powerhog

Why do you suppose a guy can buy headers for almost any chevy for about $250.00 But, when you put camaro or vet before the application of use the price goes up to $1200.00

JasonD

The price on anything is high at first to cover initial r&d and manufacturing costs.

For headers, they are cheaper on other cars because there have been tons sold and those costs are covered. For a 2010 Camaro, only a fraction have been sold compared to say, a 4th gen Camaro and the prices reflect this.

JordonMusser

Not to mention you will find that most of the 5th Gen camaro products are high end, stainless steel- merge collectors, etc. Even for older cars headers with higher end features cost more tan $250.

SSandman

Yea, it's largely due to quality. Find me one of those $250 dollar headers you speak of and i'll show you how crappy they are compared to a set of Kooks, American Racing, Clear Image Automotive ect... I work for a speed shop so I install plenty of headers, and while you can find lots of cheap headers for 60's muscle cars, the price does reflect the quality.
I suspect a lot of the late model stuff is such high quality because that's what people demand when building daily drivers and installing headers on cars that aren't always very easy to get to gaskets/bolts ect... The thin flanged, crappy fit, mild steel headers may work great on muscle cars where fixing leaking gaskets, tightening bolts, removing for recoating/rust treating is a breeze but that stuff isn't always as easy on a new, cramped car. Factor that in with the fact that a lot more people are daily driving their late models vs. muscle cars sitting in climate controlled garages, you are going to want 409 or 304 stainless if you want it to last forever which right off the bat is big money.

I own a 70 challenger and the price for a GOOD set of headers is the same as the price for a good set of headers on a late model. The only difference is, if you so choose (like I did) you can opt for a cheap $400 set of hooker super comps or an even cheaper set of hedmans but anybody who is really driving their e body, wants the headers to hold up to the elements over time and wants the best possible fit/sealing is going to opt for TTI's high end stuff...which is in the $1000 range.

I installed some Chinese crap headers on a suburban the other day, the guy bought em for $200 bucks. The header bolt holes were cut using a torch...weren't even close. Had to spend a half hour grinding them all out so I could get the header bolts in. I run flowtech afterburners in my 96. It's a great looking header, not bad quality when you look at 1 set alone...but you take two different sets and one will fit in the car with room to spare and the other wont clear the frame rail. Sure, they aren't made for Impalas but this just goes to show how shoddy the jig work is. You wont find any of that stuff in a set of Kooks or American Racing. I installed a set of Kooks headers in an LS1 F body the other day and they practically installed themselves. Fit right up in a car as tight as that, yet in my 70 challenger with a smallblock and tons of room, I needed to make a notch in my collector so my shift linkage cleared it. Look at the small details too, the super thin tig welds, the way a brand like Kooks flares the primary ends to fit against the flange before welding...it's real neat when you pay attention.