Sanderson headers rant

[TimMcCabe]

Hi Harry,

The #1 tube swings out way too far to ever install it from the bottom...
I have it fitting pretty good now, I just have to reroute my fuel line where it comes up on the right side, as the header flange is right in the way..

I'm going to try a ceramic coating called Cerakote, it is air cured and is applied with a spray gun, I'll let you all know how well it works.

Cheers,
Tim

[77 Spyder]

The Sandersons on my 77 Monza fit pretty well. I had to clearance the right rear upper control arm tower like was mention in an earlier post, & Also had to "tweak" one of the tubes on the left side to clear the intermediate shaft for the steering correctly. Not much room there, so I can see that happening car to car. I used the mount kit that somebody on this forum was selling. I think it was custom brackets with oem chevy truck mounts? Its been a few years....

My biggest gripe is the ceramic coating is not holding up all that well. I was detailing the car for a show this weekend & was horrified to see rust specs forming on the pipes. I cleaned them the best I could but its coming through from under the ceramic coating. I don't believe the metal was cleaned & prepped very throughly before the coating was applied from sanderson. My car is almost never driven let alone started, & its stored in a climate controlled building. My car is still looks just like it did 2008, with exception to the coating on the headers starting to degrade.

Not too happy about that & have considered calling Sanderson about it to see what they say. Otherwise I thought the fit was good.

[67shovel]

I have had some parts cera coated and have been impressed with them. Never did a header so I don't knw how it will handle the heat. I also have the transdapt mounts and Sandersons and had to put spacers on the mounts to get the oil pan off the drag link. I had to clearance my inner fenders like the previous picture also.

[beakerztoyz]

thought it was in this thread, but apparently not. now that I know they make shorty header's I've been kind of considering them. are you guys happy with the performance aspect of them ? right now I have stock manifolds and wondering if upgrading to these is any benefit

[mahoy78spyder]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has been disappointed with the expensive ceramic coating on their Sanderson headers. I've not even "installed" mine yet and they look like crap! Very dull finish and rust coming through! Maybe we should get together and call Sanderson.

[77 Spyder]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has been disappointed with the expensive ceramic coating on their Sanderson headers. I've not even "installed" mine yet and they look like crap! Very dull finish and rust coming through! Maybe we should get together and call Sanderson.

Interesting. I figured the heat would be the targeted culprit, but they don't look that good right the the collector either. Ironically I had my entire exhaust system ceramic coated & the headers "slightly" out glossed the exhaust pipes originally. Today, the pipes still look great including the collector, but the headers are a pale looking gray by comparison. I always figured ceramic, was ceramic. But maybe not? I can try to post some picts later, but it might be hard to capture with a camera.

[BillB1210]

Guys,

Thanks, I was thinking of headers, now I love my stock GM manifolds on the ZZII.

Bill

[zeke]

Headers are a trade off, the factory cast them for a reason.

[Sunula66]

K, I read everything here and I must say that I'm not surprised...I mentioned a long time ago that the Sanderson headers are pure shitt! There, and I remember saying that I called the Manager in California and told him exactly that...he said, just get a case of beer and relax and try it again.. some of you might remember that in my thread....what a TOOL he was ..It was absolutely the header install from HELL! Myself and another seasoned car builder/dragger were both so pissed off at the waisted entire weekend that I would have gladly left the stock casts alone if I only paid heed to the previous posts. Having said that the ceramic coated Sandersons are Not worth the extra! I ended up spray painting my headers several times with the high heat coating paint, I did a best of products post way back..it is worth the money and you'll only touch them up once in a while. Put it on right the first time though.
Let's not forget that we're working on 2 kinds of H's and even myself found out that I had to notch out the pass. side upper frame area on the upper control arm support and even had to cut off an angle wedge and reweld one of the driver's side tubes, forget which one now, and bend and roll-flatten another couple of tubes..not enough to restrict flow but the whole process should not have had to happen...a crapp product that you'll have to deal with..if I could weld, and even at the way I do, I'm better off to build my own next time!!!
F.R.I.G. You Sanderson Headers Co.
....my rant.....

[77 Spyder]

This Makes me wonder if the headers are designed from a monza body with stock positioning motor mounts? I have never owned a vega, So I am no expert there. But, with exception to the clearance on the right side & the tube tweak for the steering shaft I thought they fit really well. Things are so tight on these cars I'll be the same set of headers would fit differently on 3 seperate cars. The coating is my only rant, but there are obviously others. I'll Probably end up pulling mine out at some point to have them refinished, not too excited about that.

