[alfa] After market headers

["LyfordHale" <lyfordhale@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Okay, no more fueling around about vegetable oils.  Got a serious question
about after-market headers.
An Alfa-owning friend bought from a website that promises, and I quote,
"...the best (headers) on the market at any price. Proper fit and clearance
all around."  He paid $145 for a special ceramic coating.

The headers he received weren't welded up properly, as the manufacturer
later admitted; the number one flange was off-center and the pipe not bent
right.  There was no way we could get even a 12mm nut on the first stud
without denting the pipe, and then the header wouldn't tighten down.  A
phone call resulted in his being told that a racer would hammer a dent in
the header so the nut would fit, then put a welding torch on the pipe and
flange while tightening with a wrench.  That, the manufacturer said, would
allow my friend to pull the flange down the 1/4" it wouldn't go.  Having
just spent the cost of a new car on paint, upholstery, suspension, motor,
tranny, etc., etc., sticking a welding torch into the engine bay made us all
nervous.  See a photo of the gap that wouldn't go away at
http://www.greend.com/new_page_3.htm.

My friend next went to three local race shops and asked their advice.  All
said to send the headers back.  Forcing them onto the cylinder head would
result in stress cracks, they said.  So he sent them back.  That didn't
please the manufacturer, but, after calls and e-mails, the manufacturer put
the headers on a jig, smacked a dent into one pipe, heated them up and, he
says, re-bent them.  Then he had a change of heart and said he'd send
all-new headers. My friend was a happy man.

Unfortunately, after several weeks, several long-distance calls, and several
e-mails, he got his old headers back, in a color he didn't order, and with a
coating that is not identified.  He wrote a gentle e-mail to this guy asking
if, perhaps, he'd mistakenly sent the old headers back (My friend was
already well aware the manufacturer believes ALL problems are the customer's
fault, not his).  At that point, the guy e-mailed my friend that he knew of
the "mistake" and he's done all he can.  No apology. No explanation about
the paint. Just a kiss off.  It got a bit heated in the next exchange, but
we'll not go into that.

So, my question to the digest is this: Once headers are formed, can they be
forced into a new shape without leading to stress-induced issues in the
future?  In other words, should they be put on the car and given a shot, or
should my friend insist on a refund of the $700 or so he spent on them?

A parting thought.  If you know a parts supplier is a hobbyist who is mainly
in business to support his racing habit, you may want to check really,
really carefully before purchasing from him. It could be, as in this
instance, that customers are treated more as inconveniences than people of
value.

Lyford Hale
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