# New kooks headers bent?? Wtf :(



## CHAIVIP (Mar 16, 2010)

hey i pulled out the intake manifold today due to a leak. sure enough the gasket had blown on the driver side in the rear by the last bolt next to the spark plug would be. i have the whole car in the air at my shop. everything is out and i am waiting to put the new headers in as well as the midpipes. (kooks long tube with cat delete). the passanger side (right) is perfect. the driver side (left) is bent about 1-1.5inches in length. it is bent at the end of the header, where the header would connect to the midpipe. i do not know if the mid pipe will cover the bend in the header when i bolt the header to the midpipe. i dont want to put the intake manifold back on, as it is a pain in the butt and i dont want to have to ship these back and wait 2 more weeks. let me know what you guys think i should do, do you think air will leak out at the connection point from where the header connects to the midpipe.


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## Lautinjr (Mar 27, 2010)

How about using a crescent wrench to straighten it out again before install.


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## CHAIVIP (Mar 16, 2010)

yes, we had discussed that aswell as a couple other tools we have at the shop. we are closed on sunday so the car will be sitting there until monday. i also sent an email to the website, which i bought the headers from Speedinc.com very good price and very good customer service, took awhile to get the parts cuz they didnt have them in stock, but great thus far. i sent an email and asked him couple things, asking if he had ever run into this problem before with Kooks or if it just got f'ed in the shipping proccess. well see what he says. i got a feeling ill just have to tweek it a little to make it snug.


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## CHAIVIP (Mar 16, 2010)

just sucks to spend 899.99 and get a flaw in the product that you buy. especially since i have been thinking to buy between the kooks headers and the slp headers. and now i get this lol


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## Rukee (Feb 8, 2007)

Lay that dent onto a 2x4 and beat it back straight with a ball peen hammer. You should be able to get it to seal up.


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## Poncho Dan (Jun 30, 2009)

WTF send it back to Kooks! That's BS, there is no way that expansion flange could be crushed like that, without some obvious abuse/neglect, like maybe someone stood on it.

Another turnoff for kooks...


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## Rukee (Feb 8, 2007)

More then likely it was bent during shipping. Someone probably through it across the truck when loading.


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## CHAIVIP (Mar 16, 2010)

The problem I might run into is that this website carries a 30 percent restocking fee. That's around 200 to return it. I called kooks HQ in I think north Carolina. Of course they were closed. Ill find out Monday if I can send it to kooks HQ. I am waiting to hear back from the website I ordered it from to se if they will replace it. I don't think it was damaged in shipping cuz it had a good tight seal around the headers. There was lots of extra stuffing in there to prevent the damage from occurring.


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## jpalamar (Jul 22, 2008)

Poncho Dan said:


> WTF send it back to Kooks! That's BS, there is no way that expansion flange could be crushed like that, without some obvious *abuse/neglect*, like maybe someone stood on it.
> 
> Another turnoff for kooks...


Thats probally what happened. Car bottomed out. I saw a set of long tubes catch and trash the collector before. Good luck getting them to replace it. Metal doesn't just bend on its own.

Or was this how they were when they were shipped to you?


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## GM4life (Mar 18, 2007)

Poncho Dan said:


> WTF send it back to Kooks! That's BS, there is no way that expansion flange could be crushed like that, without some obvious abuse/neglect, like maybe someone stood on it.


:agree You spend that much money on a product you should get a perfect product. Kooks/Speed inc should pay for shipping and send you a new one. You should't be putting work into a new product, sorry, I would be getting on the horn and calling Speed inc or the shipping company. The shipping should be covered under some warranty. Yeah it maybe a easy fix but its the principle too.


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## Rukee (Feb 8, 2007)

GM4life said:


> :agree You spend that much money on a product you should get a perfect product. Kooks/Speed inc should pay for shipping and send you a new one. You should't be putting work into a new product, sorry, I would be getting on the horn and calling Speed inc or the shipping company. The shipping should be covered under some warranty.* Yeah it maybe a easy fix but its the principle too.*


Yeah, thirty phone calls and three weeks waiting for warranty turn around is better then three minutes with a hammer.
The damage didn't look that bad, I often have to straighten out the ends of exhaust pipes before installing. Yes it should not have had the dent, but what are you gunna do?? Sh!t happens, fix it and move on. :cheers


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## GM4life (Mar 18, 2007)

Rukee said:


> Yeah, thirty phone calls and three weeks waiting for warranty turn around is better then three minutes with a hammer.
> The damage didn't look that bad, I often have to straighten out the ends of exhaust pipes before installing. Yes it should not have had the dent, but what are you gunna do?? Sh!t happens, fix it and move on. :cheers


Civilans are different than the military, we don't accept damaged crap no matter if it can be fixed or not or how long it takes. Ours is not as simple a phone call, we have to fill out reports. And my current job as a Quality Assurance Inspector no way in hell will I let someone repair crap.:cheers


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## Rukee (Feb 8, 2007)

1) thanks for pointing out why/how our military overspends more of our civilan tax dollars.
2) it's not crap, it's a quality product with a dented flange.


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## GM4life (Mar 18, 2007)

Rukee said:


> 1) thanks for pointing out why/how our military overspends more of our civilan tax dollars.
> 2) it's not crap, it's a quality product with a dented flange.


Let me give you alittle education.

