Kooks header failure

KStromberg

KStromberg

Vortech kicked in yo
Little did I know THIS was the pinhole exhaust leak that I started hearing recently. It aint no pinhole anymore and the car is now being punished and neglected again. I don't have the time or money for dropping the engine out to have this header repaired when I am in the middle of pursuing another Mark8. I guess it will fvcking sit. Unbelievable. 2.5 year old 304 Stainless Kooks headers and this already. And I thought that I finally had all of the problems fixed on this car. Ever since 2010 when it started off with a shoddy mechanic, I swear he cursed this car because I can't drive this thing for any more than 8 months without something going wrong. I need to somehow get the damn curse released on this car. :mad:



 
9

95blklsc

New member
that looks almost melted more than rusted.......either way that sucks and should not have happened in such a short amount of time.
 
Mad1stGen

Mad1stGen

Booster
That's a number 2 reason for not buying these headers IMO. Poor quality vs money invested. Yeah, they look shiny when you install them, but a year later either the coating fails on mild steel ones, or the welds fail on SS ones.

Kooks have been a no-no in my book for a while now. Now they're on a never list.

BTW, they also fail at the flange, where the 1.75" primaries have been enlarged to fit the head ports correctly, resulting in thinning out the material. High HP M8 car around here had both fail within one season.
 
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SCTBIRD1173

SCTBIRD1173

Mark my Bird!
What other options do we even have? Kooks go downhill over the years? I thought they had a pretty good reputation going...
 
Ford nut

Ford nut

New member
03, 04 Cobra manifolds.
Steering shaft mod. Doug sells the joint.
Good for 95% of the people doing mods.

Poor quality vs money invested is right.
 
SCTBIRD1173

SCTBIRD1173

Mark my Bird!
I knew about the Terminator manifolds, but I'd like to get headers for my planned M112 swap. Already have the steering joint from Doug. :D
 
DLF

DLF

New member
Ford nut said:
03, 04 Cobra manifolds.
Steering shaft mod. Doug sells the joint.
Good for 95% of the people doing mods.

Poor quality vs money invested is right.
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The steering joint kit that I sell won't allow you to bolt-on the Cobra manifolds.
 
KStromberg

KStromberg

Vortech kicked in yo
Mad1stGen said:
That's a number 2 reason for not buying these headers IMO. Poor quality vs money invested. Yeah, they look shiny when you install them, but a year later either the coating fails on mild steel ones, or the welds fail on SS ones.

Kooks have been a no-no in my book for a while now. Now they're on a never list.

BTW, they also fail at the flange, where the 1.75" primaries have been enlarged to fit the head ports correctly, resulting in thinning out the material. High HP M8 car around here had both fail within one season.
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I wish I would have known about this before I bought the headers. You make it sound like these headers are all around pieces of chit. I thought they were king of the hill when I bought them. :rolleyes:

SCTBIRD1173 said:
What other options do we even have? Kooks go downhill over the years? I thought they had a pretty good reputation going...
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Yeah same here. TOTALLY confused on this one. My buddy just put a whole Kooks system including longtubes on his Pontiac G8. He's made of money too because he is into computers and his choice KOOKS. So what the hell is wrong with OUR headers? :mad:

It looks like I'll be doing some brainstorming when I get ready to open up the exhaust on the Supercharged 97 that has log manifolds. I was going to put Kooks on that car but now I am a little sour. Perhaps I will have to keep my eye on what Temple Performance has going on. 2.5 years on a set of $800 stainless headers before one blows a huge hole in the primary is ridiculous.

I may have to call Bill over at SCP on Monday and drill him about this one. The weld around the base of the bung was slightly magnetic leading me to believe that the proper 308 filler was NOT used. :mad:
 
driller

driller

El Presidente
I hate to rain on your parade, but calling SCP is going to do nothing. Kooks is who is going to stand behind the work or not.

When my collector cracked, my mechanic who is a Kooks dealer called them. They basically said they would have to have the old manifold to exchange or repair. They're going to tell Bill the same.
 
KStromberg

KStromberg

Vortech kicked in yo
driller said:
I hate to rain on your parade, but calling SCP is going to do nothing. Kooks is who is going to stand behind the work or not.
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I agree. I have since re-evaluated that decision and have decided to call Kooks on Monday about this. It's not Bill's fault.
 
DLF

DLF

New member
KStromberg said:
I agree. I have since re-evaluated that decision and have decided to call Kooks on Monday about this. It's not Bill's fault.
Click to expand...
Nope.

You need to talk to Bill.

He needs to be aware of the situation, and he has pull with Kooks, you don't.

When I had an issue with Kooks, Bill took care of it as best that could be done, without me contacting Kooks.
 
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KStromberg

KStromberg

Vortech kicked in yo
DLF said:
Nope.

You need to talk to Bill.

He needs to be aware of the situation, and he has pull with Kooks, you don't.

When I had an issue with Kooks, Bill took care of it as best that could be done, without me contacting Kooks.
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Ok. Thanks Doug.
 
KStromberg

KStromberg

Vortech kicked in yo
Ford nut said:
Sorry, for some reason I thought you sold a modified steering shaft.
My mistake.
I would still go Cobra over kooks.
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Would Cobra manifolds provide enough flow for an NA or boosted setup without any noticeable decrease in performance over headers? Of course after this whole fiasco, I am curious now.:rolleyes:
 
P

psychostang

Moderator
Kennebell did some dynojet testing a few years ago. With just cobra manifolds and stock ford catalytic h pipe, he achieved 660rwhp/700fwhp before switching to longtubes. They netted him and extra 15rwhp. So, I think cobra manifolds and stock modified h-pipe should work for every street car.
 
R

Robertf

New member
I'm curious if anyone has ever called Stainless Works about making headers for our cars. I'm kind of new to the Mark but if I were inclined, I would approach them. They make them for the Maurader. I've never heard any complaints about their stuff...
 
svtlincoln

svtlincoln

New member
Robertf said:
I'm curious if anyone has ever called Stainless Works about making headers for our cars. I'm kind of new to the Mark but if I were inclined, I would approach them. They make them for the Maurader. I've never heard any complaints about their stuff...
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Until this thread I've never heard of things like this with KOOKS. I've read everyone's complaints and I've yet to have any issues with mine or notice any poor build quality. When it comes to aftermarket parts everybody is going to have their own experiences and issues. Some see the price tag on the KOOKS headers and just start looking for something to gripe about.(that's not a shot at anyone, just a general statement) As far as stainless works... there has to be some kind of following before a company will just up and start making a product for a car. If stainless works put in the work and started making MarkVIII headers.. how many sets will they sale? Maybe a 100? If they're lucky. That's one reason the KOOKS are $800. It has to be worth their time to build the product and they have to make money. What we all have to realize is that any part we install is made by another human. Humans make mistakes. All companies end up getting some less than average help at some point. It happens. So has anyone actually installed cobra manifolds on their MarkVIII?
 
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