, ceramic coated. What have you heard?

My only complaint is how close they come to the floor pan on the passenger side. But, exhaust was never supposed to go down over there, so I can not see any way that it will not be tight. I put a starter blanket on my starter and also put some self adhesive heat shield on the floorpan on the passenger side. No heat issues there at all. But, I did melt my e-brake cable on that side, as I missed that as something that needed to be protected. Got a new one from a bone-yard and put a heat sleave over it, and that ended my heat problems.

I ended up spending another $75 on heat shielding.

Mike

 

Outlaw- what I keep hearing is how tight the Downeys run to the firewall compared to others which are a little further down. Bottom line is the set up is not designed for exhaust like you said and good heat shielding is required. But the emission fittings on the NWOR and LCE are easier to button up as they are just like stock too compared to the Downeys which from what I have read/heard are a bit of a PITA.

 

They do run close to the firewall, but with the heat blanket on there, not an issue and I have had them on for two years. Looking at the clearances around the headers, if you push them down further you run into other problems, kind of a damned if you do, damned if you don't kind of thing.

The EGR stays in the stock location and they supply a stainless tube to jump up to it. That one was easy, just get everything fitted and tighten the nuts.

The reed valve is a bit of a cludge. You have to cut off the bracket from the valve and mount it free floating on the header. I found getting the stock vacuum hose to reach it to be a total pain.

So, yes, the emissions fittings were a pain the arse, in hindsight. I ran into the same thing with the NWOR headers, I could not get them in time for my engine rebuild and they were spendy.

In this economy, you would think they would be pulling out all the stops to fill those orders. Money in the bank.

 

It was just the guys attitude at NWOR. It was like he didn't want my $$$ by saying "there's a huge wait list". I guess he answered my questions, but a real sales guy would have figured out a way to make things work, and if there is a big wait list, what is he doing about it?

 

From what it seems, they are not too motivated to start pumpin these headers out again...

I would probibly just buy from LCE, at least we have seen their product first hand. And we know it fits damn well too! Unlike downey headers....

 

I got some LCE headers like a month ago. l was rebuilding my top end so i said what the heck( especially after getting a close up of the stock manifolds lol) To make it easy i just put them on my heads before installing them. i dont think it could be easier than that haha. they fit VERY nice and the customer service was great, they are also almost local to me so that was nice. i think this weekend i will finish up the rest and put some heat shielding on the stuff that is on the passenger side, the only thing that they touch is a few lines that run along the inside of the frame. it looks like the fuel line and some brake lines so they will deff get some good shielding. anyways if you are going to get some headers i woulddeff go with LC

 

How much performance difference have the headers made?