Hey everyone. Once upon a time this forum was my life, but then I moved onto different vehicles.

recently, my niece got herself a new boyfriend and guess what, he’s driving a cobalt ss.

It’s a 07 lsj, and decked out with everything zzp has to offer. Nice car.

so he has exhaust issues.couple exhaust studs broke and His long tube zzp header looks warped. So my question is, are these like cast iron headers? Is it toast or will hey be fine bolted up with new studs? Might be a stupid question, but I figured I’d ask. Personally don’t have much experience with aftermarket headers other then dorman lol

thanks!

 

Casting processes aren’t prevalent in the states unless it is high volume. My point is, it would make absolutely no sense for zzp to third party cast the headers because those guys make their money casting thousands of pieces. Welding cast iron typically isn’t pretty either. I have always been skeptical about the quality of stainless from these companies. Stainless price has increased 2.5x in the last 5 years. It seems the price of the exhaust kind of hovers around the same. It doesn’t take much tubing to make the exhaust though, so I am sure the majority of cost is with the welding

what seems warped and how bad is it? Just the flange? If it is only a little warped, you could sand it across flat concrete until it is flat again. If it is too bad, have a machine shop mill it. If that isn’t an option, buy a new header or cut off the flange and weld a new one on

 

ZZP has some titanium studs for them now. It would be worth throwing a new gasket on, torqueing it down, run it and get it hot. Torque it hot, let it cool torque it again. Repeat for a heat cycle or two and see if that straightens it out. That header is pretty thick though if it's warped I'm not sure if there's much you can do to repair it other than putting it on a bench and heating and clamping it to a straight edge maybe? Good luck!