1) Your not spending anymore money than it was to get it. Personally I want the best product on million/billon dollar airplanes and equipment that people lives depend on. Ohh and I pay plenty of taxes too.
2) It is crap if the company don't spend the time to quality control on items before the get to the customer. It's no longer a quality product. Not having someone taking the time to make phone calls, make post or repare crap that shouldn't left the manufature that way. Thats bad busness no matter how small you think it is.


If I bought a brand new car and it had a small scratch on it I will let it be known I don't care if I owned a body shop.


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## Poncho Dan (Jun 30, 2009)

Yeah Kooks are supposed to be "the best", next to ARH... and for the money you spend, it should be mint when it reaches your doorstep. You're not buying a set of Rustsetters, here...


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## CHAIVIP (Mar 16, 2010)

jpalamar said:


> Thats probally what happened. Car bottomed out. I saw a set of long tubes catch and trash the collector before. Good luck getting them to replace it. Metal doesn't just bend on its own.
> 
> Or was this how they were when they were shipped to you?


yes these headers were sent to me with the dent in them i have only had them since friday.


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## CHAIVIP (Mar 16, 2010)

alright guys. i started this project on saturday afternoon at my the shop where i work at. i was able to pull the intake manifolds off as well as all the cats. i continued my work today (Monday...had to find someone to come and pick me up first. so i got one of the other techs to come pick me up in a new car that he had to test drive. lol we put 56 miles on that f-150). we got to the shop and we tried going to a local exhaust shop which was about 2 miles away from the dealership i work at and they said they did not want the liability on their hands and that they would not do it. so we rushed back to work and we got out a ball peen hammer. we spent about 5 minutes working the sides out of the dent. i was sure as he77 not going to wait for speed inc or kooks hq to warranty my headers as it would take weeks. we were able to get it pretty well rounded. (didnt take any pics but i was satisfied) like mentioned earlier in the thread... $h1t happens fix it and move on. we put the passenger side header in from the top. (that was cake) then we moved onto the driver side. we had to wiggle it through the bottle, which wasnt too bad. (make sure to lower the rack n pinion) we got that it. we put all the stuff back on the top of the car and left the catless mids off. got in the car and fired her up.....whooo did that sound sexy! i wish i could run open headers. then we raised car and put the mids in and connected the the rest of the exhaust. the car sounds decent, it is loud for just headers and catless mids. next step is either str8 pipe or aftermarket muffler. overall and i am pleased with the product and i would recommend highly to other buyers. speed inc recommended me to just take to a local exhaust shop. i was hoping they would give me 25 dollar credit to store or something. nope.  i am very pleased with the install, its just that i was dissappointed when i opened a very expensive header. $h!t happens. thanks for all the help with the thread.


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## dustyminpin (Jun 19, 2006)

Rukee said:


> Lay that dent onto a 2x4 and beat it back straight with a ball peen hammer. You should be able to get it to seal up.


:agree
Don't panick man. My Kooks signature series and catted mids were the same way from Marylandspeed. The headers collector end was fine (unlike yours) but the midpipes end looked identical to what you got going on. They are easy to mold into the shape you want with a ball peen hammer and some wood. The ball & socket design of the headers is hands down the best on the market and they will seal up fine. Now take a deep breath and put that goat back together. :cool

FYI, Branden at Marylandspeed said most of the time crap like that happens in shipping, that he has seen very few quality issues like that from Kooks.


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## Rukee (Feb 8, 2007)

GM4life said:


> Let me give you alittle education.


ex-military myself, so your not educating anyone on this end. Saw it all first hand.

CHAIVIP~
Glad you got it installed and working great!! Let's see that video with the straight headers.


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## GM4life (Mar 18, 2007)

Rukee said:


> ex-military myself, so your not educating anyone on this end. Saw it all first hand.



By your quote, you don't know how we operate, you got it all wrong. Anywayz moving on...


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## CHAIVIP (Mar 16, 2010)

[QUOTE

CHAIVIP~
Glad you got it installed and working great!! Let's see that video with the straight headers. [/QUOTE]


lol i did not take any videos, as i was rushed on time to get it out of the shop at 6pm. it sounded sweet though. i can somewhat tell the difference in the torque and the sound is much better than stock. i can actually hear the exhaust now lol. the next question is do i run straight pipes or just get some nice muffler?? i know i will lose a little hp with the straight pipes but im not concerned with that. i have a 1500 dollar stereo to cover up the sound of the exhaust if i dont want to hear it (if i were to go straight pipe).. opinions on next step?


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## Rukee (Feb 8, 2007)

I'd do the mufflers myself. I just don't like the drone of straight pipes on the highway. Plus why give the cops a blatant reason to pull you over??


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## jpalamar (Jul 22, 2008)

Keep the factory exhaust and just add cutouts for when you wanna be an attention whole


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## GM4life (Mar 18, 2007)

Rukee said:


> I'd do the mufflers myself. I just don't like the drone of straight pipes on the highway. Plus why give the cops a blatant reason to pull you over??


:agree
Thats why I switched from SLP LMI's to custom Magnaflow.


jpalamar said:


> Keep the factory exhaust and just add cutouts for when you wanna be an attention *whole*


Hole, whore, or whole? :lol:


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## dustyminpin (Jun 19, 2006)

My DMH Lowprofile E-cutouts are by far my favorite mod to date. Cost 400 bucks and paid another 250 to have the local exhaust shop put them in. My maintenance buddy from work and I could've done it, but I'm sure the fit and finish wouldn't have been as nice plus the shop did an awesome job mounting the the switch in the sidewall next to the driver's right hand knee. I wouldn't have thought to put it there. Every other job I've seen had the switch in the ash tray or the center console.


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