I see the OP was about the fitment on a Vega, so I didn't mean to sidetrack the thread.

[TimMcCabe]

The Saga continues..
I installed the headers on Saturday, then I went to reinstall the spark plugs..
One plug on each bank, there is not enough room between the header tube and the spark plug to get a socket onto the plug.
For the one plug on the passenger side, I cut down one of my sockets and used a 3/4 wrench to tighten it, but on the drivers side, there is no way to fit a socket on #5.
I ended up using an offset wrench to tighten that one down, but I am worried about how close the wire boot is going to be to the header tube.
Overall, I am deeply disappointed in the fitment of these headers!

Tim

[Sunula66]

Tim,
I also have 3/8 steel square blocks under my engine block to the mounts to raise the engine up for my desired 3degree driveline angle...this also allowed me to use my stock GM oil pan....and even at that still had all of the aforementioned grief! Spark plug boots are very close and I don't have too many issues with spark plugs although the rear driver side is a tighty..shallow socket, thin wall sockets, wrench on a socket..All of the Above...TJ that pass side cast manifold is GOLD the one I gave you with the stuff you picked up! Keep it and use it, trust me and find a similar one for the driver's side...those were designed to perform as they are like a mini-header and are the same design as the Corvette used for ions...another thought would be to make headers for all of theses cars to mimic manifolds and would be more fitting friendly, to mimic that swept back mani like the one I just described to TJ...sorry Tim that you are upset as many of us are..wondered if the Hooker was any better then the cc-13's but I won't go there...stock cast are the way to go...and with a built alloy engine, who cares about 25 horses anyway, it's the whole look thing...Don't look and you'll still get good mileage and kick your buddy's Vette's ass at the drop of a spoon

EDIT! Holy Crapp, I almost forgot! If you aren't aware already, you should consider stainless flex pipe a definite must installed immediately after about a foot or so of pipe off the collectors ...another expense and I'm talkin' about the stainless wire pipe that looks like braided stuff...you need it or your collectors will work loose and head to header flange gaskets and collector gaskets take a huge twist and you'll experience that exhaust leak and ticking header gasket leak! That will send you to the rubber room! Especially after so much grief...these are about 6-8 inches long and will allow the engine to torque and the exhaust to stay tight longer. The Sanderson Headers have decent thick flanges and there isn't much give so if you twist the engine it isn't very forgiving to the gaskets, I even tried double thin ones but ended up using one thick and really tightened up on the bolts to the heads after several heat intervals. They do not leak and I've never replaced the collector gaskets again since the stainless flex pipes!
However, you guys are probably thinkin, Oh Gawd headers suck!... there is a new noise, it's the header pipe now touching the steering shaft when the engine is twisted on hard...probably due to weakening engine mounts...yay me!....over and out.

[beakerztoyz]

Tim,
I also have 3/8 steel square blocks under my engine block to the mounts to raise the engine up for my desired 3degree driveline angle...this also allowed me to use my stock GM oil pan....and even at that still had all of the aforementioned grief! Spark plug boots are very close and I don't have too many issues with spark plugs although the rear driver side is a tighty..shallow socket, thin wall sockets, wrench on a socket..All of the Above...TJ that pass side cast manifold is GOLD the one I gave you with the stuff you picked up! Keep it and use it, trust me and find a similar one for the driver's side...those were designed to perform as they are like a mini-header and are the same design as the Corvette used for ions...another thought would be to make headers for all of theses cars to mimic manifolds and would be more fitting friendly, to mimic that swept back mani like the one I just described to TJ...sorry Tim that you are upset as many of us are..wondered if the Hooker was any better then the cc-13's but I won't go there...stock cast are the way to go...and with a built alloy engine,

Ron ... it took me a long time to search through all the manifolds in my shop here years ago to find that one stupid special one... both the cars I have now have exhuast systems that use the original v8 manifolds.............I've heard that full length headers can be a nightmare they're super pricy at nowadays exchange rates too But my freakin daily driver 4x4 has headers and my hot rod doesnt that just seems like it's immoral... or wrong.... so I was kind of hoping that these would be a middle ground, you make it sound like I should just buy a kit and crank up the welder lol.

[BillB1210]

Sand blast the GM manifolds. Powder coat them or use Eastwood cast iron coating. Enjoy the muffled sound when the engine runs - not the clanging of the exhaust hitting thin tubes. Give up 10 horsepower, lower rear end gear ratio an increment and same rear wheel power result.

Bill

[zeke]

Looks like the #5 cylinder plug interference issue has been dealt with now.