foothilltom 33 Report post Posted October 26, 2009 Hey guys, am wondering what the "half life" of headers are and whether I should replace the headers on my GT coupe restomod project. The headers are at least 23 years old as the car was stored at that point. They have quite a bit of surface rust that has seeped through what appears to be light-blue paint. I can't tell if the headers are high quality or not. They are NOT ceramic or anodized...just blue painted metal. I think they are considered "long pipes" based on the shorties I put on my boy's coupe. I'm not looking for ways to spend money, but I am going to be getting 2.5" exhaust installed soon (new mufflers and chrome tips) and want to be sure it makes sense to bolt these on to the existing headers. I guess in short, how would one know when headers are tired and ready for the happy hunting ground? Thanks, Tom Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ForceFed70 14 Report post Posted October 26, 2009 Good question. Header life will depend more on mileage than age. I would take a pair of channel locks and squeeze the pipes in random locations. If the pipes "bend" easily, they are getting thin and should be replaced. This is how I saw an exhaust shop test exhaust tubing to see if they needed to replace just mufflers or whole exhaust system... can't see why it wouldn't work for the headers as well. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
9R03F 10 Report post Posted October 27, 2009 I agree with FF70. That will test their "function" qualites. If your worried about their "fugly" qualites then it sounds like a nice new ceramic coated set is in your future. If you find they are in good enough shape, they can be sandblasted and ceramic coated so they'll look almost, if not as, good as new. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
