I8ABMR

We are starting to see more and more high mileage Fs with cracked headers . Even Joe z had his crack . A lot of it is on Facebook pages too. Not to say we are all screwed but I would say it will become more and more common as the cars age . Most Fs are lower mileage cars outside of Cali

smiley424

Awesome, just in time for me to buy!

Justin727

Mine was cracked too. Cold start tick. Fixed with PPE headers lol

MileHIFcar

^^^^^^Justin in your sig is that the numbers you put down with the PPE headers?

caymandive

iTrader: (2)

Just wanted to update everyone with things as I have yet to get on the dyno myself for some Independent results or hit the dragstrip and here's why. Since having my car back I've had a noise from the front driver side which reared it's ugly head occasionally on startup and when making right hand turns and I've been spending the past several weeks trying to figure out where the sound is coming from. My biggest fear was the headers on the driver side were making contact with the frame or steering linkage, but we found plenty of clearance around the frame and though clearance is tight around the steering link, we found they "tweaked" the header tube slightly at there to ensure no contact. So with having the annoying noise and not knowing what was causing it, I have not been driving the car much or pushing it hard until I got the noise sorted out. After trying to get the car back in the shop (JE Import Performance/SIKKY) sooner rather than later with little luck in being told they were booked through the end of October, I took my chances and went elsewhere for a thorough look over. Ended up spending 7 hours under the lift with an expert mechanic and found NUMEROUS problems which any or all could have contributed to the noise I had been hearing. Additionally I had been noticing an increase in exhaust odor as well, which had me baffled as I have new high quality GESI cats in my exhaust. So onto the problems found.

1. Subframe bolts found to be loose, not original and had undersized heads! Additionally we found bolts that were stripped and grinded down into points!
2. Leaking header in two places around flange
3. (4) of (8) header bolts on driver side header found to be snug rest were either stripped, not tightened or just laying in the hole.
4. We had to re-thread 3 header bolt holes as they were completely stripped out
5. Found lots of non factory black oxide allen bolts (starting to rust) which replaced several OEM bolts in and around the subframe
5. Discovered two different v band clamps used to connect my headers to my exhaust. Thought this was odd, but not a problem.
6. This one actually really ticked me off. My Borla exhaust around the x pipe was beat hard with some type of hammer! This resulted in a crack found in the exhaust which needed spot welded.
7. The new SIKKY header instructions claim an easier install, but they are probably the most difficult header you'll ever install. Reaching some of the bolts is damn near IMPOSSIBLE. My expert mechanic spent over an hour just trying to get 1 bolt in! This probably explains why several of the header bolts were found stripped, damaged or not in all the way.

Needless to say, the list goes on and on and we found that pretty much everything the shop touched they either replaced it with something inferior, lost it or damaged it. I spent a good chunk of change getting everything fixed and at this point I'm not even convinced my car is making any more power than with the previous V1 headers as I've never been given a copy of the original dyno sheets and as Lou pointed out the plotted graphs do look off. Long story short, my car is good to go now, but JE/SIKKY have lost me lost me as a customer/supporter.

Here are a few photos for you to check out. One shows the undersized and non-OEM sub frame bolts used. Another is the cracked exhaust due to smashing it with a hammer. Stripped and grinded bolts and my Borla exhaust where it was hacked and re-welded without my knowledge.

Diesel350

Man thanks for your honest feedback. It is really helpful to the community.

5280ISF

Wow. not a good report at all. Surprised the original bolts were not used when buttoning everything up. Sikky did this install for you, stripped your bolts and cut your Borla without telling you?? Very thankful you were tracking the car and had a subframe or some other catastrophic failure.

Did you drop the subframe when you tried to tighten everything up? Sounds like the larger primary tubing has really complicated header bolt accessibility.

MileHIFcar

What a nightmare!..................Did Sikky not think your were not going to ever see the underneath side of your car??? To do such shotty work and to pass it off like you'd never know/find out... wow!

jat0223

iTrader: (1)

A lot of us got the original sikky headers installed at je. I guess I'm going to have to check my car out carefully. I'm mainly worried about the subframe bolts. Why would they change them?

SoulFreak

iTrader: (1)

Brother, I'm truly sorry this happened to you. Im in shock just by reading all this, possibly the worst case scenario. Saying it's a nightmare is an understatement! Where's the accountability for workmanship and adherence to quality. You've been a tremendous asset to the community and this is unacceptable. I want to clarify the following...the install was done by Sikky themselves? Or was it a third party? Also, was this install part of the promo they offered by getting on the list? I'm looking forward on their response and how they're going to rectify this matter.

liquidtek

Wow, makes me not regret driving tons of miles to get these v2 headers installed. Thanks for the feedback but sorry you got such shotty service. Guess a few of us won't be waiting for these to go on sale and instead just go with PPE. Kinda blows my mind how you had these installed and then wanted to come in for service and they were 'booked'. Probably because they were like oh ***** he knows... stall stall stall.

caymandive

iTrader: (2)

Yeah I really never wanted to ever have to report something like this, but I felt like it was the right thing to do. We not only dropped the subframe, but we had to remove the driver side headers to rethread a few stripped holes in the head! Getting to the header bolts on this new design is NOT...I repeat NOT an easy job.

Original SIKKY headers are fine and if you had them installed more than a year or so ago I wouldn't be concerned.

I guess not, but i'm one of the most OCD type of guys you'll ever meet and I told them that before I gave them my car for a year to develop the new V2 headers.

Yeah this experience has been bad and my report of all the found issues pretty much went on deaf ears. The response I received was "Wow, I'm sorry to hear that. I understand your frustration." There was no accountability for the shotty workmanship at all! I don't know who did the final delivery install for me, but JE Import and SIKKY are collocated in the same facility with JE doing most of the install work.

For those of you who got the v2 headers on your car.... go get your car checked by someone you can trust to ensure your headers are bolted to your head properly and that all subframe bolts are tight and OEM. These new headers are a real B!@#$$ to install with the larger tubing used. If I were in the market for headers now I'd go with the PPE headers which have proven themselves over and over.

jspecvtec

iTrader: (4)

Ppe ftw

flowrider

iTrader: (9)

I've always thought you were a great guy, but now I really respect you Your are a REAL standup guy!!!!!!!

Lou

caymandive

iTrader: (2)

Thanks Lou! I certainly do what I feel is right and I will support anyone with a great product and/or service. Let it slip such as in this case and my support is gone for good. When I created this thread years ago it was my intent to keep it a no BS unbiased thread, but I just had to add this BS.