I won an ebay auction on a set of brand new MAC mid-length headers and Y-pipe for an astounding $89. Better yet, the shop offering the auction was 5 miles down the road so I didn't even have to pay shipping. Deal of the century, right? Hardly!

I swear this box must have been full of all the mis-fit reject parts, or I just got really unlucky. On both headers, the bolt holes on the flange did not line up with the bolt holes on the heads. You would get 4 of 6 bolts in on each head, and then the last 2 were just off. Tried taking the header on/off several times, and no matter which bolt holes you started first, the few at the end were off by a tad.

Then there's the y-pipe. It's not even CLOSE! Bolt up either side and the opposing one is off by almost an entire inch!

It this horrible fitment typical of MAC headers or did I get an undisclosed reject special box?

 

You got screwed, mine went on lovely.

 

Ive got macs and they fit like a glove.I am very happy with the quality of the fit and finish.

 

Im a big fan of the quote, "you get what you pay for ". Sometimes you win, sometimes you dont.

 

Was it a "Buy it Now" price of 89 bucks, or an actual bidding style auction? I have heard of some minor issues with the steering linkage contacting the primary, but nothing to the extent of what you are describing. Try contacting the seller, see if they offer a return policy.

 

The special deal you got was probably that way for a reason. I can't say I have seen lots of complaints about Mac headers over the years.

 

My RK-sport headers were a MF to get on like you described. The bolt holes were slightly off and the y-pipe was off too. Maybe you got a QC reject.

 

SAME HERE!!!!!!!!!!!

Mine made me strip like 40 bolt holes. Pissed me off!

Im still messing with them daily. I got them on but still they are like ghetto rigged on it.

 

I had to trim the holes and longate them some. I think longate is a word.
I had to put them on, take them off several times to get to the point where I could run the bolts in with just my fingers.

Having a head off the car would have been a huge help too. The y-pipe piece I had to bolt the flange toa big 2x10 plank and heat it up with a torch and use a floor jack to bend it. It did work but man it was a job.

 

why are you still here.....

you're in a better position than most of us who occasionally get screwed.

 

I got Jet hot coated MAC mids, and installed a set on my friends car. They fit absolutley perfect. Also know a 3rd person with them and I don't belive they had any complaints either. Sounds like you got some reject MAC's? Put up a pic..

 

I know what you're saying, but it's hard to go back to a shop and complain about a "deal". I'll just have to deal w/ it. It's not their fault the QC sucked, unless they knowingly were selling a poor fitting set without disclosing so, but that would be impossible to prove and I think higher of them than that.

I am mostly just trying to figure out if other people had similar issues, and it would seem that other bad fitting sets do exist. That's all I was trying to determine.

Thanks for the tip about bolting the y-pipe to a board for leverage and then torching the bend! Great idea! I got some quotes from an exhaust shop to mandrel bend it the 1" I need and they were RIDICULOUS! $180 one shop wanted!!! I only have a propane torch, you think that will get it hot enough to bend?

 

As a shop owner I would treat the quality of my products I sell as very important to my business, meaning that if you were to complain to me i would try and make it right within the best of my abilities.

If you complain and the shop chooses to "make it better" only then would I think higher of them... Until they do I would assume they were knowingly scamming you on bad/cheap/imitation parts. I'm sure MAC would have some form of a quality check in place. Just lining the damn flange up to a piece of cardboards to see if the holes match for example. Having all the pieces misalign that bad would lead me to belive its maybe a knockoff....

I guess what im trying to say is give them a call/email to see what they can do... Maybe they'll make it all better, and if they don't id spread some bad feedback on the seller for selling crap parts