desired_speeds

I bought AMS headers before they sold the company and installed them 6/30/2011 when the car had 127,868 mi. I'm currently at 147k. Earlier this summer I began to notice an exhaust leak and dismissed it as a gasket issue after inspecting from above. I expected it could be dealt with later down the road when I had more time. As summer progressed, the leak got much worse and I finally found the time to work on the car. I bought new gaskets and took the header off and this is what I found:



Let's take a closer look.







I checked the flange for flatness, which I found to be uneven also. I'm very disappointing in the quality of the product. I would guess it was the flange being uneven during the manufacturing process causing extra stress on the welds, and it finally broke at the weakest point.

KJI3jflarryfe93

seems like AMS sold you some toy stuff?
vibrations from engine and driving the car must have given alot of stress on those weldings.
I bet they were expensive SS-headers.

are you going back to factory headers?

there are many bogus companies trying to make money by selling crap tuning parts, it's not always easy to know who's honest and having a good rep about their products.
selling dirt with a steep pricetag, only winner is the company.
when customer comes back to complaint for broken part they say - no refunds or don't want to take any responsibility

desired_speeds

I chose these over the kleemanns to retain my primary CATs. These look good but I'm sure they were very cheap to manufacture. I paid $1k for them just over a year ago and now I see them going on ebay for under $500 since AMS sold the company. I'll be getting it rewelded and the flange milled to make sure they're 100% flat. Hopefully that'll take care of the problem... I could only hope. :S


Edit: just checked the other header. cracked in the same spot! threw a grand down the toilet for these junk headers.

BlownV8

Get them ceramic coated. Certain grades of stainless have a tendency to crack after it is heat cycled many times. Ceramic coating can help a great deal. Not to mention, you will keep your engine bay cooler and make more power with the ceramiic coating.

JamE55

Sorry to hear man. Hopefully you get it resolved.

Nocturnal-G

AMS was owned by OmeyHomey/Dr. C36 I believe... he strongly supported Royal Purple as well, not too many good suggestions I see.

Good luck with those headers... if you need a set of HIGH quality headers I'd suggest BenzWorks. They are a vendor on the forum... I've seen nothing but high quality work from them.

CharlyE500

Last time I checked Kleemann has stock and also for $1K. Also Kleemann header will gain more power than AMS. Good luck.

MB_Fahrer

+1 on the ceramic coating!

desired_speeds

I don't want to spend another $1k on the kleemanns right now. its my daily driver and I don't care to spend unnecessary money on it. I'll get these welded and the flange milled flat and maybe ceramic coated and reinstalled. It should hold for a while, and if it breaks again then i'll decide what to do then.

BlownV8

Make sure you get them coated on the inside and outside.

desired_speeds

I got them welded today and dropped it off at the machine shop. $200 to get the flanges cut straight. The guy said that the header flanges were ground flat thats why they are uneven. The exhaust guy that welded them recommended that I get flex pipes put on which I plan on doing soon.

While the car is down, I ordered new valve cover gaskets to replace the year old leaking victor reinz ones , new belt/ idler pulley, replaced the oil cooler o-rings to fix the leak, and did a coolant flush. Also ordered a new trans mount since the car is about to hit 150k.

snooozie

Wow!! I didnt see this post. I have a set of AMS headers in my car at the moment. Keeping my fingers cross they will not crack like yours. Before I had them put in, the indie garage I go to, told me that the flange were not flat level. So I took them to this performance shop here in central ct and had them sand down (thats what the guy at the performance shop told me to do). It cost me $50 for both sides. I dont have any exhaust leak so far (knock on wood). That might be the cause of the crack as the flange were not level and cause vibration and stress on the welds.

cudaized

How did the milling turn out?

desired_speeds

they seated perfect after milling them. The machinist told me that it was originally flattened out on a belt sander which can never get the surface 100% flat. I remember even when the headers were new, the drivers side leaked at cold start and would seal up after the car warmed up. Finally no leaks!

snooozie

I don't get it. If you cut the flange down don't you need to smooth the bottom out? By sanding it down you smooth it out. Unless the flange are badly warp I don't see why you have to cut it down. Anyway, hope it holds up and don't have to go thru it again. I hope mine holds up too. Keep my fingers cross.

ProjectCamaro

Wow, you shouldn't have those kinds of problems when you spend a grand on headers.

Hopefully they'll hold up now for a nice long time.

desired_speeds

The machinist measured the side to side run out then top to bottom and averaged it. He then clamped it to the machine that made a bunch of passes over it. He said it took about 2 hours a flange. It came out 100% flat from the machine. No belt sander needed! ....hence the $200 invoice.

snooozie

I guess you are not the only one with crack headers.....

https://mbworld.org/forums/engine-pe...y-headers.html