ARH Header Quality

[powderbrad]

Hey Guys,

Just opened the box from ARH (longtubes for the HEMI ), pretty excited.

Until I start looing the header flange and inspecting the ports. The rest of the tubing and bends seem reasonable and nice.

However, the header flanges themselves (3/8") look a little rough. The "hand blended" ports look worse. Seems they weld the inside of the port to the flange, and then machine it as smooth as they feel. Whereas the outside of the flange is only welded on top and bottom, very roughly I might add. and they didn't bother welding around the tubes to the sides of the flanges. Work is super busy and I dunno if I can get the welded to add some SST welding to areas THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE from factory. IMO. If it can be done without heat bending or pulling anything. Ill let you guys know.

For 1500+ I expected better than a $500 set of headers, as Ive heard good things about ARH beforehand.

For reference, I work in a machine shop and we weld tons of things as well. I for one, think these look rough as all hell. But since theyre here im gonna go with them. Hopefully they were leak tested. I doubt it though.

Id post pics if I knew how...

BTW, these were supposedly the NEWEST set to accommodate 8 spds as well for 2013. But I wouldn't see any harm in making them look presentable as an additional benefit for the extra 5 mins worth of welding and deburring. Ive had BBKs in the past on a few stangs, they looked better. And far cheaper.

THOUGH, as mentioned earlier the mandrel bends look nicely done and all fasteners and such were included.

Until I romp on it after install...the jurys out on this one.

 

[Das Boot]

You gotta post up some pictures, any chance this one just "slipped" by the QA department?


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[UNBROKEN]

There's no need to weld a header tube inside and outside the flange. If it's 360* welded inside that's perfectly fine. We weld all of our headers inside only if it uses a full flange.
FWIW...once they're mounted you'll never see the flange again anyway.

 

[powderbrad]

I figured the outside welds were just to mock the flange in place anyways for the inside weld, but for the price gimme the extra 10 mins of welding to make it look professional. I mean, it looks like the spent more time welding the ARH nameplate to the outside than the tubes to the flange.

I realize that I wont see them anyways, but for the pricing I guess I wanted to see flawless design that blew my mind.

The more I look at them the less im caring actually. Was just venting. Hope they add some much needed performance.

 

[Das Boot]

Well that's a good thing about this forum, we are here to talk each of us off the ledge....vent away.

I can't vent to my wife about this stuff, she would have no idea what the hell I was talking about. We are here for you in a "Hello RF my name is..... And my issue is....."

Have a good weekend


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[TXCMark]

I had similar expectations and was equally underwhelmed with that. But performance wise they're worth it.

Getting them ceramic coated covers up the nastiness both outside and inside (visible areas). They'll look great even without the 360* top weld.

 

[powderbrad]

UPDATE****

On and installed. Went OK for the most part. ******** dipstick...who put the bolt for the mount of it BEHIND the damn engine mount, and then WHO made the bolt longer than the distance from the damn mount to block!!!! That alone was 2 hours of fighting it out, and worse getting it back in.

good:

passenger side a breeze
fit excellent, no rubs nor close spots of headers or crosses/ y pipe(I had first few sets of 2013 tranny models though)
- gaskets seem to work

bad:

pass side rear 02 spot really close to top tunnelbut not touching. could be considerd good i suppose
-didn't account for ******** oil dipstick!! but really, to accommodate equal length tuned headers.....
- torqued most bottom bolts of headers the good ol fashionred good and tight method as impossible to get a torque wrench in there as the bolts are directly behind the outlets of the cylinders. no leaks yet though. torqued with a plain old 10mm (if i remember) wrench and lots of ummph.
-heat shields not reusable. inner or outer.

Seemed to have deepened my exhaust note. feels tourqier down low, harder up top. Probably the first mod I actually felt (though contributing power to all mods im sure, so prob not headers alone). Doesn't matter, 14 sec truck at best on the best day. fast its not, but funner than stock. At least it sounds good.

No codes thrown. Only needed 3 of 4 extensions for 02's. Probably a 6-7 hour job but I found out the hard way the crossover pipe is actually welded to the midpipe making removal difficult and adding about 1.5 hours and probably 3-4 beers. I ended saying **** it up and cutting at the driver side junction of the y pipe to remove.

all in all id do it again, but im stupid like that (arent we all). And maybe someone will buy my 9000 km stock cats to recoup the 1500 initilal header cost.

Havent ran it yet to find out improvements. still waiting on modified 91 tune from hemifever and a tank or so of gas to see if any 1/4 mile times have improved. thinking it should.


I ran it with my dad riding shotgun and before headers and ran .2 quicker 1/4 mile and 1.5 mph quicker than before modded 91 tune ( as opposed to canned 91 tune and without 170 lbs dad)/ So looking promising for a 5300 pound 4x4 pig.

 

[BlkRamRt]

good review...post some pics.

 

[Hemi450hp]

We have had a rush of ARH sales these past few weeks. Everyone has been very happy with the gains, and the Hemifever tuning only sweetens the deal. These headers will show noticeable gains with stock tuning, but Hemifever has dialed this in to truly bring out the best in these trucks. I'm glad the truck is running so well.

 

[powderbrad]

Got to install them but not really run the truck lots, maybe 100kms. Had to go work on site for a four day stint that is turning into a fourteen day job.
Wanting to drive it but not home

It felt good and sounds even better. This is how the hemi should feel. After the revised 91 tune hem ifever will give me (I've yet to run the logs he wants) I'm betting / hoping for a 14.4-6 sec 1/4 At roughly 95 mph. Itll be another 10 days to find out.

All in all ARH did a fine job besides my initial gripe-ing.