Milzy headers already installed...anyone?

[G.I.Ceo]

You know what this thread is getting pointless because obviously this dude doesn't have a clue. Pacesetter is you get what you pay for and what you are paying for is absolute junk. I had a catback exhaust on my DD and it fell apart in not time and rusted out everywhere. I would never save money on junk when I can spend more on quality.

[Starglow]

Originally Posted by G.I.Ceo

You know what this thread is getting pointless because obviously this dude doesn't have a clue.

Excuse me, but everyone has a right to form their own opinion. You obviously had a bad experience with a Pacesetter product but that doesn't mean everyone will.

You pay your money and take your chances no matter what you buy.... expensive or otherwise. Can you justify spending $1K for headers on a 12 year old Grand Am for a 17 year old teenager? I can't.

[lone_wolf025]

I still have the S&S headers and dp combo. Had to have the headers repaired after a hole formed in them somehow and I'm still too lazy to try and re-seat the donut washer for a proper non-leaking seal cuz its such a huge pain. Were the headers worth it? I think so, but if I had the money I'd get a new set of headers that are better designed.

[Nick-G]

Originally Posted by Starglow

Excuse me, but everyone has a right to form their own opinion. You obviously had a bad experience with a Pacesetter product but that doesn't mean everyone will.

You pay your money and take your chances no matter what you buy.... expensive or otherwise. Can you justify spending $1K for headers on a 12 year old Grand Am for a 17 year old teenager? I can't.

I wouldn't mod it period. I would save your money to fix whatever breaks in the future because with a 17 year old girl driving things will break.

[Starglow]

Originally Posted by Nick-G

I wouldn't mod it period. I would save your money to fix whatever breaks in the future because with a 17 year old girl driving things will break.

Well it's for my son who obviously isn't a girl!

I already have a 3500 engine to install and need a reasonably priced option for the exhaust because I don't want to use the old stock 3400 manifolds even though they will work on the 3500. If you've ever seen the stock exhaust manifolds on a 3500 compared to the 3400 then you'll understand what I mean. I'm currently looking at headers, high flow cat, and cat back system to round out the 3500 swap.

[O1GAGT]

With doing the coated pacesetter headers, high flow cat and pacesetter cat back you are looking at atleast $750.00. Just remember you get what you pay for and Pacesetter products are known to fit like crap, rattle, leak,melt things and rust out in 2 years.

You say the car is for your son and it is obvious that you do not want to spend money on quality parts, and I doubt you want to spend time and money fixing issues that the Pacesetter junk will cause. My suggestion to you would be to find a set of stock exhaust manifolds off of a 05-06 3.5L Chevy Uplander, which has the same style exhaust manifolds as the grand am with slightly larger ports as you seem to be worried about the 3400 exhaust manifolds being too small. In all honesty the 3400 exhaust manifolds will work just fine and you will still end up with more power than it had with the 3400. As far as the High Flow cat, unless the current cat is bad leave it. If it is bad you can get a magnaflow direct fit cat for around $160. Lastly with the exhaust if the stock good, leave it. If you want better sound, have an exhaust shop replace the muffler.

[Starglow]

Thank you for your valuable insight 01GAGT which gives me another alternative to consider and I think I like your idea the best.

Superdave over on 60degreeV6 also mentioned the other 3500 exhaust manifolds but I did not know what GM models used them until now. I assume these would still be compatible with the stock GA downpipe size?

Regarding the cat, a lot of coolant was sent through it when the head gasket blew so I'm not 100% sure it's still good now but I guess I could get it tested. The rest of the exhaust system from the cat back is still in great shape.

[AaronGTR]

Originally Posted by Nick-G

I wouldn't mod it period. I would save your money to fix whatever breaks in the future because with a 17 year old girl driving things will break.

This. I wouldn't be modding it either. Stock 3400 manifolds suck for making power, but they are dependable. They won't rust through, crack, or leak. Doesn't matter if a boy or girl is driving it... any teenager driving it is going to beat the crap out of it and things are going to break. If it's just a cheap car for a new driver, then save the money on mods and use it for repairs. Besides... the last thing a new driver needs is more horsepower! They don't have the temperament and experience yet to know how to use it.

[Starglow]

Originally Posted by AaronGTR

This. I wouldn't be modding it either. Stock 3400 manifolds suck for making power, but they are dependable. They won't rust through, crack, or leak. Doesn't matter if a boy or girl is driving it... any teenager driving it is going to beat the crap out of it and things are going to break. If it's just a cheap car for a new driver, then save the money on mods and use it for repairs. Besides... the last thing a new driver needs is more horsepower! They don't have the temperament and experience yet to know how to use it.

Yep.... I only went with doing the 3500 swap because the stock 3400 was shot.
Although the GA is an older car, it still beats having a boring r-i-c-e burner as a first car.

My son has been driving for a year now and uses good judgement, so I don't think he'll do anything really stupid. Yeah, I know he might push it sometimes with the GA, but don't we all do that?

[AleroB888]

Originally Posted by Starglow

I'm doing that now. The real truth is that all headers will eventually rust whether coated or not...it''s just a matter of the time duration. The good news is that Jet-Hot has a location not too far from me that I wouldn't have to ship the headers to get them coated. This car is for my son, so I'm not going to dump a huge amount of money into it given both of their ages. 8-)

No problem with TOGs so far, just this here leak where the bolts are:

(After 48,000 miles, 300 races, couple thousand WOT scans, blah, blah etc. thermal cycling)



Used no header gaskets, just sealant

ran around 12.5 or higher AFR most of that time, first Magnaflow cat after 3 years looked like this:



But then, most of that was in a dry climate, that's gotta make a difference.